Krissie Cichon with her wax brush invention for hair removal. She is one of the Innovate Hawke's Bay finalists. Photo / Warren Buckland
Krissie Cichon with her wax brush invention for hair removal. She is one of the Innovate Hawke's Bay finalists. Photo / Warren Buckland
When beauty therapist and working mum Krissie Cichon was short for time and wanted to help clients a light bulb went on.
Cichon designed an invention which allows people to apply hot wax for hair removal easily at home, rather than rely on professionals or the tricky method of usinga wax pot and wooden spatula themselves.
The Havelock North resident has now turned her silicone wax brush into a start-up business called Catelle and is one of seven finalists named for the inaugural Innovate Hawke's Bay contest.
The Innovate Hawke's Bay contest - for start-ups and entrepreneurs - is holding its awards night on Wednesday at Toitoi Hawke's Bay Arts and Events Centre where the winner will be crowned and receive $5000.
Cichon, who moved to Hawke's Bay about two years ago from Western Australia, came up with her invention idea a few years ago.
She said her invention - a wax brush applicator - basically involves inserting a wax stick into the brush before heating it up, such as in a microwave.
"You then squeeze it and apply. The bristles at the top hold the wax so it does not drip," she said.
"You can tip the wax applicator upside down and the wax won't drip out."
Cichon said she had done a lot of research and had not seen the idea used before in her 25 years in the beauty industry.
Since July this year she has worked hard on getting the business up and running and has sold about 80 orders since launching catellewax.co.nz six weeks ago. The wax kits sell for between $40 and $70.
She said the support from Innovate Hawke's Bay had been fantastic.
"I have had beauty businesses from about the age of 20 ... but business is always evolving and changing.
"It is so different now. I used to have a retail shop and you would open the doors in the morning, whereas now things are online and we have Covid to deal with."
Dave Craig, the chief executive of The Factory, which runs Innovate Hawke's Bay, said it hoped to run the contest and programme again next year in the region following good take-up this year.
All the finalists have gone through a 10-week mentorship programme helping them with their business ideas.
"Lots of people came in with just rough and raw ideas and on Wednesday you will see properly polished business plans that can rival [top start-ups]."
The youngest finalist in Hawke's Bay is Oliver McCarthy, 18, who attends Taradale High School and whose idea focuses on improving internet access in rural areas.
Innovate has been operating in Manawatu for the past decade.
