The BVIH Pitch Final results

On Thursday the 28th of November, the members of our second cohort came together at Bega Valle Civic Centre to pitch their innovative business ideas to a large audience and panel of industry experts.

Among the participants of the pitch were Jed Done & Patricia Mills, Sarah Campbell-Lambert, Karolina Russell, Leanne Atkinson, Jo Lane and Dinah Facius.

With a range of outstanding ideas from solving housing issues to sustainable kelp farming, all of the pitches sounded promising to the judges however only one winner could be chosen and that was the founder of Sea Health Products, Jo Lane.

Lane’s pitch outlined how she planned to start Australia’s first golden kelp farm, stating that kelp was “a sustainable form of farming that provides a nutrient-dense crop” that has the ability to help the environment by absorbing carbon dioxide. iAccelerate CEO and pitch judge Omar Khalifa was impressed, stating that her proposal had “huge, huge potential”.

Coming in second place was husband and wife team Patricia Mills & Jed Done from Jed Done Surfboards. Their innovative design has resulted in the reverse curve flextail surfboard, which is the only one of its kind on the market. “It goes faster than anything else that’s available” said Patricia, when speaking about their design.

Third place was awarded to Leanne Atkinson with her proposal for Road to Home, which saw her re-imagine the landscape for those struggling to become a home owner. Her pitch explored how she plans to introduce people to tiny house builders or sellers, discuss suitable loans and finance options for the buyers with banks and connect them with land owners who are looking to rent their land.  Judge Stephanie Kimber from the department of foreign affairs and trade even said that it was “a model that could be sold globally”.

To read more about the pitch, please read the article written by Bega Valley District News