Daniel Radcliffe, Craig Hickson and EY Awards director Jon Hooper.
Daniel Radcliffe, Craig Hickson and EY Awards director Jon Hooper.
Top tier New Zealand investors are backing Kiwi start-up Flossie Concierge, which operates a beauty and fashion appointment booking service through its app. Flossie Concierge allows customers - mainly women - to search, book and pay for hair and beauty appointments using their smartphone.
The company is looking to expandand chief executive Jenene Crossan says she has backing from the likes of Sir Stephen Tindall's K1W1 fund, Theresa Gattung, Peter Cooper and Adrian Burr, who have come on board as investors. Crossan said more than $500 million had been invested in the category internationally in the last year. The app was launched in Auckland late last year and has since expanded to Christchurch, Wellington and Queenstown.
Jenene Crossan. Photo / Greg Bowker
Business Time
One of the season's top awards nights, the annual EY Entrepreneur of the Year evening, was held on Thursday at the Langham, emceed by Hilary Barry who dazzled in a navy sequined evening gown. Progressive Meats chief executive Craig Hickson took out the award for 2015 and will be heading to Monaco next year to compete in the world finals. More than 700 black-tie guests enjoyed a sumptuous three-course dinner as well as stories from the finalists and from last year's winner, Daniel Radcliffe, from volunteer business IVHQ. Highlights from the evening included attempts from the finalists to spell entrepreneur - with a surprising number getting this mixed up - as well as questions about New Zealand from last year's world award finalists in Monaco.
One of the more difficult questions was whether they knew what the haka was. Although most admitted they did not know, one confident finalist declared the haka was a fish and said it was delicious. Obviously not a rugby fan. The only downside of the evening was the limited capacity of the after-party venue, which saw several guests, including one of the judges, refused entry.
Au Revoir France
Former All Black Tana Umaga and injured star Steven Luatua yesterday watched the All Blacks defeat the French at the Rugby World Cup with a small group of fans from the Waikato, who had travelled to Auckland to watch the game. The group was led by Kerry Beach, who was the winner of the ASB Bank competition to have breakfast with the stars and watch the game with them. Guests chatted with the pair and enjoyed a Q&A session. The breakfast was hosted by ASB Bank, one of the All Blacks' main sponsors, at Auckland's Gusto restaurant.
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