Global tick for Flinders Uni’s NVI

IN JUST over four years, Flinders University’s support system for entrepreneurs in SA has been benchmarked as one of the best of its kind in the world.

IN JUST over four years, Flinders University’s support system for entrepreneurs in SA has been benchmarked as one of the best of its kind in the world.

The New Venture Institute, set up in 2013 to promote entrepreneurship and economic development, was named ‘Top Challenger in Asia-Pacific’ in the latest UBI World Benchmark Study — a biannual ranking of university-linked business incubators and accelerators.

The rankings were announced overnight in Toronto by UBI Global, a Stockholm-based research and advisory firm at the World Incubation Summit 2018.

Universities need to apply to be assessed by UBI with first-timer NVI benchmarked among 1,370 incubation programs globally.

NVI director Matt Salier said the institute had outperforming the top 10 per cent of incubation programs worldwide in talent retention.

Matt Salier, Director, New Venture Institute, Flinders University

It had also performed significantly above the global average in terms of economic impact, start-up creation and post-incubation performance and received an above average score regarding access to networks and program attractiveness.

“These results are exceptional considering NVI’s comparatively young age, and are testament to the world-class training and inspirational climate we have fostered,” Mr Salier said.

“NVI has risen above a shortlist of 259 programs from 53 countries to achieve the top gong for the Asia-Pacific region.

Founded in 2013, NVI has helped create 232 start-ups and trained more than 2,000 individuals in innovation and enterprise.

Most NVI entrepreneurs locate their operations at the Tonsley Innovation Precinct upon graduation to access research, training as well as mentors and potential clients.

One of the recent success stories at NVI is start-up TCPinpoint, founded by Rachel Kidwell, who is now based at the eNVIsion Incubator space at Tonsley.

After more than a decade of working on fit-out details with Woolworths, Precision Group and the Adelaide Airport, Rachel’s business has helped replace tedious excel sheets with a single digital dashboard.

“After labouring for hours over excel sheets, emails and printouts, I knew there was a market ready for an easy solution. Now, we help retail centre owners run their tenancy schedules more efficiently through a building workflow management software,” she said.

TCPinpoint was one of the top four ideas to win $30,000 in equity funding and mentoring support as part of the inaugural SouthStart Accelerate program for entrepreneurs in 2016 and she has also attracted funding from University of South Australia and through TechinSA.

One of TCPinpoint’s major paid projects was working with the District Docklands set up in Melbourne, following trials at Rundle Place and the Adelaide Central Plaza.

“NVI first got me thinking about taking my idea and turning it into a business.

“This is a good home base now, which continues to keep us excited about our ambitions to go global with our product,” Ms Kidwell said.