Palmerston North entrepreneur Rachel O'Connor wins Innovate 2021

Palmerston North entrepreneur Rachel O'Connor has won Innovate 2021. Photo / Supplied

Palmerston North marketing and communications leader Rachel O'Connor has won Innovate 2021.

Last year she founded Reachible, an intelligent web‐based self‐service platform
that makes it quick and easy for businesses to get in front of their next customer through accurate and unbiased channel selection.

"Being chosen as a finalist was amazing in itself," O'Connor says. "And then being selected by the judges as the Innovate 2021 winner was incredibly humbling. Having that external validation for an idea you've been working on for a while is an amazing feeling."

Having been in marketing for more than 20 years, O'Connor knows it can be a mystery to many. This often means people keep doing what they've always done. Or worse, they don't do anything at all. She wanted to find a way to help businesses be more effective with their marketing, ultimately saving them time and money.

More than 300 people tuned in last week to watch the Innovate final online through Zoom and Facebook, including the four judges.

The seven finalists had each pre‐recorded a five‐minute pitch with the aim of convincing the judges that theirs was the best idea and to take home the $5000 prize, plus entry into The Factory's accelerator programme, and the opportunity to pitch to the Manawatū Investment Group of angel investors.

The Factory chief executive Dave Craig says it is humbling to watch people grow through a programme.

"Every year we are blown away by the quality of the ideas but more so the people behind the ideas. Our 10th year was a bit different [due to Covid-19], but the end result was exactly the same – seven businesses that have a stable platform to continue to grow. And for me personally, that is what Innovate is all about."

The Innovate process provided the direction, guidance, and support to deep‐dive into the problem definition and validation stages, fast‐tracking Reachible's proof‐of‐concept and enabling O'Connor to secure her first customer, GlobalHQ.

"Dave and the team at The Factory have a wealth of knowledge and connections that are second‐to‐none. The Innovate programme has given me, and the other finalists, such a strong foundation to grow our businesses and I recommend it to anyone who has an idea that solves a problem."

O'Connor has some advice for budding entrepreneurs. "If you have the spark of an idea, some creativity, and a tonne of passion, then just give it a go. It really is an adventure not to be missed."

The inaugural winner of the Innovate Social Enterprise Award was Peter McLean with Pete's Disabled Tours. The judges felt McLean's business offered a compelling proposition that all corporates and socially minded entities in Manawatū should get behind and that his programme will definitely change people's lives.

The judges for Innovate 2021 were Max Thompson from Callahan Innovation; Britta Fromow, a consultant with James & Wells IP; Tim Myers, chief executive of Norwood; and Simon Barnett, founder of Obo.