We are extremely proud of Calman Engineering who recently took out top prize at the Whanganui and Partners Innovate Awards 2022. This is a great achievement for husband-and-wife team Abbi and Rodney Calman.

John & Yvonne from Balance on the left with Abbi & Rodney from Calman Engineering.

Balance’s John Taylor has been mentoring Abbi and Rodney and is thrilled with their achievement. There were five finalists from an entry pool of more than 30 contenders and making it to the final was recognition of Abbi and Rodney’s hard work and commitment to their innovative pitch.

Calman Engineering is based in Whanganui and specialises in design, repair services and machining. Abbi and Rodney saw a gap in the market for a mobile wheel chock and subsequently entered their design in the Innovate Awards.

Each Innovate Whanganui finalist was paired with mentors for tailored support and had access to a pool of national and international mentors. They received $3,000 in capital, tagged to specific milestones determined by their mentors. 

As finalists, Abbi and Rodney had a 10-week intensive phase, meeting with their mentors each week while they developed their idea into a business. This phase culminated in the finalists pitching their innovation to a panel of judges at the evening awards on 25^th August. We had all our fingers crossed and are delighted to congratulate Abbi and Rodney on winning the Innovate Awards for 2022.

They won $5,000 and the opportunity to pitch their innovative product to angel investors. Well done Abbi and Rodney, and we look forward to seeing the final product.

If you have a product or service that you’d like to increase the sales of, take to market or if you wish to discuss how to increase business productivity then please get in touch. We can help you throughout all stages of the business life cycle and we’d love to hear from you.