People’s Choice Winner

BY ZOE WALKER AHWA

HEREARNING

Solving people’s parking problems and supporting charities in the process, Park

Angel founder Elaine Linnell is doing good

fFollowing a successful 15-year corporate career, Elaine Linnell decided to branch out on her own and launch Park Angel – a start-up that’s practical and purposeful. The premise is simple: it’s a programme that enables people to rent a carpark for a day, with the proceeds going to charity.

“You see it everywhere: companies have loads of carparks and on any given day, there are quite a few that aren’t being used,” explains the Auckland-based event manager and mother of six-month- old Rachel.

It was while working in events for Sovereign on Auckland’s North Shore that Elaine noticed there were a number of empty company spaces available every day, yet not a lot of external parking. “Initially, the goal was just to use the carparks downstairs. So many of my colleagues were parking so far away from work, and I was like, ‘Let’s use them,’” she says. “It was so practical, but once I saw that there were some financial gains to be made from it, I thought, ‘Okay, let me try this. I’ll kick myself if I don’t, because someone else will do it.’”

Park Angel is now aligned with five charities – Cure Kids, New Zealand Hospice, the SPCA, The Hunger Project and Voices of Hope – that carpark renters can choose to donate money to, and companies can also choose five charities of their own. So far, it has raised more than $1000 a month, from an otherwise “empty

commodity that’s just sitting there”.“It was a really nice moment to be able to go to the

charities and say, ‘I don’t know if it’ll be $500 a month or $1000 a day, but I want to give you some money’. It was definitely a feel-good moment,” says Elaine, who now takes a subscription from each company that signs up, and a cut from each carpark rented. About 70% goes to charity and 30% goes back into the business.

TAKING THE LEAPElaine launched Park Angel in 2016 as an internal booking system at Sovereign, then left Sovereign at the end of that year to grow it while starting her own freelance event-management business. The event management took off and was much more successful than she anticipated. “That meant I was putting Park Angel at the bottom of my to-do list.” Then she became pregnant. “Everything sort of came to a head at the same time,” she says. »

‘IT WAS REALLY NICE TO BE ABLE TO GO TO THE CHARITIES AND SAY, “I WANT TO GIVE YOU SOME MONEY”’

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She credits her experience in event management – the ultimate training in dealing with multiple challenges at once – and the support of her husband Darren for helping her handle it all.

“It helps that Rachel’s such a good kid,” she says. “But it can be a struggle, and there have definitely been days when Darren has come home and I’ve said, ‘I’ve taken on too much, I don’t want to do it all!’ It’s a lot to juggle, but I also know that Park Angel is such an exciting initiative. I want this to be so much more than my own little business on the side.”

Today, she’s in the final stages of expanding Park Angel to include other companies. Corporates in high-density areas and cities are her main target, but she plans to move into precincts and approach small businesses as well.

RENEWED PURPOSEPark Angel is completely different to anything Elaine’s done before – but that’s the point. She was fortunate to take part in a Sovereign leadership programme in 2016, which saw her visit India with international charity The Hunger Project, which aims to stop world hunger by empowering people to provide for themselves. On that trip, she was particularly inspired by the women she met.

“We visited villages and met women who were powerful and ambitious, not vulnerable – despite their challenges, they were so strong. Their motto was ‘Together we can’, and they’d get together to get petitions signed to get running water, clean water and schooling for their kids. They had nothing. But they’d walk 20 miles to sit in front of an office all day, not be seen, walk back, then do it again the next day until they succeeded in making a change. And they were so happy.”

Elaine returned home motivated, and has since changed her attitude towards virtually every aspect of her life. “You come back to New Zealand and realise how lucky we are. So why are we stopping ourselves from doing things?”

Before the trip, she’d tried to get Park Angel up and running, but had been met with various problems and excuses. “But I got back from the trip and was like, ‘No, this will work, I know it will work, so let’s make it happen.’”

LEARNING THE ROPESEstablishing the business has also helped Elaine develop new skills and learn about building websites, software development and more. The technical details were her biggest challenge when launching Park Angel. “It was a massive learning curve, because I had no background in it, and I was trying to get my vision to translate.”

But it also helped her be more open to feedback. “I did a lot of business planning before I decided to get into it, and the biggest lesson for me was learning to ask other people for their opinion and get feedback at every stage, because it’s so valuable.”

Her two-year business plan includes a goal of having at least 60 businesses signed up to Park Angel, and eventually she’d like to develop an app too. But for Elaine, it’s the meaning behind the business that’s key, wherever it may take her as it grows.

Business with a social conscience is something she’s proud to be part of. “Social enterprises are just taking off in New Zealand; the obvious example is something like Eat My Lunch. It’s an exciting growth area, and it makes a lot of sense. If you can give back, why not?

“I just want to be donating as much as I can to charity. It’s so exciting to know that I’m giving something back,” she says. “This business isn’t just for me to make money. I know by the end of my lifetime, I would have given as much as I can possibly can.” *

Who I admireI think Kelly Coe of [fashion label]

Augustine is nailing it. Her social media is

amazing; she’s got three young kids, and you can just tell that she and her husband get on with it and get things done. She’s so passionate

about what she’s doing – and her clothes are all amazing.

‘YOU REALISE HOW LUCKY WE ARE. SO WHY ARE WE STOPPING OURSELVES FROM DOING THINGS?’

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The time Elaine spent in India with charity The Hunger Project gave her the motivation she needed to get Park Angel off the ground.

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LADIES L E A D I N G

THE BABY POUCHA straightforward approach to babywearing, The Baby

Pouch helps to encourage a happy, calm baby, so mums can get things done. Made in New Zealand, the slip-on top is different to traditional baby packs, wraps and slings, with no complicated clipping, tying or positioning required.

Auckland-based founder Cara Shepherd is passionate about offering mothers an

easy way to develop a constant connection with their babies

simply and safely.

SWIFTMEDSeeking to change the

way people engage with doctors, online medical

service SwiftMed integrates technology and virtual clinics into healthcare. Launched by Christchurch-based Samantha

Bailey in 2017, the business, which works within New

Zealand Medical Council regulations, allows adults to see a doctor on their device via a video chat application, then have prescriptions sent to any pharmacy nationwide

or to their home.

MAINSTREAM GREEN

With her ‘greenfulness’ coaching business,

Cambridge-based Nicola Turner wants to inspire

New Zealanders to change their relationship with stuff.

Drawing on her journey towards reducing her family of four’s waste to one wheelie

bin a year, she works with individuals, businesses and councils to support them to become more conscious of

how and what they consume, and the waste they create.

NISAWorking with women from

refugee backgrounds to make stylish organic cotton

underwear, Wellington-based Elisha Watson launched Nisa in 2017 as a social enterprise to help women develop skills,

self-esteem and independence. With plans to grow her team

and product range, she recently launched a ‘donate a pair’ campaign in partnership with The Unmentionables, a

project that provides essentials at refugee camps in Greece, Jordan, Uganda and Kenya.

KATE THE GARDENER

Helping people connect with nature and fall back in love with their gardens, Kate

Rogers works with a small team to offer monthly garden

visits and makeovers. The Aucklander started the

business – just her and a spade – in 2016, and today leads a team of six gardeners. She’s also all about having a flexi- time business model that lets her staff balance work, family and life – and ultimately find

fulfilment in their roles.

LIFELOTBorn from love, loss and

life challenges, LifeLot is an online, highly secure, personal digital safe founded by Angela Calver. From service providers to bank details, trying to find the necessary information for someone who has passed away can be difficult. As our lives become increasingly digital, LifeLot aims to reduce the stress on loved ones during

a time of grief, allowing people to collate their wishes, from practical to precious, in

one easily accessible place.

ARC ASSISTANTA simple but innovative

child-safety tool, founder Cara Gullick developed the Arc Assistant as a learning tower to allow toddlers to

stand at bench height during meal preparation and for

other fun bench-based activities. Reducing stress for parents and carers, the

product also helps to support kids’ brain development

through connections made between adults and children

on occasions when kids would otherwise be left out.

NUDE GROCERAs we all try to reduce the

amount of plastic in our lives, Nude Grocer works to make shopping simple, delivering

your weekly groceries without plastic. Launched in 2017 by Wellingtonian Ella Tisdall and a small team as a side

hustle, it transports groceries with an electric Audi to

minimise fuel usage, and uses bags made from recycled

materials by pollution-tackling Boomerang Bags,

with the aim to create a positive change.

Our winners were selected from many outstanding entries – here are the other fab finalists

Finalists

JULY 2018 / NEXT 47

H E R O W N B O S S