PrezentBoz: Dan Frkic, Con Apostolopoulos’ mission behind digital gift giving platform

A Camden-based business is on a mission to boost physical activity levels in children and be budget-friendly at the same time. Find out how it works.

Con Apostolopoulos and Dan Frkic are behind Camden-based business PrezentBox.

As parents grapple with the cost of living pressures and rising interest rates, one dad was inspired to create a business that focused on tackling an increasing problem where “kids’ activities are now a luxury”.

Camden dad-of-three Dan Frkic founded PrezentBox, an initiative where family and friends can contribute to children’s extra-curricular activities such as gymnastics and swimming instead of buying more “stuff” for birthdays and Christmas.

According to data from PrezentBox, the average activity cost per child is about $1800 per year, while more than millions of dollars are spent across the country on toys and video games.

Mr Frkic said the initiative was free for parents; all they had to do was sign up and create a profile and when it was time for gift-giving share the link with family and friends.

Some of the activities currently on offer include martial arts, football, highland dancing and swimming.

“The gift-givers then put however much into the account, and then the family can spend that money on whichever one of our registered activity providers they want,” Mr Frkic said.

“We are a national platform, but given that our head office is in Camden, that has been a focal point to help build up the community.

“Businesses can get involved with a simple registration process ... then they just have to let their community know.”

Mr Frkic knew Con Apostolopoulos through the corporate world for 10 years, and after six months of running PrezentBox, Mr Apostolopoulos joined the team as commercial manager.

He said cost of living pressures were becoming more prevalent by the day and kids activities had become a luxury.

“Everyone touchpoint in our lives has been hit by some sort of cost increase,” Mr Apostolopoulos said.

“Extra-curricular activities is one of the things parents have to look at to assess the importance of it and how much they can actually spend on it. One of our missions is to help families subsidise their kids’ activities cost.”

Mr Apostolopoulos, who lives in Kirrawee, also referenced the NSW Government’s decision that from February next year, Active Kids and Creative Kids vouchers would only apply to families on Family Tax Benefit A, meaning a household with two children would need to earn less than $120,000.

The value of the vouchers will also be slashed in half with eligible parents receiving two vouchers worth $50 which can be spent on both sporting or creative activities.

“Parents are going to be doing it even tougher now and we want to help with that, and we also want to help kids get more activities,” Mr Apostolopoulos said.

“We are formulating partnerships with state sporting organisations, major leisure centres and businesses to build up the marketplace.”

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