Up and coming fashion designers in New Zealand have the chance to boost their careers to the tune of NZ$10,000 in sponsorship prize money.

Italian brewer Peroni is giving away the cash to celebrate the launch of Peroni Leggera, a low carb, low alcohol version of the classic Italian beer.

The first annual Lighter Side of Italian Style Fashion Design competition is open to designers aged 20 or over. Entrants can be in their last year of tertiary fashion study or a graduate of up to five years.

The brief is to submit a sketch and working drawings of a unique design inspired by the Peroni Leggera colour palette and the concept of “Lighter Side of Italian Style.”

A panel of industry judges will commission five entrants to turn their sketch into real garments, and these finalists will be flown to Auckland and present their designs at an event in late August, where the winner will be announced.

Entries opened on July 1, so if you’re keen to submit a design, head here.

News from the crew at instinct: WordCamp New Zealand will be held in Wellington, New Zealand on the 8th and 9th of August.

Here’s the Word from the event site:

WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. WordCamps are open to WordPress.com and WordPress.org users alike.

The two-day conference will be held at the Mt. Victoria Bowling Club and will feature Matt Mullenweg (above) aka PhotoMatt, he who set up Automattic, and was one of the founding developers of WordPress, as a keynote speaker along with hands-on sessions focused on the WordPress platform and the community around it.

You’ll also be hearing for Dan Milward from Instinct, Harley Alexander from Aussie designers Baffle Inc and Anthony Cole from Dunedin’s Fresh Pacific Media. And if you have the inclination to speak yourself, head to the content wiki.

Earlybird tickets for the whole weekend are only $75, and you can get them here.

It was less than 2 years ago when kiwi global entrepreneur Rod Drury lead the first IPO of the 2007 year on New Zealand’s stock exchange - NZX by listing online accounting software Xero.

Now just 22 months on and Xero has over 6000 customers and has just completed a strategic capital raise totalling $23.2 million.

Building a successful Public company

When Rod first listed Xero on the NZX just 9 months after starting the business and very early into it’s revenue, many people questioned whether Xero deserved the public valuation it was going for. The round closed successfully with $15 million raised from some 1600 investors and Rod and the crew got down to the business of making Xero a success.

Then came global recession, public money and equity markets everywhere have taken a beating, including New Zealand’s stock exchange, but again, Rod and the crew at Xero have stayed calm, focused on building partnerships and getting customers and results. This laser focus on succeeding has helped them pull together a $23.2 million strategic round which sees the addition of the founder and ex-director of major competitor MYOB - Craig Winkler to the shareholder register with Craig taking an $18 million stake.

Xero now has a firm and fast growing presence in New Zealand, the UK and Australia, and has just strated their moves into the US, and with no debt on the balance sheet, a major competitor bleeding talent, Xero is poised to use this growth capital very wisely for the next major stage of expansion.

Silicon Welly content management gurus SilverStripe have had another big win in the US following their selection as CMS provider to the US Democractic Party in last year’s Presidential elections (which obviously worked out quite well).

Now Microsoft has chosen SilverStripe as one of ten companies worldwide to have their software included in its web developer suite of free apps.

According to stuff.co.nz, the free SilverStripe CMS has been downloaded 140,000 times and with 40% of users installing into a windows environment, the company has been working to integrate better with Microsoft’s server software.

The work has paid off, and now there’s a little bit of Wellington in every Windows install. Congratulations Tim, Siggy and the crew! SilverStripe are based upstairs from our Wellington HQ at Silicon Welly, so we’ll be off up the lift now for a celebration…

givealittle has launched a brilliant new initiative to recognise and reward someone who is in need of a helping hand as the recession bites in New Zealand.

The Wellington based social enterprise is giving away up to $10,000 to the friend in need, a family, a local school, favourite charity or community organisation that attracts the most ‘givers’ via its website.

‘Givealittle wants to know who you would like to give to, what you want to give and why it is deserved,’ says CEO Nathalie Hofsteede. ‘We have received a request from a woman wanting to replace stolen items from her elderly parents’ home, two parents wanting to shout their disabled child’s caregiver a trip home to Australia as thanks for years of hard work. It’s all wonderful stuff.’

Givealittle.co.nz will shortlist 10 submissions to become Givealittle Friends in Need projects and give the finalists advice about how to use the power of the web to reach a wider audience. Each page will have one month to gather a crowd of givers. The page with the largest number of givers (but not necessarily the most raised) will be given $1 for every giver up to a maximum of $10,000.

It’s about encouraging a crowd of people to give just a little to help make a big difference. Online submissions will be accepted until 5pm Friday 3 April 2009 at www.givealittle.co.nz/friendsinneed

Breastmates Specialty Breastfeeding Store is New Zealand’s leading online maternity store, and their usual business involves sending out bras and breatfeeding supplies around the world. But over the last couple of weeks the bras have been coming to them, all part of a drive to support women in Zimbabwe.

It all started when the Breastmates team was approached by Hot Milk, the maternity lingerie brand they stock, with a plea to help school girls and women in Zimbabwe who often do not own any underwear.

Breastmates’ Frances McInnes was happy to help, and is asking women to donate any of their preloved bras which will be collected up and sent to those in need.

The collection is called “Knickers for Africa” but Frances clarifies that only secondhand bras are being collected from the public. “We are also sending our end-of line knickers that are brand new, not secondhand ones.”

Frances has already started taking collections, through pamphlet drops in her neighbourhood, local community groups, and promotions on her website.

“I’ve been quite bombarded with bras already” she says, “every day there are a few more in the mail box and my postie must wonder what is going on!”

The collection is being run from February to March, when the bras will be shipped to women living in villages in Zimbabwe.

For more information go to www.breastmates.co.nz or call 0508 BREAST if you would like to donate.

The NZ Art Guild raised over $20,000 for the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation of NZ (LBF) at Tuesday nights “Shave an Artist” Charity Art Auction and “Life” Exhibition.

This event saw 18 people walk away bald with top NZ artist Sofia Minson being first to shave her locks. Artists Jennifer Christiansen, Marimba Powley, Helen Sherrock, Sharlene Shcmidt, Juliet Cryns, Victoria Anderson closely followed along with friends and members of the public. Not only were fantastic artworks up for sale but so was the opportunity to shave MP Rodney Hide’s head. North Shore City Mayor Andrew Williams, who officially opened the event, won this opportunity with a bid of $200.

The concept behind this awareness campaign was sparked by Sofia Minson who was always impressed by LBF’s “Shave for a Cure” campaign. Sofia didn’t want to do this alone so approached the NZ Art Guild to see whether we could get a group of artists together to do it. From there the idea grew into an event which included 35 artists from all around NZ.

The money raised will help support the six New Zealand children and adults who are diagnosed with blood cancers like leukaemia and lymphoma every day. LBF receives no government funding yet provides essential support not only for those patients, but for their families - support that can last months, and even years.

The Exhibition is a celebration and appreciation of all facets of life. This theme was open to interpretation and some of the artworks are very personal as they have been inspired by artists own lives that have been touched in some way by Leukaemia or Blood disorders.

The exhibition runs until Friday 27th Feb at the Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna Beach, Auckland. 100% of the auctioned artworks price and 20% of the sale price of the exhibition artworks goes to LBF.

Without their generous sponsors this fantastic fundraising event wouldn’t have been possible so a huge bog thank yous to – Creative Communities, Media 41, Tineswari Maruthamuthu, Barfoot and Thompson, Crosscut hair design, Lee and Antonela, Corey Blackburn, Artistry Chamber Ensemble and Lion Nathan.

Check out pics from the night here.

If you’ve signed up your business on Made From New Zealand already, this message is for you. If you haven’t: go do it now, and come straight on back….

The Made From New Zealand community is growing by more than 100 companies a week, and we’re really making an impact on Google. Today we want to tell you about that, and let you know how we can help you get even more profile and traffic.

Across all of the business profiles on the Made From New Zealand community, the average Google ranking is 9.5 (as at Feb 12), which means, on average, your profile page is appearing on the first page of Google. In many cases, your Made From New Zealand profile ranks number one: so when anyone in the world searches for your business name, your profile page is the first result that comes up. We love it when that happens. And it’s happening more and more…

Try it yourself: Google Epic Brewing Company. See? Number 6 on the page. Or Planhq. That’s number 4. How about Voom Studio. It’s number 1! See how it works?

The team here are 100% focused on getting the average ranking across all member profiles as high up that Google page as possible. Our mission is to dramatically increase New Zealand’s profile online, and we’re doing it one business at a time.

So how are we going to do it? Well, it’s all about you. Your stories, your product launches. Your successes. Your export plans. Whatever your business is up to, we want to know about it so we can add the story to your profile page, your industry page, and the home page. Think of us as your personal free PR and promotions machine: send us a hundred words or so, attach a pic if you have a good one (if not no problem, we’ll use your profile pic) and we’ll post your story on the site.

The more stories you tell, the more links we can create between your content and your profile. And that means more Google love for you and everyone else in the community. Pretty soon, New Zealand’s business community will be the best-promoted in the world: as individual business profiles get promoted, entire industry categories follow: so when someone in Brazil searches for furniture, New Zealand will come up first; when someone in Australia is searching for web designers, New Zealand will come up first, when someone in the UK is searching for baby clothes, New Zealand will… you get the picture.

As you send us more news, your profile’s ranking will increase, you’ll get more traffic, and then it’s up to you to turn that into a sale. You can check out exactly how much traffic you’re getting every day via your Made From New Zealand dashboard: but I’ll tell you more abut that in my next note.

In the meantime, send us your news, okay? That’s the story.

Video is the best way you can promote your business online: nothing beats the power of moving pictures to tell a story, and an online video that can be easily sent around the web, embedded on your profile, picked up by bloggers and posted onto Facebook and other social media sites can send your profile skyrocketing.

The problem has been getting the video content produced: until now the options were taking the DIY approach, which usually results in a poorly lit ramble that doesn’t do you any favours, or getting the pros in, which won’t leave you much change out of $5-10 grand.

So over the last couple of months we’ve been pretty busy here at Made From New Zealand HQ figuring out the solution, and we think we’ve cracked it.

What we’ve done is put together a mobile video production team, all graduates from Wellington Institute of Technology’s Department of Creative Technologies, and set up a post-production studio at our office in central Wellington. These guys are good, keen and hungry, and really know hwo to make content for the web.

Then we created an online video request form which allows Made From New Zealand members to enter all the details that you’d want covered in a 90 second video profile. The form helps you to focus on your story, make sure all relevant messages are covered, and gives our crew a heads up on what to expect when they turn up to interview you.

The interview takes no more than an hour (we’ve completed a couple in 40 minutes), and our two-camera plus director crew have all the skills to make you look like a star.

Then the footage is sent back to the studio in Wellington, edited down to 90 seconds, and can be live on youtube, on your Made From New Zealand profile, and anywhere else you want to see it on the web (or in your trade show presentation, powerpoint sales pitches, wherever) within a few days.

Here’s a great example of what we can do for you: it’s the Epic Brewing Company video profile, which we shot at the Epic brewery in Auckland.

And what does all of this cost? For an hour with the crew and and 3-4 hours in the edit suite, it’s only $499 plus gst! If you want more time, added effects or multiple cuts we charge a bit more: but it’s still usually no more than $1000 plus gst. We can do epic productions as well, free have a chat to us about that.

A quality video profile for less than a grand is exceptional value, and it’s a must-have if you’re serious about promoting your business online. Video profiles are the new ‘bold listing’ on the web, and will give your business a serious boost in traffic and enquiries.

Don’t put it off any longer: the crew is only a click away. If you’re a member of Made From New Zealand, just go to any video and click on the “request business video profile” button. Do it now. And if you’re not a member yet, then join up, or just send an email to moviemakers@madefromnewzealand.com and we’ll step you through the process. Action!

*Check out our latest video profiles here

New Zealand’s small business start-ups will increasingly rely on the internet to grow. That’s the prediction from the co-owner of new multi-channel media publication Start-Up.

Founder Patrick MacFie, who founded the company StartUp Media, says while Start-Up began with the purpose of informing New Zealand’s ever-growing community of web based start-up businesses; the need to educate the wider small business community about the value of the web has provided an opportunity broader the focus of the business.

“Around 50 percent of small businesses use the web to promote their business companies but only a small percent of those have the ability to perform transactions from their website. So for many their website simply exists as an online ‘brochure’. This is something that needs to be addressed if our small businesses, especially exporters, are to achieve international recognition,” says Patrick.

Patrick says that moving more of your business online is simply about understanding the possibilities of thethe web offers.

“The web can help lower costs in areas such as organisational efficiencies and customer support. With the global credit crunch affecting the bottom line of many businesses there is an incentive is there to seek smarter, cheaper solutions, which the web can provide. For example, the overheads involved in running your business through the web are minimal when compared with a physical store,” he says.

The challenge for many start-ups is creating a sustainable business.

“Overseas investors always remark on New Zealand’s fantastic small business innovation; however the challenge is to turn this innovation into high quality businesses that can mix it in the international market,” says Patrick.

The success of this business model is typified by companies such as Ponoko.com. Ponoko allows people to design their own products online, then produces and ships their individual creations out to them or sells them on the Ponoko website.

Another example is Small Worlds, which produces virtual worlds (similar to Second Life) which people can customise and share with their friends. They are currently in talks with Disney Corporation.

The challenge for many start-ups is creating a business that is sustainable beyond the initial start-up period.

“Overseas investors always remark on New Zealand’s fantastic small business innovation; however the challenge is to turn this innovation into high quality businesses that can mix it in the international market,” says Patrick.

Start-Up is currently producing a TV reality documentary to screen on TV1. It follows an online business from its conception with ato its goal of goal to launching it in Silicon Valley in America. The purpose of the show, from Start-Up’s perspective, is to illustrate how purpose is to assist the company in becomingbecomes globally competitive, through connecting them with influential New Zealand business people, and at the same time show highlighting how other businesses how they toocan also can achieve success online.

Patrick offers five tips for those starting a new business venture online:

1. Identify a legitimate vacuum in the market. There is no point looking to go head to head with the likes of TradeMe unless your idea is truly revolutionary.

2. Aim to make your product grow organically through building a strong customer following. This is about achieving viral or word of mouth endorsement. People are likely to discuss something that meets a previously un-met need.

3. Validate. Validate everything about your business, especially the end product or service. Get your prospective customers involved from the development phase so that your first generation of actual customers receive a product that they can rave about.

4. Can you sell it? New Zealand has great ideas but lack in the ability to sell them. Many people and products are vying for attention online, so you need a strong sales strategy to make your product stand out.

5. Don’t be afraid to embrace social media. Your staff and customers will most likely already be engaging with blogs, RSS feeds and products reviews and ratings. Trying to ignore social media, as not relevant for your business\ is the biggest online marketing mistake you can make.

Start-UP produces a bi-monthly magazine and online resource for small businesses. They are also producing a reality documentary series, Start-Up TV which will air on TVNZ later this year. You can visit them at www.start-up.co.nz