Whanganui entrepreneurs awarded $10,000 kickstarter grant

Local sewing workshop owner Lee Williams was one of two Whanganui entrepreneurs who were awarded The Generator Innovation Fund grants. Photo / Bevan Conley

Two Whanganui small business owners have been chosen as the recipients of a kickstarter grant worth up to $10,000.

The grants come from The Generator, an Emerge Aotearoa Trust initiative funded by the Ministry of Social Development.

The organisation provides seed funding and mentorship to help people on low incomes start their business ventures and improve their financial situations.

The Generator manager Therese Ireland said the purpose of the fund was to grow local capacity and capability with business owners who have demonstrated the ability and commitment to lead within their own communities.

The Whanganui businesses that received the grants were the sewing workshop Paetuia Studio and Flowstate Holistic Centre.

To be selected, business owners were required to give a presentation to a panel of Emerge Aotearoa Trust and The Generator representatives.

Ireland said all recipients demonstrated the fund would increase income and reduce costs as well as increase aspects such as wellbeing, leadership, business skills and knowledge for themselves and others in their community.

"They are already established and are ready to scale up or modify.

"For some, this will involve taking it to the next step to increase income and wellbeing, and for businesses with a social enterprise focus, it will be working towards reducing community costs."

Paetuia Studio owner Lee Williams is a Māori costume designer and prop maker, with more than 20 years of experience in the industry.

She provides training and experience for up-and-coming costume and prop designers for the Aotearoa film, theatre and television industries.

Lee already provides free mentoring, coaching and support for a number of people in the Whanganui region, and the fund will enable her to run workshops to train and provide a pipeline workforce of costume and prop makers to meet the film and theatre industries' demands.

The fund will also enable her to provide heating, sewing machines, and equipment in her studio, develop more workshops, access support services like a lawyer or accountant, as well as health and safety experts.

She will also be able to collect and install an industrial seam-sealing sewing machine, that was donated to her.

Flowstate Holistic Centre owner Kyle Gallacher has run free Muay Thai training, meditation and breathwork classes for adults and children in Whanganui.

Gallacher later learned how to turn his services into a profitable business which still allows him to charge affordable prices with a koha option for those in need.

He will be able to expand his income streams thanks to the fund, which will widen the reach of his services and increase his capacity to deliver classes, holistic health coaching courses, workshops and wellness retreats.

The funding will allow him to purchase a sauna and ice bath service, kettlebells and gym equipment for use in his classes, signage for his business, hire a professional cleaner to clean up new spaces and provide free outdoor Qi Gong classes monthly, as well as provide free online content.