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Entrepreneur Spotlight Gallery

This month, in honour of Matariki and the time of reflection we’ve been in, our Entrepreneur Spotlight is a gallery of some of the entrepreneurs we’ve met over the past year and a bit.  We’ve been honoured to learn from each of them and it’s been amazing to be part of their entrepreneurial journeys. We hope you enjoy reading snippets of these inspiring stories. ...

Supporting Entrepreneurs - My Newfound Way of Helping Others

If you asked me a year ago what the term ‘Entrepreneurial Ecosystem’ meant to me, I wouldn’t have had a clue. And now, I’m at a point of reflection having been immersed in an amazing entrepreneurial ecosystem right here in the Bay of Plenty. I joined the Venture Centre team nearly a year ago, knowing that my role would involve contributing to the wellbeing, uplifting and empowerment of entrepreneurs. As my time in the role went on, I started to further understand not just Venture Centre�...

Seven Words You Need When Talking Startups

Jumping into the world of startups is a new, exciting, and sometimes anxiety-inducing experience. The less than fun feelings can be heightened when you’re greeted by unfamiliar lingo. That’s why we’ve created this helpful glossary of Seven Words You Need When Talking Startups to guide you on your entrepreneurial journey.  Being equipped with this glossary will make settling in and connecting with your startup community easier....

Delivering Value With Empathy and Understanding

Our entrepreneur in the spotlight this month is Charlotte Thompson, the Customer Service Manager at GoGenerosity, a local startup that helps businesses and the community partner together to make an impact.  Our paths crossed with Charlotte when she spoke on the panel for the Techweek Event, Growing Plenty in the Bay - Ingredients for Entrepreneurial Success. She shared about her role at GoGenerosity and combining empathy with a functional online platform to deliver value to their customers....

Real Stories from Real People Techweek 2022

By Rachael Pratt, STEM Wana Trust.Friday 20th May 2022 in the evening saw STEM Wana Trust in conjunction with Venture Centre, welcome a panel of five speakers to the University of Waikato, as part of Techweek 2022, to discuss careers in Tech.Opened by Amanda Crowther, a STEM Wana Board member, and Dr Jessica Turner from the Waikato University. Our five panellists were then introduced and interviewed by Pascale Hyboud-Peron from Venture Centre.Chatting with us about what their current role entail...

Five Ways to Navigate the Ecosystem

The entrepreneurial journey can be a lonely and overwhelming one, especially in the beginning.  Our advice? Join your local entrepreneurial (community) to find support, learn more about business, and connect with like-minded people.  Read more: Our Community | Creating Ripples  We realise that it takes courage and some discomfort to connect into your local entrepreneurial ecosystem or community.  That’s why we’ve put together a few of our top tips to help you navigate and...

Learning And Evolving In Community

Our entrepreneur in the spotlight this month is Emelie Verseput, Venture Centre’s Entrepreneurship Support Project Lead. An invaluable member of our team and community, Emelie harnesses the benefits of being part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. During her three years at Venture Centre, we’ve watched Emelie say yes to learning and growing while helping fellow entrepreneurs in the Bay make their way. Now, Emelie has an exciting new opportunity on the horizon as the new Community Manager for ...

Five Ways You Can Support Women Entrepreneurs

As a women-founded and run organisation, we know the tenacity of women entrepreneurs firsthand. We also know the road is not an easy one for female founders.  Their hurdles include more difficulty raising capital, greater expectations within domestic roles, and not being taken seriously by their male counterparts. Read more: Women Redefining Entrepreneurship So how can we support the incredible wahine within our community? We’ve outlined a couple of simple steps we can take together to ch...

Changing Your Mindset For Good

Our entrepreneur in the spotlight this month is Cass Hogan of Fontein Coaching, a certified professional life coach who loves guiding people to experience the abundance within. Cass is also our newest Office Hours expert offering a monthly Mindset Reset clinic. For the past three and a half years, Cass has been helping women pursue their dreams of going into business. “My clients usually have a business idea, feel it’s time to go and pursue it, but aren’t sure where to start. The women are...

Top Tips To Shift Your Mindset

In the midst of juggling a new venture, it’s completely human to experience mental overwhelm.  The ever-growing to-do lists, the feelings of newness, and being continuously outside your comfort zone all contribute to moments (or seasons) of the grind being too much. So how do we shift our mindset from overwhelm (the state of always doing) to rest (the state of being)? Here are a few of our top tips to shift your mindset and get back into a flow that serves you....

Clarity Leads to Impact-Focussed Business

Our entrepreneur in the spotlight this month is Lori Herder of Muffs Merino, the eco-friendly creator of conscious comfy knitwear. Muffs Merino's is a combination of Lori’s love of natural fibres, nature and creativity. Her original product was felted slippers. However, Lori’s true love affair is knitting.  “One day, I bought a pattern, knitted three crop tops, and decided this is what I’m doing.”...

Women Redefining Entrepreneurship

Here at Venture Centre, we don't shy away from hairy problems. And, over the past two years, we’ve noticed that the women entrepreneurs (who make up 61% of our community members) don’t either. As a women-founded and run organisation, we know the tenacity of women entrepreneurs firsthand. Female founders are strong and resilient pillars of their family units who pursue benefits for people over profit. Ultimately, women entrepreneurs are exactly what the world needs and that’s why we’re g...

Top Trends That Will Shape The Year Ahead

To get the ball rolling for 2022 we chatted with our co-founder Pascale Hyboud-Peron about the top trends Venture Centre will be aligning its focus with: Woman and EntrepreneurshipWellbeing and Mental HealthThe Web3 Opportunity Our hope is that conversation will be sparked, and our learning and actions will be inspired by these trends throughout the year to come. We’re looking forward to a year of continued growth within our community and their lives and businesses. Woman and Entrepreneurship...

Sharing Food and Growing Community

Our entrepreneurs in this month’s spotlight are Cherish Wilkinson and Emelie Verseput, co-founders of Wā Kai, the meal-sharing platform for busy people.  Wā Kai’s story began in April last year, when Cherish and Emelie joined forces at Startup Weekend Tairāwhiti, building a startup in 54 hours....

The Growth Practice of Reflection

Each month, season, and year brings different growth opportunities for entrepreneurs. An effective way of maximising this growth is setting aside time to reflect. Reflection is the practice of looking back on your experiences, feelings, actions and perspectives. By intentionally looking back, you can gain insights, vision for the future, and recognize how far you’ve come.With many aspects of life being out of our control, reflection can be a useful tool to acknowledge the aspects of life ...

Insights from Young Enterprise CEOs

Each year, 4000 Kiwi students around the country form teams to participate in the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES). This year in the Western Bay of Plenty, over 160 students created and ran 28 new companies, completing a series of challenges including validation, promotion, sales and pitching....

Where Do I Start With Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is more than the occasional social media post (although these are important). It’s any promotion of your brand that connects you with potential customers by using the internet and other forms of digital communication....

Young Entrepreneurs pave the way with community solutions to big problems

Ākonga (students) from six colleges show us how it’s done and won’t let the pandemic stop them from innovating and making an impact in their local communities. The Young Enterprise Scheme has sparked the entrepreneurial spirit in over 160 students in the Western Bay of Plenty running 28 new companies this year and they are only just getting started! ...

Doing Good With The Help Of Digital

Our entrepreneurs in this month’s spotlight are the self-dubbed purists Pat Ward and Anne Billing of Happy Horizons, the all-natural health and body products business.  Happy Horizon’s story begins over 10 years ago, when Pat found herself in the personal care products space after her health took a dive. Part of her journey back to wellness was investigating the products she was using. ...

Level Up And Move Forward

Buried deep in the doing, it can be difficult to see the patterns you’re repeating and the steps you could be taking to alleviate the stress.  Luckily, taking simple steps can refresh your perspective, realign you with your goals and renew your sense of purpose and focus. A few of our favourites are below:...

Meet Our Newest Team Member

This month’s entrepreneur spotlight is a special one as we get to introduce the newest member of the Venture Centre team. Meet Kendra Stone, Project Lead. ...

Our Community | Creating Ripples

At the heart of Venture Centre is our vision to build community. We curate, connect and coordinate a local entrepreneurial ecosystem with the goal of making positive change in our wider community.For Venture Centre, creating community looks like bringing people together at events, facilitating capability building activities and experiences and supporting ventures that solve today's biggest challenges....

Joining the Startup Community

Finding and becoming part of the Startup Community in Tauranga can feel difficult, especially if you’ve only known the path to having a ‘standard’ job or career. However, if you’re wanting to start your own business or explore the potential of your ideas, you’ll need support, advice and your fellow entrepreneurs to walk the journey with.So how do you get involved in Tauranga’s Startup Community? At Venture Centre, Startup Weekend is one of our doors of entry into a communit...

Why Do I Need A Mentor?

Being an entrepreneur can be lonely, confusing and challenging. Especially when tapping into your potential is this vague concept, rather than a laid out path. Because, we all have potential. So how can we unlock it? ...

Project Lead Wanted, is it you?

Venture Centre is hiring a Project Lead in Tauranga... we are a bit excited and we hope you are too!We’re hiring a Project Lead to help us deliver on our mission to equip and guide entrepreneurs with the skills and knowledge they need to grow their businesses. This is a part time, one year position.About the RoleOur goal is to make Venture Centre entrepreneurs and small business owners’ first choice of support network for knowledge and connections. By delivering epic events for motivated ope...