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Local businesses emerge victorious in inaugural Albany IHub competition

Campbell WilliamsonAlbany Advertiser
Kate Marwick, Lucy Anderton, Russell Hare and Rob Mason.
Camera IconKate Marwick, Lucy Anderton, Russell Hare and Rob Mason. Credit: Supplied

Two local businesses have emerged as the inaugural winners of the Albany iHub Pitch It competition, sharing the grand prize of $15,000.

Fifteen innovators were given the chance to pitch their business innovations to an expert investor panel with the winners set to reinvest their winnings to grow their business.

Over three hours of fierce competition, Gloria Dieu Farms and Lucy Anderton emerged as victors with pitches both geared towards creating better farming practices and experiences.

With a mission to produce fresh, healthy and tasty food using regenerative farm practices, Gloria Dieu Farms boasts more than 2000 trees on its property in Mt Barker.

They will invest their prize money into a promotional campaign and use it to improve the efficiency of production practices on the farm.

Meanwhile, Lucy Anderton will develop her FARMSMART initiative, a scenario planning tool with the capacity to do budgets and compare actuals on the farm.

Using science, data and technology, FARMSMART is envisioned to help guide decision making on the farm.

WorklinkWA chief executive Ben Killey said local initiatives such as Gloria Dieu Farms were important for creating local jobs in a sustainable way.

Albany iHub developer Anne Sparrow agreed.

Ms Sparrow said that through the competition innovators were given the chance to spruik their business and strengthen their practices.

“The Pitch It competition provided opportunity for 15 innovators to showcase their business to the business community ... who knows where it will lead them to from now on,” she said.

“The event was full and received a lot of interest from innovators out there.”

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