Debbie Stowe

Co-founder of VINCE

Personal:
Mother to Ashley (15) & Olivia (13)
Married to Nigel (also a business partner)

Work History:
20 years of hospitality experience (Hotels, Event Management)
15 years self-employed
First business: Nectar Cafe in Whangarei (2007 - 2016)
Won Northland cafe of the year multiple times
Won Westpac Northland Business Award
Second business: Wholefoods lunch delivery service (2017)
Third business: Corporate catering (2018-2019)
Fourth Business: Olive and Ash (2019 - present)
First with Granola, then Vince

Education:
University of Waikato: BSocSci, Majors; Human Resource Management and Psychology
Auckland University of Technology: Advanced Certificate in Professional Cookery

One cool thing about our business: Winners of Foodstarter 2022 - small supplier
Foodstuffs will give us extra support to roll out into New Worlds nationwide.

Business Milestones:
2019: Accelerator: The Pick
Awards: Northland Westpac Business Awards for Innovation
2020:
Accelerator: The Good Food Boost
Awards: Finalist in NZ Artisan Awards
On the shelf in Farro and Whangarei New Worlds

2021:
Accelerator: Sprout Agritech
Awards: The NZ Food Awards (Pantry)
Outstanding Food Producer (Silver x2, Bronze x1)
Grants: AGMARDT - Trailing different dehydration technologies
AKINA - Investment Readiness for impact-driven companies
Fieldays Innovation Marquee
On more New World shelves

2022:
Accelerator: Ministry of Awesome
Awards: Foodstarter - Small Supplier
Pre-seed investment
Phase 2 of scaling production - larger equipment (now working out of shipping container)
Onboarded with Stocked distribution and sales
On more New World shelves - Auckland, Waikato, Wellington
First export order to Japan
Onboarded with My Food Bag (available from October)
Preparing for Seed Investment Round Q4 ( or Q1 2023)

1 cool fact about me? Hmm, that's a hard one. Can I pass?