Entrepreneur challenges business owners to help save the environment
- : Paste & Publish
- : 24/02/2021
Paste & Publish, a New Zealand based content marketing agency announced today that they are setting aside 5% of revenue to provide pro bono work to selected environmental projects that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford professional help.
Paste & Publish Founder, Callum Armstrong, says that this commitment is important because our natural world is in a state of crisis.
“I believe that it is our responsibility as business owners to help create the future we want to leave for our children.
There’s no silver bullet in the fight against climate change, but every little bit of help makes a difference,” says Armstrong.
“That’s why we have built philanthropy into our business model – to ensure that as we grow, so does our positive impact on the planet.”
The first project that will receive support from their 5% pledge is The Reforestation Fund. This fund, which is set to launch later in the year, provides sustainable and ethical brands with a way to help the environment as part of their offering.
Companies who support The Reforestation Fund donate a small amount from every sale on selected products, and are allowed to display the fund’s endorsement in return. Money raised is used to help community projects that plant native forests and support groups that look after our native plants and wildlife.
The Reforestation Fund co-founder, Anna Wentsch, says that people are looking for ways to support the environment, and that the services provided by Paste & Publish will empower TRF to make it easy for people to do just that.
“We are extremely grateful for the support that Paste & Publish is providing by designing our brand identity and rebuilding our website.
This will set up the foundations for us to connect people and companies with our natural world,” says Wentsch.
Armstrong says that companies who design philanthropy into their everyday operations experience a wide range of benefits. They often see higher rates of customer retention and trust, happier staff who know they are doing good in the world, increased sales and less reliance on price based competition.
About Paste & Publish
Based in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, Paste & Publish provides content marketing services to companies that want to grow. They help brands to attract their ideal customers by creating high value strategic content, and using sales funnels to convert them into paying clients. To find out more, visit www.pasteandpublish.com.
- IMG_5840_enhanced
- : Callum Armstrong
- : Managing Director
- : callum@pasteandpublish.com
- : 642102671022
- : https://www.pasteandpublish.com
- https://www.facebook.com/pasteandpublish | https://www.instagram.com/pasteandpublish | https://www.linkedin.com/company/71003381
Cin7 Acquires DEAR Systems, Orderhive to Create SaaS Inventory and Order Management Leader
- : Cin7
- : 18/02/2021 08:00
Combines leading capabilities of all three brands to offer complete range of solutions for all types of product sellers and sales channels
DENVER – Feb 17, 2021 — Cin7, a pioneering inventory and order management software company, today announced it has acquired DEAR Systems and Orderhive, forging a leading SaaS provider of inventory and order management software for all types of product sellers.
“The combination of these three great products covers the full range of product seller needs, immediately creating a significantly larger and fast-growing company with a massive global market opportunity,” said Cin7 CEO David Leach. “Together, we will empower product sellers to thrive and accelerate our growth by continuing to do what we each do best, working together to get every customer the best product for their needs, regardless of how they find and engage our combined business.”
Cin7 helps reduce the cost, time and effort of selling products for thousands of small to mid-sized businesses. The acquisition of DEAR Systems and Orderhive extends Cin7’s ability to help product sellers with shipping, manufacturing, warehouse management and automations. DEAR Systems brings added manufacturing functionality and a simplified user interface, which are perfectly suited to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and manufacturers. Meanwhile, Orderhive takes ecommerce capabilities to the next level and is a perfect choice for high-volume, high-velocity native ecommerce sellers. Now, with a greater range of solutions to fit any budget, the combined Cin7 does even more to reduce the reliance on disconnected software solutions and manual processes.
“DEAR Systems’ success has been driven by rapid product development and strong relationships with our partner network,” said Dr. Serguei Piltiaev, DEAR Systems founder and CEO. “Our team will continue to innovate as part of Cin7, offering a robust, intuitive solution for SMBs and manufacturers.”
“Joining with Cin7 is the latest milestone in Orderhive’s rapid growth story,” said Niraj Patel, Founder of Orderhive. “Cin7 is gaining one of the industry’s leading ecommerce solutions along with a very skilled development team. We view this combination as an opportunity to further accelerate Orderhive’s growth in new markets, together with Cin7 and DEAR.”
With the acquisitions of DEAR Systems and Orderhive, Cin7 now serves over 6,000 product sellers globally.
Media Contact:
Doug LaBahn
###
About Cin7
Cin7’s inventory and order management platform connects more than 550 ecommerce platforms, online marketplaces, 3PL warehouses, and native EDIs in one solution, helping retailers and product sellers quickly and efficiently get their products to customers wherever they are, from any channel. Cin7 was founded in New Zealand and supports product sellers in 25 countries. In early 2020 Cin7 established a significant US presence to serve its growing customer base and accelerate growth in the North American market. Every month, millions of orders flow through the platform, representing over a billion dollars of product sales, as Cin7 helps growing brands sell more products, to more customers, in more places.
About DEAR Systems
DEAR Systems is a cloud-based inventory management software platform serving more than 3,000 small-to-medium sized retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers and eCommerce product sellers. Founded in 2012, DEAR is an acronym for (Double Entry Accounting Records). DEAR started off as an Inventory Management add-on application for Xero and Quickbooks Online helping their SMB customers move to the cloud from legacy accounting software. Today, DEAR Systems is privileged to offer exceptional cloud ERP software to customers in over 75 countries. DEAR’s mission is to provide enterprise level tools to enable small businesses thrive and succeed on a global stage while competing with larger enterprises without the costs and complications of typical legacy ERP software.
About Orderhive
Orderhive is a SaaS-based solution that brings order, shipping and inventory management functionalities in one platform. It facilitates multi-channel order processing, streamlines back-end processes, and maintains a real-time inventory tracking system. Orderhive is a SaaS-based solution that brings order, shipping and inventory management functionalities in one platform. Orderhive provides seamless integrations with leading marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy etc, shopping carts like Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, etc, shipping partners like FedEx, USPS, UPS, DPD etc, accounting software like Quickbooks & Xero in a unified business tool. It has recorded 2500+ clients across the globe. Orderhive comes with a 15-day free trial and provides 24X7 customer support to its users.
- : Doug LaBahn
- : CMO
- : DougL@cin7.com
- : 6498897150
Exciting New Zealand-Based Freelance Website Answers Roaring Freelance Economy
- : Skill Connect
- : 05/02/2021
SkillConnect connects businesses and freelancers in an erupting remote work environment
New Zealand, (February 5, 2021) — SkillConnect is an exciting new freelance website that was created to answer the incredible demand for remote work opportunities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the website is operated in New Zealand, it presents businesses and freelancers with an opportunity to work with each other from virtually anywhere around the world. Account registration is free for both businesses and freelancers.
Officially launched in late 2020, SkillConnect was built from the ground-up as an innovative freelancer platform that is easy to use for both businesses and freelancers.
The site actively evolves and adapts to changes in demand, services, and feedback from its users. As the site continues to grow, more features will be added to better serve its users.
The hiring process for a freelancer is notably simple, and can be broken down into four steps:
- Post a job or project
- Connect with freelancers
- Chat and share files
- Pay only after the project is completed or upon mutual agreement
With the demand for freelance work on the rise, SkillConnect seeks to supply the demand for freelancers, both in New Zealand and abroad, “More people than ever are looking for opportunities to use their skills to make money online,” says the founder of SkillConnect, Sathya Parlapothula.
“There is also a huge demand for freelance work, particularly from small businesses who want more economical options to hiring full-time employees. The fit and the opportunity were both there to make this successful,” Sathya Parlapothula says.
About SkillConnect
SkillConnect is a New Zealand-based online freelancing site that connects businesses and freelancers all around the world. It was launched in November 2020 and continues to see a growing number of registered freelancers and businesses.
For more about SkillConnect, visit:
www.skillconnect.co.nz
For more information, please contact:Name: Sathya Parlapothula
Email: hello@skillconnect.co.nz
- Skill Connect Press Release 05 Feb 2021
- : https://youtu.be/iPDNZC-AaqI
- : Sathya Parlapothula
- : CEO
- : hello@recruit.nz
- : 043901205
- https://www.facebook.com/skillconnectnz | https://twitter.com/SkillConnect1 | https://www.instagram.com/skillconnectnz/
Portainer.io Launches Portainer Business Edition, Bringing Simplified Container Management Platform to Enterprise Scale
- : Portainer.io
- : 10/12/2020 07:00
Auckland, New Zealand, December 10th, 2020 – New Zealand-based Portainer.io, creator of open source tools to easily manage containers, has launched Portainer Business, which adds premium business-critical features to its container management platform.
Growing to 500,000 open source users in just two years, Portainer.io is anticipating rapid uptake of its business offering, particularly given the recent introduction of support for Kubernetes.
Portainer Business is built on top of Portainer.io’s beloved open source platform, which simplifies container management and orchestration without compromising functionality. Portainer Business serves the CIO and CISO community by offering the enhanced control and security needed to run Portainer in corporate Kubernetes, Docker, and Edge environments.
The new product also incorporates the rigorous pre-release testing and comprehensive support business users need for an annual license fee, while continuing to decrease complexity and humanize container management.
Complexity and security are two of the top challenges facing teams deploying containers, according to CNCF data. Portainer Business solves both.
“We are thrilled to launch Portainer Business today because it will enable Portainer.io to remain true to our open source roots,” said Portainer.io CEO and Co-Founder Neil Cresswell.
“We are a small team with big ambitions for our open source software and we want to be able to continue to innovate and respond to development requests from our community. With Portainer Business, we can meet the needs of commercial users in a sustainable way while continuing to fund Portainer’s open source Community Edition.”
Portainer.io is well-equipped to support a proven model of offering both paid and open source versions of its product. The Portainer.io team is spread across four continents and covers every time zone and multiple languages. As Portainer Business gains traction, the company will grow its support footprint further and work with partners to amplify its uptake.
By volume of users, Portainer.io is already one of the most successful software ventures to come out of New Zealand. Earlier in the year, the company attracted an initial seed funding round of US$1.2 million to fast-track its growth plans and is looking to rapidly convert its open source success into global revenue generation. Portainer Business is launching with more than 800 users already onboard and a backlog of 250 self-identified early adopters waiting to get their hands on its software.
—
About Portainer.io
Portainer.io was born in 2017 from founders Neil Cresswell and Anthony Lapenna’s own struggle to learn Docker, with the vision to create a simple GUI-based tool to manage Docker – regardless of whether it was deployed standalone, in a cluster, on-premise, at the edge or in the cloud. In August 2020, the project was expanded to include support for Kubernetes and Azure ACI as well as retaining full support for Docker & Docker Swarm. Portainer Community Edition currently has over 500,000 global users. Portainer Business is the first business product Portainer.io has offered in its quest to humanize container management and orchestration. The team most recently raised a $1.8M NZD/$1.2M USD seed round in August of 2020.
- Neil Cresswell
- : https://youtu.be/YiNyx_qhUOQ
- : Savannah Peterson
- : Publicist for Portainer
- : Savannah@SavvyMillennial.com
- : 18055501998
- : http://Portainer.io
- https://twitter.com/portainerio | https://www.linkedin.com/company/portainer | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7diMJcrULjDseq5yhSUZgg
New Zealand’s Newest Online Job Portal Goes Live
- : Recruit
- : 01/12/2020
Recruit.nz launches innovative employment site that connects local job seekers and employers
New Zealand, (December 01, 2020) — Recruit.nz, New Zealand’s newest and most innovative online job portal has just launched and is already connecting job seekers and employers.
What makes Recruit.nz attractive is It is smarter, easier and affordable for everyone to use for both job seekers and employers. Recruit.nz set out to deliver a premium service that is accessible to job seekers and businesses of all sizes.
Premium features come standard for employers on the site.
These features include:
- Custom hiring teams, where an employer can create approval systems to evaluate applicants.
- An integrated To-Do List, which is an innovative feature where your hiring team can keep track of the team’s tasks and recruitment operations all within the site.
Supporting local businesses in an atypical way is one of Recruit’s goals, “We wanted a way to support people who were looking for jobs, and also the businesses that were hiring them,” says Recruit’s founder, Sathya Parlapothula.
“By giving local businesses a site where they can post their jobs for free, and take advantage of enhanced features like custom branding, manage hiring teams & applicant management tools if they so choose, we feel we are able to help our economy move forward from what was a very difficult year for many,” says Sathya Parlapothula.
About Recruit.nz
Recruit.nz is an all-inclusive online job portal based in New Zealand that launched in November 2020. They believe in working smarter, not harder. That’s why they created a portal like no other. No matter if you are looking for a job or looking to fill a job, they help make the process easier and faster than any other local job site around.
- : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUDM1nDTf1A
- : Sathya Parlapothula
- : CEO
- : sathya@recruit.nz
- : 043901205
- : https://www.recruit.nz/
- https://www.facebook.com/Recruit-New-Zealand-115590076985758 | https://www.linkedin.com/company/recruit-new-zealand
‘Kiwi invasion’ – Flintfox wins big on global stage with Microsoft.
- : Flintfox International
- : 28/07/2020
Flintfox honoured by Microsoft for outstanding sales achievement and innovation.
(Auckland, New Zealand, July 28, 2020) – Flintfox International, a disruptive innovator in pricing and rebate management and Gold Microsoft partner in the development and implementation of Supply chain solutions , are honoured to receive the 2020 MSUS Partner Award for Retail.
Flintfox is also proud to have achieved prestigious 2020/2021 Inner Circle status. Membership in this elite group is based on sales achievements that rank Flintfox in the top echelon of the Microsoft Business Applications global network of partners. Inner Circle members have performed to a high standard of excellence by delivering valuable solutions that help organisations achieve increased success. For the 4th time, Flintfox has been selected out of thousands of partners for this elite membership.
“Each year we recognise Microsoft Business Applications partners from around the world for delivering innovation and driving unsurpassed customer success,” said Cecilia Flombaum, Microsoft Business Applications Ecosystem Lead. “Our Inner Circle members are chosen based on their business performance as well as capabilities as an organisation, whether that’s creating IP, developing solutions, or having an industry leading focus on digital transformation. Microsoft is honoured to recognise Flintfox for their achievements this past year, their dedication to our customers, and their innovation around the Microsoft Cloud.”
2020/2021 Inner Circle members are invited to the Inner Circle Virtual Summits, taking place quarterly between July 2020 and June 2021, where they will have a unique opportunity to share strategy and network with Microsoft senior leaders and fellow partners.
The Microsoft US (MSUS) Award program was developed to recognise outstanding achievement by their US partners. Flintfox was up against a competitive nomination pool and rose to the top amongst hundreds of other partners and ISV’s.
Flintfox, with their best of breed solutions for managing supply chain revenue, together with Microsoft, enable companies to achieve more in the US and beyond. With Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management and the Flintfox pricing and rebate management solution, there has never been such a complete and powerful tool available for Supply Chain companies. Flintfox are proud to have had their achievements recognised by Microsoft.
Many clients have trusted Flintfox to implement Dynamics 365 along with their Revenue Management suite of products.
“Supply chains are complex these days and managing pricing and incentives accurately for companies can be the difference between profit and loss. With Microsoft’s commitment to ERP innovation, breadth of functionality, and ease of use, Flintfox complex pricing and rebate management provides a true competitive advantage. With our Dynamics 365 offerings and our deep domain expertise along with our revenue management software, we are not just competing, we are winning. To be selected as a top partner for the prestigious Inner Circle Award is another indicator of the success of Flintfox in sales and innovative, industry-leading supply chain software.
We are proud that our outstanding achievements globally have been recognised by Microsoft US. All the more extraordinary is the size and scale of North America and thinking back to our humble beginnings in New Zealand. This is a fantastic reflection of the leading Dynamics implementation expertise we have in North America and is a great testament to our company as we continue to grow in scale and influence. Looking forward to achieving even more wins with Flintfox and Microsoft – we make an incredible team.” says Flintfox CEO and Chairman, Mike Ridgway.
Flintfox has over 15 years of leading collaborations with Microsoft as an ISV, resulting in dozens of happy Dynamics AX and Dynamics 365 ERP clients getting the solutions they need to succeed and grow. As well as bringing extended functionality to D365, Flintfox has recently developed the RMx hyper-speed pricing engine in the Azure cloud, that works with any ERP, to complement the Trade Revenue Management (TRM) Suite for Dynamics. RMx delivers 5,000 complex prices calculated per second in Azure. There is currently no other solution like it in the world.
-ENDS-
About Flintfox
Flintfox provides best of breed Trade Revenue Management (TRM) solutions for resolving revenue challenges across the supply chain. They have over 30 years of expertise delivering TRM solutions to over 125,000 users across 25 countries within the manufacturing, wholesale distribution and retail industries. Their TRM software, for both buy and sell-side operations, integrates with any ERP and enables accurate, real-time calculations for complex revenue activities including price management, promotions pricing, rebate management, claims and deductions. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Inner Circle Member and one of only 10 software developers managed globally, Flintfox also provides consulting and implementation services for Microsoft Dynamics applications. Flintfox operates across North America, South America, Europe and Asia Pacific, with headquarters located in New Zealand.
- : Chris Spence
- : Chief Marketing Officer
- : cspence@flintfox.com
- : 6421899595
- : https://flintfox.com
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/flintfox/ | https://twitter.com/FlintfoxIntl | https://www.facebook.com/flintfoxintl/
Five V purchases Totara ownership interest, setting the stage for Totara’s expansion into global HR technology market
For Immediate Release
Wellington, New Zealand, June 16, 2020 – Totara today announced that its owners have entered into a purchase agreement with Sydney private equity firm Five V Capital, under which Five V will acquire a majority ownership interest in Totara. The operations and management of Totara will remain unchanged with Richard Wyles continuing as Chief Executive Officer.
Since 2011, Totara has remained focused on helping organizations experience the freedom to innovate and adapt to changing circumstances through its open and flexible HR and Learning & Development software.
Today’s rapidly evolving workplace and the strategic imperative of having engaged and well-trained employees, further accelerated by COVID-19, has prompted corporations and organizations to adapt new working practices. Totara’s products – used by over 1,800 organizations like USDA, Indeed, Pepsi, Red Hat, JetBlue, Yamaha, and more – is well-positioned to meet this growing market.
“I am excited to welcome Five V Capital in Totara’s mission to drive a new era of innovation, workplace performance and productivity,” said Wyles. “Five V’s collaborative and growth-oriented approach will accelerate our efforts to build Totara’s presence in new and existing markets – at a time when the demand for remote workforce technologies is growing exponentially.”
Wyles said: “Totara’s enterprise-ready learning management system (LMS), user-centric learning experience platform (LXP), and comprehensive performance management system – which will be released in October 2020 as the Totara Talent Experience Platform – is a formidable challenger and strategic alternative to often over-priced and inflexible HCM systems. We’re here to shake things up for the better and it’s great to have experienced and aligned partners in Five V.”
“We are excited to be part of Totara’s future and to be partnering with Richard and his team,” said Srdjan Dangubic, Partner at Five V Capital. “Totara is a globally ambitious business with enormous potential. We look forward to supporting Totara’s international expansion plans to disrupt the global HR and talent experience markets,” Wyles said.
Vista Point Advisors, a San Francisco-based boutique investment bank, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Totara.
About Totara
Totara builds employee engagement, learning, and performance management technologies that enable large multinational corporations, government entities, and mid-market companies to deliver enterprise-level talent and workforce experiences. Totara’s Talent Experience Platform (TXP) unifies an industry-leading learning management system (LMS), a user-centric learning experience platform (LXP), and a comprehensive performance management system under a single and highly adaptable architecture. Totara’s TXP and flexible architecture gives organizations the freedom to innovate, the freedom to choose, and unlocks critical resources for reinvestment into where it really counts. https://www.totaralearning.com/
About Five V
Five V Capital is a growth-focused private equity fund based in Sydney, Australia. Five V has in excess of A$450 million of capital available to partner with leading founders and businesses in Australia and New Zealand. With a focus on B2B and technology-enabled services, Five V’s current portfolio includes Education Perfect, Probe Group, Universal Store, Zenith Investment Partners, RateSetter Australia, Canva and SiteMinder. More information is available at www.fivevcapital.com/
- : Richard Wyles
- : CEO
- : richard.wyles@totaralearning.com
- : 043858399
- : https://totaralearning.com
- https://twitter.com/totaralearning | https://www.linkedin.com/company/totaralearning/
Five V purchases Totara ownership interest, setting the stage for Totara’s expansion into global HR technology market
- : Totara Learning Solutions
- : 16/06/2020 03:00
Wellington, New Zealand, June 16, 2020 – Totara today announced that its owners have entered into a purchase agreement with Sydney private equity firm Five V Capital, under which Five V will acquire a majority ownership interest in Totara. The operations and management of Totara will remain unchanged with Richard Wyles continuing as Chief Executive Officer.
Since 2011, Totara has remained focused on helping organizations experience the freedom to innovate and adapt to changing circumstances through its open and flexible HR and Learning & Development software.
Today’s rapidly evolving workplace and the strategic imperative of having engaged and well-trained employees, further accelerated by COVID-19, has prompted corporations and organizations to adapt new working practices. Totara’s products – used by over 1,800 organizations like USDA, Indeed, Pepsi, Red Hat, JetBlue, Yamaha, and more – is well-positioned to meet this growing market.
“I am excited to welcome Five V Capital in Totara’s mission to drive a new era of innovation, workplace performance and productivity,” said Wyles. “Five V’s collaborative and growth-oriented approach will accelerate our efforts to build Totara’s presence in new and existing markets – at a time when the demand for remote workforce technologies is growing exponentially.”
Wyles said: “Totara’s enterprise-ready learning management system (LMS), user-centric learning experience platform (LXP), and comprehensive performance management system – which will be released in October 2020 as the Totara Talent Experience Platform – is a formidable challenger and strategic alternative to often over-priced and inflexible HCM systems. We’re here to shake things up for the better and it’s great to have experienced and aligned partners in Five V.”
“We are excited to be part of Totara’s future and to be partnering with Richard and his team,” said Srdjan Dangubic, Partner at Five V Capital. “Totara is a globally ambitious business with enormous potential. We look forward to supporting Totara’s international expansion plans to disrupt the global HR and talent experience markets,” Wyles said.
Vista Point Advisors, a San Francisco-based boutique investment bank, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Totara.
About Totara
Totara builds employee engagement, learning, and performance management technologies that enable large multinational corporations, government entities, and mid-market companies to deliver enterprise-level talent and workforce experiences. Totara’s Talent Experience Platform (TXP) unifies an industry-leading learning management system (LMS), a user-centric learning experience platform (LXP), and a comprehensive performance management system under a single and highly adaptable architecture. Totara’s TXP and flexible architecture gives organizations the freedom to innovate, the freedom to choose, and unlocks critical resources for reinvestment into where it really counts. https://www.totaralearning.com/About Five V
Five V Capital is a growth-focused private equity fund based in Sydney, Australia. Five V has in excess of A$450 million of capital available to partner with leading founders and businesses in Australia and New Zealand. With a focus on B2B and technology-enabled services, Five V’s current portfolio includes Education Perfect, Probe Group, Universal Store, Zenith Investment Partners, RateSetter Australia, Canva and SiteMinder. More information is available at www.fivevcapital.com/- : Richard Wyles
- : CEO
- : richard.wyles@totaralearning.com
- : 043858399
- : https://totaralearning.com
- https://twitter.com/totaralearning | https://www.linkedin.com/company/totaralearning/
Regional and Rural Schools take out National Digital Titles
- : IT Professionals NZ
- : 08/12/2019
Smaller regional and rural schools from across New Zealand swept the National Finals for the Tahi Rua Toru Tech in-school challenge this year.
The 2019 National Winners were announced at a gala event at TSB Arena in Wellington, following 10 regional finals held across New Zealand in October. The National Finals were attended by the regional winning teams with students coming from around the country.
As part of the Tahi Rua Toru Tech Challenge, teams of 3-4 students find a problem in their local school or community and use digital technologies to solve it. Teams are paired up with tech industry mentors and given support and resources. Over 6500 students participated in the Challenge this year.
IT Professionals New Zealand CEO Paul Matthews said today that “Regional and Rural New Zealand were the winners this year, with winning teams coming from Hāwea Flat near Wanaka, Morrinsville, Rotorua and New Plymouth”.
At the Discovery level (years 0-5), Hāwea Flat School’s Team Happy Hawea took out the title, completing a set of challenges in the fastest time. It came down to split-seconds in the end and was hotly contested.
Morrinsville Intermediate’s Team Thunderbolts took out the First Challenge (years 6-8), creating an app game to encourage fitness by getting the user to move around Morrinsville to scan QR codes whilst seeing the ‘Herd of Cows’ (sculptures) on display within their town.
John Paul College, Rotorua’s Team ShumbaLeon won the Secondary level (years 9-10), created a website showcasing cultural diversity in their school and a platform for students to share their own stories and culture with other students.
And Sacred Heart Girls College, New Plymouth’s Team Red took out Senior Secondary (years 11-13), creating a medication box that sends bluetooth messages to your phone to remind you to take your medication, and has a motion sensor and lock and software designed to reduce under or overdosing.
The Ministry of Education’s Deputy Secretary for Early Learning and Student Achievement Ellen MacGregor-Reid helped announce the winners and was seriously impressed by the level of innovation. “A huge scale of learning has clearly gone on in the challenge. The majority of the students didn’t know how to write any code at the start – and yet that was such a stand-out feature of the innovations I’ve seen,” MacGregor-Reid said.
As part of the National Finals, the Digital Technologies Teachers Aotearoa (DTTA) and IT Professionals New Zealand recognised an influential teacher who has made a huge difference to digital tech. This year the Ali Chivers Teacher Influence Award went to Julie MacMahon from St Hilda’s Collegiate School in Dunedin.
“I’ve known Julie for several years, working with her on bringing about the changes to the Digital Technologies curriculum. She’s an inspiring and energetic teacher who contributes so much to her students and their profession,” Matthews said. “A very worthy choice.”
The Challenge will enter its third year in 2020 and is part of a suite of resources and tools to help teachers and schools implement changes to Digital Technologies and Hangarau Matihiko in the Curriculum in a safe and supported way.
ENDS
About Tahi Rua Toru Tech
Partnering with the Ministry of Education, the IT industry is supporting the introduction of the new Digital Technologies & Hangarau Matihiko (DT&HM) curriculum into schools and Kura with the 123Tech Challenge.
In the challenge, small teams of 3-4 students complete a project-based challenge either in-class in schools, or through a local Code Club. Most will complete it as a classroom activity, but the model caters to both. The 123Tech Challenge is for everyone, not just tech geniuses (although they’re welcome too!). Schools are also partnered with an industry mentor, and the Challenge provides all the guidance and support students need to make a real difference.
Tahi Rua Toru Tech is being delivered by a partnership of not-for profit organisations led by IT Professionals NZ and started in its current form in 2018.
The National Finals were held on Thursday 5th December 2019.
To learn more about Tahi Rua Toru Tech visit https://123tech.nz
To learn more about Digital Tech/Hangarau Matihiko, http://education.govt.nz/digitech.
- All
- : Paul Matthews
- : Chief Executive
- : ceo@itp.nz
- : 021705212
- : https://itp.nz
- https://www.facebook.com/123tech.nz/ | https://twitter.com/123tech_nz | https://www.instagram.com/123tech.nz/
Government’s proposed Landfill Levy increase will have no impact on plastic waste
- : plastic2parliament
- : 28/11/2019
This week the Government announced a long awaited and welcome proposal to increase the landfill levy in order to encourage behaviour change away from dumping to more recovery, recycling and reuse. However, the increased levy will have no effect on the volumes of plastic waste entering the economy, our landfills and the environment, according to plastic2parliament.
“Currently plastics account for around 8% of total waste by weight, but as much as 20% of landfill by volume and that’s an enormous proportion of the waste problem.” said Wade Bishop, initiator of the plastic2parliament letter writing initiative. (Ref. Recycle.co.nz)
“With the landfill levy based on weight there’s no incentive in this to move away from plastic packaging or other avoidable plastics that end up in our landfills and environment.” Wade Bishop said.
Plastic2parliament is encouraging New Zealanders to ask all political parties what their plastic reduction policies are by penning letters to MPs in Parliament, via the Parliamentary free-post address while also stuffing their large envelopes full of non-recyclable plastics to illustrate the plastic waste problem.
“We are asking political parties and Government to focus regulation on the producers of plastic packaging targeted at simply making less of it.” said Bishop.
The global oil industry is currently investing US$180 billion in new plastic production plants to increase production by 40% in the next 10 years. This immense supply-pressure will create a further explosion in plastic volumes here in New Zealand and the increased landfill levy will have zero effect on that. This is an over-production issue that needs urgent regulation where the problem starts: the producers.” he said.
The Plastic2parliament initiative believes that an immediate impact can be made on plastic waste by extending bans across wide categories of avoidable single-use plastics, such as cutlery, dishes, cups, takeaway containers and even bubble and pallet wraps.
The initiative also advocates a Plastic Tax on imported virgin plastics used to manufacture single-use packaging and on imported new plastic packaging.
“While the landfill levy will have a negligible effect on the cost of dumping plastic packaging for New Zealanders, it still gets under your skin having to pay even more to get rid of a toxic waste that you didn’t ask for in the first place.” Wade Bishop said.
Plastic2parliament continues to grow quickly with membership numbers of the Facebook Group reaching more than 1000 people sending more than 720 letters and plastic parcels to MPs since beginning in early October this year, including another 90 to Minister for the Environment, David Parker, this week.
ABOUT PLASTIC2PARLIAMENT
Plastic2parliament is a letter-writing initiative started by Wade Bishop of Christchurch which encourages New Zealanders concerned about single-use plastics to include these products with their letters to M.P.s using the Parliamentary Free-post address. The purpose of the initiative is to creatively emphasise how these non-recyclable products cannot be avoided by consumers and that the actual cause of plastic waste is over-production and use by manufacturers. We seek to have M.P.s advocate for meaningful plastic waste reduction policy within their respective Party focused on packaging producers.
Oil companies are investing US$180 billion right now to increase virgin plastic production by 40% before 2030. This enormous supply pressure has already created an explosion in single-use packaging globally. New Zealand will not be immune to these supply pressures and is poorly placed to deal with the waste volumes that will eventuate. (Ref. theguardian.com; and sciencemag.org)
- plastic2parliament_mailing David Parker
- : Wade Bishop
- : Initiator
- : plastic2parliament@gmail.com
- : 021432045
- : https://www.facebook.com/groups/plastic2parliament
- Twitter: @plastic2parlia1 | Facebook: @plastic2parliament
