Maggie Peacock is the co-founder of Fruitful Packaging (formerly Bayuble) and newly appointed Marketing Executive for Icehouse Ventures.

Maggie grew up in a rural town in Hawkes Bay and is a graduate in UC Product Design School's Chemical Formulation degree. With a passion for eliminating plastics, Maggie alongside co-founders Zoe and Sarah decided to look into their own backyard. During their last year at secondary school they participated in the Lion Foundation's Young Enterprise Scheme and decided to tackle the issue of plastic stickers in the fruit industry.

Having gone through Entre's Enterprise Challenge, UCE's Summer Startup Programme, Ministry of Awesome, and then Sprout Agritech, Bayuble pivoted to become Fruitful Packaging, a biodegradable, vegan, and eatable, cling wrap film made from fruit waste.

After graduating Maggie spent a year of continuing to develop Fruitful before taking up the opportunity to join Icehouse Ventures as a Marketing Executive. Where Maggie gets to fulfil her passion for finding, investing in, and supporting startups that have the potential to transform the future of New Zealand.

We talk with Maggie about her childhood, the founding of Bayuble, experience in co-founding her venture and going through various accelerator programs, alongside her new role with Icehouse Ventures.

In this episode Ben and Pete get the privilege of going and visiting Mike Pero at his Mike Pero Gallery, where we talk to Mike about his life and entrepreneurial journey.

Mike is a serial entrepreneur and household name in Aotearoa, as the founder of Mike Pero Mortgages, Mike Pero Real Estate, an aviation enthusiast, and 6 x NZ Motorbike racing champion. Over the years he's helped launch and invested in a plethora of other companies from building flight simulators to airlines.

Mike shares with us his journey and what shaped him as a child, alongside how attention to detail, systems, and high performance helped launch his success.

P.S. if you can hear a humming sound in the background, that's Mike's Boeing 737 - 800 flight simulator that Ben got to take on a flight around Ōtautahi.

Monique Lau is a UC Chemical Formulation Masters student with the UC Product Design School and founder of Endosoothe.

Monique founded Endosoothe based on her own painful experiences of suffering from endometriosis during her teens and early twenties. This provided Monique with the passion and drive to support women around the world with a range of natural products and educational support to alleviate the pain and stigma experienced by over 10% of all women.

Monique has been on a rollercoaster ride since forming Endosoothe and was the 2023 Momentum Student Entrepreneur of the Year. Having recently returned from the US Angel Capital Association summit in Ohio, Monique talks to us about her journey, launching Endosoothe, burnout, and her tips for emerging entrepreneurs.

Max Donaldson is the founder of GREENKIWI BIO-ACTIVES, a B2B ingredients supplier that provides bio-active ingredients made from primary sector waste streams, including olive leaf. Supplying to a range of functional food, beverage, and natural health brands across New Zealand.

Born out of Max's experience of growing up on his family farm in the Far North and involvement in The Lion Foundations Young Enterprise Scheme. Max, is one of UCE's student entrepreneurs in residence. A driven founder with a passion for New Zealand's food, fibre, and agri-tech sector.

In this episode, we talk to Adrian Palmer about his journey from drummer of Zed through to co-founding a range of purpose-led businesses that are sparking impact in the world including Addington Coffee Co-op, Common Good Coffee, and Joyya.

Alli Kennedy is a serial young founder, with long-standing involvement with both UCE, and the Lion Foundation's Young Enterprise Scheme.

We talk with Alli as she gets ready to launch her new board game Sharenanigans which makes building investment and financial literacy fun for the whole family.

Alli shares with us her journey, her plethora of ventures since her early teens, and why she believes it's important to open up more conversations surrounding the importance of investing.

In this episode we sit down with Emma Arvidson and Renee Tauwhare, best friends since early childhood and the co-founders of Teiny.

Teiny is an emerging oat milk powder company that is seeking to bridge the gap between the nutritional qualities of dairy milk, alongside the sustainability of oat milk. With enhanced nutritional qualities, an amazing taste, and minimal packaging, Teiny are on a fast-tracked trajectory to disrupt the plant-based milk market and will be launching to supermarkets late 2024.

Emma is a Chemical Formulation - Product Design School Masters student and Renee recently came to UC after quitting her interior design job and starting to study Commerce, all in a bid to support Emma with the launch of Teiny.

Emma and Renee share their journey so far, their tips of emerging founders, and how they manage to remain best friends while co-founding a venture together.

Ben Kepes is the co-founder of Cactus Outdoor and the owner of Albion Clothing.

As a keen outdoor enthusiast, Ben shares with us his journey surrounding the formation of Cactus Outdoor, being on of the few remaining NZ made clothing manufacturers in Aotearoa, and his hopes for the next generation.

Introducing the Launch Pod