CORE Start: Meet the Participants
CORE Start is an Australia-wide entrepreneurial mentorship and advisory program that aims to develop a founders capabilities to effectively scale their business and help foster a thriving entrepreneurial community.
The free 12 week program is focused on helping start ups find a framework to enact change through ongoing mentoring and advisory sessions along with innovation and leadership workshops.
This week we kick off Round 2 for 2021 and we are so pleased to welcome 5 new entrepreneurs to the program; Christabel Brand, Managing Director at Portable Spectral Services; Natasha Leppard, Operations Manager at Soft Rigging Solutions; Jessica Shakes, Founder of Helme; Pete Chirgwin, Director of Chameleon Mettle Group; and Wesley Emery, Director & Petrophysicist of iRPM.
We asked each of the participants to tell us a little bit about themselves and to share what they are hoping to get out of CORE Start.
Christabel Brand, Managing Director, Portable Spectral Services
Portable Spectral Services provides spectral instruments that provide realtime and green analysis to the mining industry. The company aims to provide reliable alternatives to expensive laboratory spectral analysis utilizing non-destructive techniques. Portable Spectral Services is working to speed up the quantification calculations and automation of analysis and find reliable solutions to better manage the processing and storage of large amounts of data.
As the team is developing commercially viable products and seeking to rapidly scale, Christabel applied for CORE Start to help gain insight from experts at this critical growth stage of the company.
Natasha Leppard, Operations Manager at Soft Rigging Solutions
Soft Rigging Solutions is helping to make mine sites safer through the manufacture of soft shackles that are award-winning, patented, engineer certified and not available anywhere else in the world. Made with a product called Dyneema, Soft Rigging Solutions Poseidon Shackle is four times lighter than the traditionally used steel D shackle that weighs 58kg, making lifting the shackle more accessible to more workers and unlike traditional steel shackles, if the weight capacity is exceeded to point of destruction, there is no release of stored energy which removes serious risk of injury to nearby personal and damage to surrounding equipment.
While the company is relatively young, only 2 years old, they have grown substantially to become the site standard for BMA and vendors for major mining companies such as BHP, Glencore and Peabody. Natasha applied to CORE Start to build on her business knowledge to ensure sustainable growth is achieved and to leverage advice from experienced mentors and directors.
Jessica Shakes, Founder of Helme
Helme understands that heavy mobile asset downtime caused by recurring electrical failures is a key issue facing mining operators, contractors, and service providers at present. Many of these downtime events are related to the performance and reliability of the electrical products and the systems currently installed on these assets. More, when electrical failures inevitably occur, Helme have identified obstacles to the opportunity for efficient and effective diagnosis and maintenance outcomes.
As a result, Helme is developing mechanical and technology-driven solutions to decrease the number of downtime events caused by electrical failures. We are also seeking to reduce the duration of these downtime events when they do, inevitably, occur. All of this is toward increasing the productivity potential of the heavy mobile asset fleets owned or utilised by our customers.
Co-founder, Jess joined CORE Start to help validate Helme’s assumptions, refine its business model and product pitch, and seek guidance on scaling effectively for long-term success.
Peta Chirgwin, Director of Chameleon Mettle Group
Chameleon Mettle Group is helping companies prepare for work in a digital world. Utilising biometric technologies they provide in-depth analysis and risk assessments of their partner’s human-systems integration approach to help them create good work design and more effectively manage change when implanting new technologies to the workplace. Unlike many technology companies, Chameleon Mettle Group’s core strength is their focus on the human element of implementing technology within a workplace.
Realising a gap when it comes to well-being and psychosocial risk with technology integration , Peta joined CORE start to leverage the extensive knowledge networks and experience CORE can bring to the table. Peta is looking to further validate her assumptions and develop a minimal viable product ahead of their official launch.
Wesley Emery, Director & Petrophysicist of iRPM
iRPM was created as an alternative interpretation to the conceptual, statistical and probabilistic modelling that has traditionally been used in the Oil & Gas industry to quantify the subsurface hydrocarbon volumes. Based on data averages and probability, the current industry methods for such modelling are notoriously inaccurate. iRPM applies their methods to more reliably evaluate the hydrocarbon reservoir properties from the exploration until abandonment, all constrained to a 3D Seismic dataset.
As a young start-up, Wesley is looking to develop and validate a minimum viable product and gain more knowledge in business strategy focusing or product-market fit and expansion strategy.
CORE is so excited to be supporting these companies over the next 12 weeks with our specifically designed entrepreneurial development program.
If you are interested in being a part of the next round of CORE Start, fill out an expression of interest now. When applications for Round 3 open, we’ll let you know.