Soak and River City Labs go way back. They’re our start-up alma mater, our brand ground-zero, our friends, our partners and a veritable foundation of information, insight and experience. We were happy to lend the helping hand (and brain) of our accounts MVP, Truin Chapman to an entrepreneurial judging panel.
We’ll check-in on the why and when in a moment. Let’s briefly look at the what…
Not Like Other School Clubs
St Paul’s School partnered with RCL to create and launch an Entrepreneurs Club for secondary students. The planners aimed to give Brisbane’s teens a leg to stand on in this fast-paced, blink-and-there-goes-another-job world we call the professional sphere.
To the surprise of nobody… it was an instant hit.
The Third Judge
Soak spared Truin on the 23rd of November, as he sat down with Peta Ellis of River City Labs and David Freeman of Amazon to open an expert ear to six compelling pitches from fifteen St Paul’s students. Three judges. Six groups. Six very strong reasons to say yes. But there could only be one winning idea.
The Winners – The Stitch Up
Sarah McDonald and Harriet Nixon have got their post-graduation plan sorted. The Stitch Up repurposes old keepsake shirts and jerseys into decorative pillows, combining pragmatic innovation with decorative sentiment…quirky, scalable and marketable.
When we asked Truin why the Stitch Up threaded his interest, he quickly identified a smart, straight forward ideation as the master stroke, adding an extra nod to the community and sustainability twist.
Although the two winners are in Year 11, with their senior year remaining, McDonald and Nixon have been nailing down demographics and potential market segments.
“We can make up to five in an hour, per person. The next step is to increase our manufacturing capacity, increase our marketing, and formalise the business operations,” McDonald explained
We can’t argue with ambition.
Fostering Fresh Talent
Soak Creative sponsored a seat at Moreton Ventures Bootcamp, facilitated by the widely renowned and NEIS awarded Michael Rodgers-Belhaus. The Stitch Up will be evaluated across a two-day intensive, while qualifying them for the next stage, the M.V Discovery Incubator.
Are You a St Paul’s Entrepreneur?
No? It may be time to change schools. Regarding the future of the Entrepreneurs Club, Dr Renae Jones dropped this little hint to River City Labs:
“In some ways, the Club is its own start-up. We have our minimum viable product, it’s now a case of scaling it up and expanding its capacity. It really is something that differentiates St Paul’s School from many other schools in Australia.”
Bring on 2017!
