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 Wednesday 30 October at Wintec’s Atrium from 4 – 6pm and with people already registering you don’t want to miss you chance to grab a ticket!

Soda’s Ambition Showcase - powered by ASB Bank - celebrates the entrepreneurial journey – the highs and the lows.

Guests will hear from Soda startup companies who will bravely share insights and learnings from their entrepreneurial journeys so far, as well as two guest speakers; Sydney based digital entrepreneur and current Soda mentor, Samuel Junghenn and tech entrepreneur Vaughan Fergusson. 

Soda Inc. helps entrepreneurs take their ideas to the world. Soda has worked with over 650 startups in the past 10 years. Soda's programmes raise the entrepreneurial IQ and quality connections of New Zealand entrepreneurs by matching founders with carefully selected business rockstars and financial resources.

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 storytelling exercise so people can get a sense of how everyone’s journey is different.”

She said it was a celebration of how far our founders 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:  Lisette du Plessis, an editor who left her work with an award-winning publisher to start publishing "books that matter" in her own right.

Her startup business, Magpie, is a publisher that crowdfunds production costs of its books in advance through pre-sales, and thereafter sells books online and through retailers. As part of this, Magpie is giving a portion of its profits on every book to a cause dear to its authors’ hearts.

Pennie Hunt and Stefan Roesch who recently won Petridish’s competition, Rising Tide, giving them a place in our LIFT programme.

FilmQuest provides a platform for people who want to explore the world's iconic film locations, discover the best film tourism experiences and read about film-inspired travel stories.

Andrew Bishop who co-founded Findatruckload in 2009 after recognising the inefficiencies of the transport industry due to the empty movements of trucks and containers throughout New Zealand.

Over 1600 transport companies and over 1500 transport users are registered on their website which has led to over 90,000 loads being moved to date.

Georgia and Anna Tiatia Fa'aotese Latū, who make authentic Aotearoa original poi. As a fundraiser for an upcoming event mother and daughter duo, Pōtiki Poi, made poi and sold them on social media.

In one week they made $1000. Then they entered the Soda Inc. NZ Startup Bootcamp where they won People's Choice Award. The pair have gone on to make an amazing business selling their products world-wide.

One of our special keynote speakers is Vaughan Fergusson. Vaughan is the founder of Vend, a New Zealand high-growth tech success story, and founder of The Pam Fergusson Charitable Trust who run initiatives like OMGTech!, Mana Tangata and Voluntari.ly to help teach innovation and technology to kids of all ages and backgrounds.

He was EY's Tech Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014, a judge for the 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year programme and is the vice-chair of the NZ Hi-Tech Trust celebrating the NZ hi-tech industry through awards and education. More recently, he was a judge at the Soda Inc. NZ Startup Bootcamp and is one of Soda's startup mentors.

Every year Vaughan does an impossible challenge, something to take him out of his comfort zone, like running 1,000km, learning to sing to get a paid gig in front of 100 people or cycling around the world in 80 days.

Our other special keynote speaker is Samuel Junghenn. Samuel is a serial entrepreneur with a burning passion for online marketing.

Samuel is the Founder and Head Strategist of Think Big Online, Sydney’s fast growing Digital Marketing Agency. Under Samuel’s leadership, Think Big Online has acquired an enviable list of clients and has a team of 30 staff.

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.   With over 200 tickets already sold, seats are limited so grab a ticket now for $40.