In front of a packed room StokedNZ and Little Love Foundation were the best pitches in the eyes of judges and the audience at the Rotorua X 2018 BoP Pitch Night this week.

Debs Brockelsby from StokedNZ delighted the crowd with her dry sense of humour as she showed off her functional outdoor kit that lets you get changed or dry anywhere, anytime.

Tammy-Lee Holmes and Cara Farrelly from Little Love Foundation won People’s Choice as well as the Judges Runners Up Pitch Award. Their pitch moved the audience to tears with their passion to help with the financial side of losing a baby or young child.

Both organisations took a share of the $11,000 prize pool of business support services, mentoring and training.

This was the event’s fifth year and provides an opportunity for the region’s commercial and not-for-profit organisations to practice their pitch and showcase what they are doing to the business community. Awareness of the event continues to grow year on year with people travelling from Taupo, Tokoroa and Palmerston North specifically to attend.

The esteemed judging panel included mayor Steve Chadwick, Michelle Templer chief executive of Rotorua Economic Development Limited, Mark Copeland principal of commercial lawyer firm Mark Copeland Lawyers, Dr Leon Fourie chief executive of Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, Catie Noble president of Taupo Business Chamber and Jasmin Jackson chair of Ka Pai Kai Rotorua and winner of the 2017 Pitch Night.

Head judge Steve Chadwick said she it was lovely to be at the event for five years in a row.

“Thank you to everybody who pitched tonight. We were very inspired, it was a real mix. There was a lot more philanthropy than we’ve seen in the past, instead of pure product delivery and that’s a lovely reflection of what’s going on.”

“It was also quite interesting to see birth and death as a feature [in the pitches]. And that’s very real in life. But to see the compassion with which you were matching the product was also very moving for us all.”

“I loved seeing the sustainability products coming through. We haven’t seen a lot in that in the past [at Pitch Night] about the green products, the green economy and that was exciting to see.”

Announcing the overall winner, she spoke on behalf of all the judges and said that they didn’t need to confer, once the judges scores were tallied up there was a clear winner.

Debs Brocklesby said winning was so unexpected as they were up against some stiff competition.

“The biggest win for me was the opportunity to have STOKEDNZ in front of so many epic humans and the amazing connections we have made since.”

“We are truly stoked for the opportunity.”

The Little Love Foundation had set their goal on the People’s Choice Award and were surprised and delighted to also get the Judge’s Runner-up award.

“When we set out on our journey to pitch Little Love Foundation, it was a bold move when dealing with such a sensitive topic.  Our overall aim was to win People’s Choice and raise awareness of the need Little Love aims to fill.”

“We are ecstatic to have won given the calibre of competition and are looking forward making a difference for families who need us, now knowing we have our community behind us all the way.”

“The scale of what we have achieved in just a few short months is hard to believe, but now we have two amazing trophies to look at to remind us to keep pushing on.”

“We so passionate about what we are doing. We are so humbled by the support we have gained from our community, judges and local businesses.  This is just the beginning for Little Love Foundation, we look forward to our future, particularly with the assistance of the local experts putting their hands up to give us a hand.”

“Thanks Rotorua, for sharing a little love,” Tammy-Lee Holmes said.

Video of all the pitches from the evening can be viewed on the Rotorua X Facebook page.

More information

• Pitch Night was developed to help foster an entrepreneurial community in Rotorua to support businesses to launch and grow.
• The evening was only possible through the event partners Firestation, Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust and Rotorua Economic Development Limited. As well all the organisations that provided goods and services as prizes.
• Eight organisations pitched on the night:
  • Debs Brockelsby from StokedNZ – Functional towels (‘Towelies’) that enable you to get changed anywhere, wherever and whenever without flashing anyone.
  • Tammy-Lee Holmes and Cara Farrelly from Little Love Foundation – helping families with the financial side of grieving for a young child.
  • Bruce Norman from Kiwi Pod – burial pods made from recycled materials with a range of graphic designs applied to the outside for aesthetic and cultural appeal.
  • Steve Holmes from Contribute – a fundraising crowd-funding platform for New Zealanders
  • Laurens Goormachtigh from Chess Minds – getting children and adults to enjoy chess and experience the benefits of improved decision making and strategic choices that it can bring to other areas in the players’ life.
  • Te Rangikaheke Kiripatea from Kai Rotorua – help people reconnect with healthy food by growing and selling kumara and riwai with bigger plans to develop a food hub.
  • Heather Kremen from Amokura Glass – Rotorua’s only glass blowing studio.
  • Danielle Campbell from SponsorHubNZ – a match-making service for small business and non-profits to facilitate sponsorship arrangements.

PITCH NIGHT PRIZES

Best EPIC Pitch – $6,600 value

• Firestation Programme
  (Choice: Activate / Incubate / Accelerate)
• Firestation Co-working 1 month
• Mark Copeland Lawyers – 90 mins
• Aquaplus branded water
• $500 Open voucher to be used with any sponsor
• Salt n Tonic – Product/service design scalability workshop
• EMA BoP – 90 mins HR Advice
• Firestation Boardroom – 8hrs
• Motion Entertainment Conference Room Hire – 4hrs

Runner-up – $2,300 value

• Firestation Co-working 1 month
• Firestation Business Coaching 2hrs
• Salt n Tonic – Product/service design scalability workshop
• Dubzz Facebook Training
• Firestation Boardroom Hire 8 hours
• Firestation Marketing Review 2hr

People’s Choice Award – $1,100 value

• Firestation Co-working – 1 month
• Firestation Boardroom Hire (8 hours)
• Business book: Own choice from Firestation Library

PHOTOS

2018 BoP Pitch Night Photos are on Facebook

WINNING PITCHES VIDEOS

EPIC Pitch Winner – StockedNZ
Runners Up & Peoples Choice – Little Love Foundation