Aakanksha Chhikara is interested in new technologies that create value for business and help change lives. Her expertise is in wearable health monitoring sensor technologies combined with management experience at start-ups. Aakanksha has just founded Akanz, a wearable technology company. Previously, she drove Product Innovation and Business Development functions at dorsaVi, a wearable medical device company in Melbourne. During this time, Aakanksha was also on the committee for AusMedtech. Prior to dorsaVi, Aakanksha was pursuing her PhD at Imperial College London and held senior positions at various Australian & UK start-upsluding Robogals Global, Robogals UK and Epigeum (spin-out from Imperial College). She has also worked in the leading R&D department of Bosch in Germany and Australia. Aakanksha holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering (Personalised Healthcare Monitoring Technologies) from Imperial College London (UK), Graduate Certificate in International Business from the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship and a Bachelor of Engineering (Robotics and Mechatronics) from Swinburne University of Technology (Melbourne, Australia). She is a 2014 fellow in the Startup Leadership Program in Melbourne.

Fellow since

Alan Dee is founder and CEO at 2Crates, a marketplace that allows customers to design, receive competitive quotes and order their kitchen renovation all in one place. His professional career spans over 15 years in the IT industry across hardware, software, e-commerce and project management. Alan’s first startup failed in 2005. Learning from his mistakes, he ventured into another business a year later that flourished. Around the time Alan launched his third startup in late 2009, he was sought out by a firm in the health care sector to create their new e-commerce subsidiary. Alan’s revolutionary business model and vendor negotiations undercut the Australian market and resulted in ten’s of thousands in revenue within a few months of launch. Relocating to Melbourne in 2012, he went back to University to become a Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and develop the business model for 2Crates. Alan is a Fellow in the 2014 batch of the Melbourne, Australia Startup Leadership Programme (SLP) char.

Fellow since

Alvaro is a former international development enthusiast, interested in spreading ideas, examining and connecting places and people, and feeding his new chocolate addiction. Having several ideas on how to improve his suburb and little hope that taking his idea to council was going to achieve anything, we founded an online platform to connect people and organisations to improve their suburbs. Creative Suburbs is the first installment of a series of projects to improve government and citizen relationships and the places where we live. Alvaro is a Fellow in the 2014 cohort of the Startup Leadership Program in Melbourne, Australia.

Fellow since

Ashwin works as the Business Development Manager at Wealth Enhancers, a boutique private wealth management firm focused on accountability coaching for high-ome, high-potential young professionals and entrepreneurs. Ashwin began his career in M&A tax at Deloitte. He then moved to London with global law firm Linklaters in 2008, qualifying as a solicitor specialising in cross-border M&A across the London, Hong Kong and New York offices. In 2011, Ashwin returned to Melbourne to join UBS Investment Bank, where he executed M&A, equity and debt raisings, and provided strategic advice to corporates across the Consumer & Retail Products, Gaming and Industrials sectors. One Rupee Flights is a unique flights & travel auction website. It is set to launch in India in early 2014, and is affiliated with the successful Australian start-up - One Cent Flights. Ashwin hopes to make air travel more accessible to the masses in India through the One Rupee Flights platform. Ashwin is passionate about business and financially educating his fellow young professionals and entrepreneurs, helping them focus on kicking personal and professional goals. Ashwin is a Fellow in the 2014 Startup Leadership Program ‘s Melbourne char.

Fellow since

Barry is an entrepreneur and investor in the health and wellness space. He holds a physiotherapy degree from the University of Melbourne and is one of the youngest Graduates of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Barry has had extensive experience in multidisciplinary primary healthcare start ups, commercialisation of medical devices, cloud-based practice management software development and chronic disease clinical research. He currently holds directorships in a management consulting firm specialising in business development & venture fund raising (Synergist Ventures), a multidisciplinary allied health network specialising in chronic disease care and obstructive sleep apnoea diagnostics & therapy (YouFirst Health), a dental professional teeth whitening brand sponsoring Miss World Australia (The Whitening Clinic), a digital health marketing agency (Interactive Health Technologies) and an online functional health food & beverages shop (Essential Tea). Barry also assists in the venture capital raising process for early-stage technology startups, world-class property developments and recently, movies in the production pipeline involving A-list Hollywood celebrity casts. He is a 2013 Fellow in the Startup Leadership Program in Melbourne.

Fellow since

Bashar has over 12 years of experience in the IT industry specialising in managing development teams in web and software based projects. He is a results-driven professional who has managed local and remote development teams and completed projects in the UK, Spain, Latvia, India and Australia. He has worked across diverse industries and platforms utilising architecture, development and leadership skills to facilitate technical project and team management. For the past 4 years with Cardola, Bashar has been involved in developing a worldwide interactive solution for luxury hotels in order to enrich guest experience with extended concierge services using touch screen devices during their stay. He is a 2013 Fellow in the Startup Leadership Program in Melbourne.

Fellow since

Ben is the founder and Managing Director of NHC Australia, which is focussed on providing water security for the community through the improvement of yields from those very large dams which capture and store rainfall. The objective is to utilise an innovative pay-for-performance business model and charge for the amount of water saved from being lost to evaporation. NHC has filed provisional patent applications, but is still continuing research on various key components to support the business model. Ben and NHC co-founder Philip Miles were finalists in the 2013 RMIT University Business Plan competition, details here: https://bpc.rmit.edu.au/2013-Finalist-Profiles Ben was inspired to start the business when he saw the problem of storing water at a mine site in remote central Australia and realised that there are many products on the market, but none that can provide water security on terms that the utilities, miners and farmers who have large these large dams. Ben is a Fellow of the 2014 Melbourne char of the Startup Leadership Program.

Fellow since

Ben Richardson is a qualified Aerospace Engineer, and serial entrepreneur with hunger to help as many people as possible create fantastic startup companies. Ben gained his passion for startups through his employment as a growth & implementation strategist for high-end web applications at Squareweave. Shortly afterwards, Ben partnered with his two co-founders and started exploring the startup scene with the aim to facilitate the creation of startup businesses, without the prerequisites of technical and strategic skill, allowing passionate founders to focus on, and experience the most exciting and rewarding aspects of running a high-growth startup. In May 2013 Andrew Chin, Sebastian Sibelle, and Ben Richardson co-founded the world’s first venture technology firm, accelerator, andubator that exclusively invests in subscription service companies. Subservice has been written up, interviewed, and publicly promoted by passionate advocates of the concept. This trio also founded capsule.vc which is an umbrella investment firm currently involved in a myriad of startups ranging from hardcore tech applications, to phsycical system med-tech startups. Ben is a Fellow in the 2014 batch of the Melbourne, Australia Startup Leadership Programme (SLP) char.

Fellow since

Cameron Scott El Presidente at Milkcrate Marketing- an eccentric guerilla-marketing agency for the start-up world- is also the Founder & Director of Energia Australia and The Society of Young Entrepreneurs. Though traditionally an excellent accountant with experience at Davis Evolution and Boost Juice, Cameron severely lacks interest in the corporate grey-suit lifestyle and a stable nine-to-five job. With a knack for adventure, taste for success and risk taking behaviors, his expertise lay in the entrepreneur world, with ideas and advice for start up businesses. Cameron’s bucket list is full of business ventures marking time until their opportune execution. However, querulous with his achievements so far as a founder, director, advisor, leader, innovator and participant in many entrepreneurial affairs, Cameron has decided to up-skill himself with a Masters in Entrepreneurship and Innovation- an accomplishment he will hang on his wall, beside the well framed Accountancy and Financial Planning Bachelors. A marathon runner, a serial Entrepreneur and nothing less than a high achiever. He is a 2013 Fellow in the Startup Leadership Program in Melbourne.

Fellow since

Daniel is a former banker, derivatives trader and lawyer who founded Plaudits (www.giveplaudits.com) in May 2013. He is passionate about brain-science and making working life more meaningful and rewarding. Plaudits helps colleagues to share and track their progress with peers, recognise each other and recognise good work. In Sember 2013, he was joined by a co-founder with a similar vision and corporate executive background. Together they are working to extend Plaudits as a platform for “appifying” leadership and mentorship. Their mission is to replace the demotivating performance managements systems used by most companies with a more authentic platform for measuring personal capability, growth and values. Dan is a Fellow in the 2014 cohort of the Startup Leadership Program in Melbourne, Australia.

Fellow since

Daniel is a Serial entreprenuer, strategist, idea-ologist, consultant, & biker. His breadth of experience across diverse markets is immense, having supported organisations in a substantial range of sectors from automotive parts to zuccini wholesalers. He has unique skills and experience in building and growing organizations, teams and people, raising their relevance and profile at local and national levels. In 2010, he almost succeeded in getting into upper house of the Victorian state Parliament in behalf of the Family First Party. He is a 2013 Fellow in the Startup Leadership Program in Melbourne.

Fellow since

Emma Morris runs a popular preloved fashion market called Round She Goes, which operates in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney (it was established in 2008). Previously Emma worked as a book publicist and occasional writer. Emma's writing has appeared in The Australian, Crikey, Spook, Wartime, Frankie and Yen. She once won a trip to space with Richard Branson and said no. She is a 2014 Fellow in the Startup Leadership Program in Melbourne.

Fellow since

Fellow since

Hany Pham is the co-founder of OneTouch, an intelligent document and business process automation system for enterprise clients. He also owns Central Choice, a multi-award winning mortgage brokerage now in its fifth year of operation. Hany holds a double degree in Law/Property & Construction from the University of Melbourne. He is an experienced real estate investor and developer, and in the early 2000s, founded a private education business which he successfully exited in 2006. He also sits on the committee of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce Young Business Forum, where he organises networking events for Melbourne's leading professionals and entrepreneurs. Hany has a reputation for being able to break down any door in order to close a deal. He is a 2013 Fellow in the Startup Leadership Program in Melbourne.

Fellow since

Johnathan Zhuang is the founder of mallrat. A mobile commerce startup that will disrupt the way local business connect with their customers. Through the mallrat platform, businesses will be able to publish content to mobile platforms easily and in a fraction of the time under current conventional methods. Johnathan is a former management consultant from Deloitte where he’s had proven success advising large organisations in technology and information driven initiatives. Johnathan’s expertise range from enterprise architecture, business process optimisation, information governance to business intelligence. Johnathan holds a BSc (Computer Science) and BCom (Finance) from the University of Auckland, and is a certified PRINCE2 practitioner. He is a 2013 Fellow in the Startup Leadership Program in Melbourne.

Fellow since