Every year Soda Inc. works with fantastic, ambitious and passionate people from all over New Zealand who are travelling a path less travelled.

To celebrate they are holding an event on November 15 at Wintec’s Atrium from 4 – 6pm and 200 people have already registered.

Soda’s Ambition Showcase celebrates the entrepreneurial journey – the highs and the lows. Guests will hear from Soda start-up companies who will bravely share insights and learnings from their entrepreneurial journeys so far, as well as a guest speaker, digital entrepreneur and current Soda mentor, Jenene Crossan.

Soda is a Hamilton-based business incubator that works with founders from all industry sectors to create a customised support program based on founder’s needs. Soda goes to market on a case-by-case basis, both locally and internationally, to find the perfect mentor match for their incubated start-ups.

Soda Inc. head of operations Rachel Adams said the event was a chance to share learnings and tell stories to motivate, inspire and encourage others into entrepreneurship.

“It’s a story telling exercise so people can get a sense of how everyone’s journey is different."

She said it was a celebration of how far Soda members had come and a showcase for those who may want to know more or even get involved.

“We want to help people see and understand how the Soda programmes are different for each company that chooses to go through our programmes,” she said.

The line-up:

‍Ben Hawken who threw in his well-paying corporate job to follow his start-up business dream and Rikus Wiehahn who taught himself how to code to build their first business Offload App.

Natashia and Michael Lucas who started a food co-operative and found the logistics and administration of running one was a nightmare and went about solving this for other co-ops with technology platform FareShare.

Maggie Mitchell who faced the tragedy of losing husband, co-founder and inventor, but is still carrying on growing Departure Lounge caskets.

Dr. Susan Wheeler, who has faced every imaginable barrier to grow New Zealand's hop industry through her business Hop Revolution, will share her incredible journey to date and partnership with MyFarm investments.

Finally, the special keynote speaker, the passionately disobedient Founder of Flossie, Jenene Crossan, will share her experience as an entrepreneur and change ambassador in New Zealand.

Following this storytelling session, a short graduation ceremony celebrating all the founders Soda had worked with throughout 2018 will take place. Champagne and networking will follow. Seats are limited so grab a ticket now for $35.