Kiwi to reap riches from postcard idea

By ELLEN READ

An Auckland entrepreneur hopes that a meeting this month will lead to his 'fotocard' invention being sold across the United States.

Mike Gregory, inventor of the transparent plastic wallet which allows people to send photos as postcards, has just signed a 12-year licensing agreement with a Minnesota company to manufacture and sell the fotocard in Canada, the US and South America.

Sunshine Girl Creations is expecting to sell 10 million cards a year but bigger plans are afoot.

Sunshine Girl's founder, John Rappaport, has scheduled a meeting with the chief buyer for the US Postal Service to see if it is interested in placing the cards in its 32,000 outlets.

This is all good news for Mr Gregory, who will receive 1USc commission on each card sold.

"I would like to think that the deal with Sunshine Girl helps to prove once again that we here in little old New Zealand continue to have an original thing or two to offer the world," he said.

Mr Gregory said the Minnesota agreement was his first major overseas deal, but he planned to pursue more. "It all really starts from here."