Women Love Tech is a proud media partner of HATCH Taronga Accelerator Programme, and I was privileged to be one of the mentors. I would love you to join in on the free online HATCH Pitch Event to hear from these inspiring founders.
But first find out more from Danielle Fryday, the Community Conservation and Engagement Office for HATCH Taronga Accelerator Programme, She has written about five of the amazing start ups and founders who are part of the organisation’s first accelerator programme.
This year 2020 will go down in the history books for many reasons. While this year has brought a lot of sadness and struggle for many people, like many challenges it also had silver linings for many including a chance to step off the busy treadmill of life and reassess priorities and an increased awareness of the environmental concerns we face as a global community.
At Taronga Conservation Society Australia, 2020 has also brought its challenges, but one of the highlights has been the inaugural HATCH: Taronga Accelerator Program. HATCH is all about hatching brilliant ideas for the planet. It is a 14-week accelerator program that supports people with innovative initiatives that address current environmental or conservation issues. The program provides education, mentoring and peer support to help participants to develop, test and launch their initiatives.
The first HATCH Program has supported ten passionate founders to develop five exciting initiatives that will enable greater sustainability outcomes in our everyday lives. It has been a privilege to support these teams and so inspiring to see them persevere through everything this year has thrown at them. Their tenacity and determination has been remarkable as they chase the vision of a greener future.
Below are the five incredible HATCH ventures that are shaping a more sustainable future:
- Every Drop, founded by Samantha Moody – Giving Australians the tools to take charge of their water, improve their communities’ climate resilience and ensuring we all have fair and equitable access to water today and tomorrow.
- Good-Edi, founded by Catherine Hutchins and Aniyo Rahebi – An edible and truly biodegradable coffee cup; a coffee experience that’s good for you and the planet.
- PoopLoop, founded by James Lyle, Samuel Hughes, James Chan and Sam Quinn – A community-based composting system turning dog poo from a waste product into a valuable local resource.
- RePlated, founded by Naomi Tarszisz – A truly circular reusable takeaway container system made from recycled PET, committed to making single-use history.
- TOMbag, founded by Aleksandra (Sasha) and Johnathan Pestano – On a mission to rid the world of single-use garbage bags with their sustainable and functional world first reusable garbage bag.
Please join us on Tuesday 10th November at 6.00pm for the free online HATCH Pitch Event to hear from and celebrate these inspiring founders. On the night you will have the opportunity to vote for your favourite team in the People’s Choice Award, and find out which team will be awarded the HATCH major funding grant! Register here.
Taronga Conservation Society Australia and IBM Partnership
In separate news today, the NSW Minister for Environment The Hon. Matt Kean MP announced a collaboration between IBM and the Taronga Conservation Society Australia (TCSA) to improve critical conservation efforts across the state.
With almost 1000 species across NSW at risk of extinction, the TCSA will use a prototype developed by IBM to monitor the impacts of weather and climate changes on local habitats, giving researchers the information needed to plan ahead for wildlife protection. Created by experts volunteering for IBM’s Service Corps pro bono consulting program, the prototype will operate with the help of IBM’s cloud, data and analytics technology.