Soda Mentors

Meet our mentors

Soda's business growth mentors are matched with our entreprenuers and businesses to ensure the right advice, rigorous support and established processes can be implemented at the right time. We'll seek to find a business mentor who can deliver on the needs of our start-up and entrepreneurial community.
(Please note that this is not a complete list of our mentors, but just a selection. If one of our current mentors doesn't meet your needs, we will go to market to find the perfect mentor to help you and your business thrive!)

Alexander Fala

CEO, Syft Technologies

Alexander is an established commercial expert, committed to helping kiwi companies succeed on the international stage

Andrea Hammond

Founder/CEO, Hustle & Bustle

Andrea is an experienced entrepreneur, specialising in business and brand strategy, PR, communications and senior management.

Anthony Burt

Founder/CEO, East Imperial

Tony has a proven record of leadership in the advertising and start-up environment, and specialises in offering strategic advice.

Brianne West

Founder/CEO, Ethique

An envrionmentalist and social entrepreneur, Brianne's areas of specialty include entrepreneurship, product development and sales.

John Macaskil-Smith

CEO, Director, Advisor

John has a keen eye for big data and innovative digital solutions to deliver drastically improved outcomes and impressive commercial results.

Kale Panoho

Partner, K&J Growth

Kale loves helping companies and people from around the world expand their business by creating, growing and exploring their market with data and creativity.

Kate O'Leary

Independent Director

Kate has more than 15 years’ experience as an entrepreneur in the food and beverage industry and specialises in start-up and growth strategies.

Malcolm Rands

Founder/CEO, Ecostore

Malcolm’s areas of expertise include product and brand development, as well as business strategy.

Pana Barbouris

Entrepreneur

Pana is an innovative entrepreneur, being involved in a couple of businesses, both in the international chocolate market.

Robert Achten

Co-Founder, Animals Like Us

Rob enjoys working with businesses to improve customer insights, brand strategy and product innovation.

Robert Hollis

Founder, Aranui Ventures

Robett’s areas of expertise include anything video/television, as well as online marketing.

Sacha Coburn

COO, Coffee Culture

Sacha’s areas of expertise include business coaching/strategy, management and public speaking.

Samuel Junghenn

Founder/Head Strategist, Think Big Online

Samuel's digital marketing agency in Sydney is renowned for its use of data analytics to obtain insight into digital advertising campaign performance.

Tesh Randell

Co-founder & Co-director, Raglan Food Co

Tesh’s areas of expertise include brand strategy and marketing. She is also very interested in sustainability.

Vaughan Fergusson

Inventor, Institute of Awesome

Vaughan’s area of expertise lies in start-ups, e-commerce and SaaS.