Waikato students awarded for enviro-tech innovation

An online tool designed to help businesses minimise carbon dioxide emissions resulted in four students from the University of Waikato receiving a highly commended award at national final of the MYOB IT Challenge.

The annual competition which took place at the University of Auckland was the culmination of regional challenges held around the country. The winning teams from five New Zealand universities went head-to-head at the national final to present their technology solution developed with small-to-medium business owners in mind.

MYOB New Zealand General Manager Carolyn Luey says the MYOB IT Challenge is designed to give students an opportunity to build on key skills that employers look for when recruiting.

“Companies today are seeking employees with different types of skill sets – hiring graduates has evolved from looking for technical competency, to looking for the ability to collaborate and work as a team.

“The MYOB IT Challenge offers young Kiwis the chance to exercise these skills. It gives tertiary students real-life experience of a team environment, while growing New Zealand’s tech talent pipeline.

“Every year we are impressed by the calibre of the solutions presented and this year was no different. Teams such as CarbonKiwi from the Waikato who really thought outside the box and developed new and innovative solutions,” she says.

The CarbonKiwi team is comprised of four students from the University of Waikato, all in their third year of undergraduate degrees ranging from entrepreneurship to management and engineering.

Bachelor of Management Studies student Elisha Fleming from CarbonKiwi says their solution was designed with the goal to educate business owners about their role in sustainability and provide ways to track and minimise the carbon emissions their businesses may be generating.

“The research we conducted for this competition found that the majority of business owners are just not aware of their business’ carbon footprint nor how to offset it.

“CarbonKiwi provides a business overview and a graphing engine as well as reduction tips on how to reconcile the emissions.” he says.

Rachel Kelly, Director at Waikato-based company Ethical AI and one of the panel of expert judges for the competition, praised the team for their sustainable and future-focused concept.

“It is fantastic to see young people not only thinking about how a business can make money but doing what is right for the environment. These students are the torch-bearers for the next generation,” she says.

Team Steak from the University of Auckland took out the top prize with a simple yet practical cashflow calendar to help business owners forecast their business incomings and outgoings.

“It was an extremely tight competition with all the teams involved presenting fantastic working prototypes of their business solutions,” says Carolyn Luey.

“The innovative and entrepreneurial ideas that we see coming through the challenge bodes well for the future of New Zealand’s tech industry.”

For more information visit www.myobitchallenge.co.nz.

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For further comment or other information please contact:

Rebecca Huang, MYOB NZ PR Consultant

P: 09 632 9705 / M: 021 1122 720 / E: rebecca.huang@myob.com

Gerard Blank, The Agency Communications Limited Director

P: 03 341 5841 / M: 027 524 3629 / E: gerard@theagencynz.co.nz

About MYOB

MYOB is a leading provider of online business management solutions. MYOB makes business life easier for approximately 1.2 million businesses across Australia and New Zealand by simplifying accounting, payroll, tax, practice management, CRM, job costing, inventory and more. MYOB operates across three core segments – Clients and Partners (business solutions to SMEs and Advisers); Enterprise Solutions (larger businesses) and Payment Solutions. We also provide ongoing support via many client service channels including a network of over 40,000 accountants, bookkeepers and other consultants. We are committed to ongoing innovation, particularly through our Connected Practice Strategy and through the development of the MYOB Platform. For more information visit https://www.myob.com/nz/ or follow @MYOB on Twitter.