Armidale's Zondii is a .com business that grew from its CEO, Danielle Morton's difficulty in finding ongoing suppliers of trusted products for her children. It is all about connecting consumers directly with producers, and advanced into the finals of Jobs for NSW Regional Pitchfest to be held in Wagga Wagga next month.
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She described Pitchfest as absolutely amazing.
"They've connected us with people in the startup industry, as well as in our own specific industries," she said.
"We were given training, we were given advice, we have connected with other startups to create a community to help us through the next few years.
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"It was a fantastic opportunity to showcase what's going on in the regions across NSW."
Pitchfest semi-finals were held in Sydney last week where five finalists were chosen from 11 participants. Zondii.com was one of those five.
"We will be presenting at the Civic Theatre in Wagga Wagga on Thursday, September 5," Danielle said.
"At the end of that, the winner will take a share of $20,000 in prizes. I think it would be a real honour to bring this startup alive through winning the Jobs for NSW Pitchfest.
"I believe that Armidale is a fantastic place to have a startup, and also [have] huge companies grow within the region."
Danielle said a win at Wagga would be good exposure for Zondii.com because she knew there were a lot of people searching for a solution to raising their children in a healthy and happy way.
She thought her business had received outstanding support.
"I've done a startup for two years already, and that was a completely different feel to this," Danielle said.
"We started in March, and the traction we've received and the support, and the people who are behind this is phenomenal.
"We have some really serious mentors, so we have UNE SMART region incubator, we have the regenerative agriculture advisors, who want to use this for their farms to be able to sell their produce."
Zondii had grown so quickly in the last five month that Danielle is now looking at launching the concept nationally within the next month.
"We already have feedback from our producers and consumers and are rebuilding our platforms to meet those requirements," she said.
"This is going to go big.
"It will go global, and the USA and Canada is our next market next year."
