Innovation nation 2020 – Taranaki

With their fuel cell technology, Taranaki-based Hiringa Energy is helping New Zealand move away from fossil fuels with clean hydrogen energy.  From an end-user point of view, it’s easy to understand why the dominant technology powering our vehicles has been liquid fuel in the form of petrol and diesel. It takes minutes to fill up […]

Founder/s: Melissa and Chester Young HQ: Taranaki What problems do you solve and what products or services do you sell? Little Liberty is a plant-based creamery crafting premium frozen desserts free from dairy, gluten, soy, and egg. Our goal has always been to offer individuals with dietary restrictions or particular allergies/intolerances a product that isn’t […]

Taranaki-based Kaitahi is an iwi-owned enterprise making frozen superfood smoothy drops out of traditional Maori ingredients.  Being predominantly rural, the iwi (tribe) wanted to look for opportunities outside of the dairy and mining industries that would provide employment, and businesses that were less invasive on the environment.  They weren’t only searching for opportunities that would […]

New Zealand Quinoa Company founders Kate and Hamish Dunlop have just planted their fifth crop of the nutritious grain, having made it through cyclones, raising children and occasional supermarket scepticism. It’s been a good year for the quinoa couple, who now supply the shelves of 150 supermarkets.  Natural Quinoa Puffs and packets of Natural Quinoa […]

Taranaki startup Jobhop is on a mission to make the gig economy fair. The job-sharing platform went live in June  after getting through two years of work and overcoming plenty of pain points, and its latest achievement is winning the Innovation Excellence Award at the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards on November 14.    […]

New Plymouth’s Juno Gin is zero-waste from start to finish using Kiwi engineering and locally sourced ingredients.  To Juno Gin founders Jo and Dave James, the best way to conduct market research is by getting their gin into customers’ hands – served neat.  “It’s a revelation for them,” says Jo, “They often say, ‘I had […]

When lockdown hit economies worldwide early in 2020, New Plymouth medical bed and stretcher manufacturer Howard Wright Limited found a way to thrive.  Having become a significant but still relatively small manufacturer in the global market of medical beds and stretchers across 57 years – operating “Between the toes of elephants,” in the words of […]

Founder/s: Matthew Parkinson & Josh Ta̅kao HQ: Taranaki Wai Comply founders Matthew Parkinson and Josh Ta̅kao aim to deliver a high-quality service to the Drinking-Water sector, to help create safer drinking-water. Michael Botur finds out more. What problems do you solve and what products or services do you sell? M – In 2016, Havelock North […]