Rochelle and Greg for S'Mart Tank

This morning Rochelle, one of our mentors, came in to share her expertise with us at S'Mart Tank.

She talked about sustainable business - green, eco or social business. Businesses that are not just about the product and the profit, but about the community also. Maintaining a profit while also not hurting the environment.

• Recycling
• Using local products
• Taking responsibility for the whole life cycle of the design
• Not having a single use product
• Not adding to landfill
• Long term effect of our product or service
• Are the resources sustainable / recycled?
• As an entrepreneur you can also think about your environmental and/or social impact

Rochelle talked about a circular economy. Where businesses are sustainable and have minimal environmental impact.

NZ companies are ranked on their 'green-ness'.

• Being sustainable can give you an edge in the market, consumers want to make a positive choice
• We have a moral and ethical choice to make

Rotorua's Zipline Tours is a zipline that takes you on a tourist tour! It is exciting but they also trapped rodents and encouraged wildlife to return to the areas to enable them to be allowed to use the forest. What an awesome idea! There was a huge change in the wildlife which was great for the environment but also made more people come and be part of their tours. School groups, businesses and individuals are getting involved in their own community. An amazing example of a sustainable business.

We can make a huge difference to our futures.

Greg owns a New World supermarket.

Greg told us that the South Island Pak n Save and New World supermarkets alone, they use one million bags every week!! They are aiming to be plastic bag free in one year. This is going to be a huge change in habit.

Many different companies are trying to get into this market.

What happens to the cardboard and plastic after use? We need to try to recycle as much as possible. Companies are paid to recycle.

The evil skip goes to landfill! We need to be educated around this, how can we do this?

Inside there need to be separate bins for rubbish, recycling, paper and green waste.

Along the aisles they are trying to reduce packaging and waste. Project Naked is trying to remove all plastic from produce.

What ideas do we have to reduce supermarket waste?

New World work alongside Help For the Homeless to pass on leftover food.

Craig Tuffnell for S'Mart Tank

Did You Know?

This morning our second mentor, Craig Tuffnell, came to share his knowledge with us. He is a "Start Up" businessman, specialising in technology or products.

Craig talked about the importance of having a problem to solve in order to get buy in from other people. Getting people on board to raise capital (money) is crucial. You may need investors. Making a personal connection is so important.

Ezra worked out that buying shares in a future successful company would be a great way to make money!

You need different skills in your team to be successful.

You need customers to buy your product or service so that you can make money. You need to know your customers well. Sometimes the customers don't know what they need or want until you create it!

Make sure you are solving the right problem. If someone doesn't like your product they won't buy it and they may also tell others not to buy it. We discussed the possibilities or creating an effective laundry chute! Usability is really important. Getting people to use your product before selling it is an important step. "Don't listen to what people say, watch what they do."

How do you know if your idea is going to work in the market?? You really need to sell it to see if people buy it. If not, you may need to create a new idea. You need to keep the problem that you are trying to sell in mind. MVP - mini viable product - is an important term. It is different from a prototype. MVPs need to be of a quality that can do the job and sell.

This is easier with software products that can be made cheaply and put on the App Store. It is more difficult with hardware products.

If you listen to the early adopters you may only make a product that is right for them. Think about the segway, this is mostly in a 'niche market' now.

Trends are critical. For example fidget spinners. For some products these trends don't last long. MP3 players are a great example. These were not initially made by Apple. Apple often waits until technologies are advanced enough to work well for their customers.

We don't have to come up with a completely original idea - we could adapt. Kathmandu and MacPac compete directly with many of the same products. How do we know which products are good quality?

Plans are great but also useless! You need to be flexible with your planning - stick to it until your plan stops working - then you change your plan.

Marketing is very important - a great product can fail with poor marketing. Advertising, market analysis, promotion are all important aspects. Promotion is how you make people aware of your product - where are you going to advertise? Taste testing in supermarkets are part of promotions. 

A business owner is a person or people invest in your company - the majority share holder/s.

Governance ensures that good decisions are made and the company are following regulations. This may be a board of directors who help guide a company. Our mentors will be our governors - people who you go to for advice.

Sometimes start ups just don't work!

Edie said that she needs to make sure that her product is actually usable.

Braydon needs to use a prototype wisely.

Ben talked about the need for effective advertising.

Thank you Craig for bringing your ideas and expertise to S'Mart Tank.