STARTCUP CHALLENGE

BECAUSE IT ALL STARTS AROUND A CUP OF COFFEE

STARTCUP JURY

Discover our jury, made up of personalities working in the fields of innovation and sustainability.

Jean-Marc Dragoli<br>General Manager<br>Nespresso Oceania

Jean-Marc Dragoli
General Manager
Nespresso Oceania

 Jean-Marc Dragoli is the General Manager at Nespresso Oceania, who has previously led Nespresso across several markets around the world. In Australia, he has prioritised sustainability projects, including an innovative kerbside recycling trial, Curby, a Recycling Rewards pilot to incentivise recycling participation, and a partnership with Greening Australia to build resilience in local landscapes in the face of climate change. Dragoli is a proud champion of Nespresso’s vision for a net zero future and a passionate advocate for protecting the environment and the communities that rely on it for their livelihoods.
Professor Veena Sahajwalla<br>Founding Director of the UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre

Professor Veena Sahajwalla
Founding Director of the UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre

 Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla is the director of the SMaRT Centre (Sustainable Materials Research & Technology at the University of NSW). She is an internationally recognised materials scientist, engineer, and inventor revolutionising recycling science. Well known for her contributions in building a waste-free economy, innovating micro factories and inventing ‘green steel’, an alternative to using coal in the steel production industry. For many years Veena was a judge on the ABC TV show The New Inventors and more recently she was featured in the ABC’s Australian Story and named the 2022 NSW Australian of the Year.
Dr Zoe Mellick<br>Sustainability and Social Impact Lead<br>Glam Corner

Dr Zoe Mellick
Sustainability and Social Impact Lead
Glam Corner

 Zoe is passionate about driving environmental and social change within the fashion industry. Zoe is currently responsible for leading GlamCorner’s sustainability and impact initiatives. GlamCorner is Australia’s largest online fashion rental business, circulating over 60 tonnes of clothing every month. As a B Corp certified business, GlamCorner is waging a war on fashion waste by providing a smarter and more sustainable alternative that is better for the community and the environment. To celebrate 10 years in sustainable and circular fashion, GlamCorner recently launched a recommerce-as-a-service offering called, RELOOP. RELOOP offers consumers and retailers a platform to rent, resell, repair and recycle their wardrobe.
Mariah Monaghan<br>Head of Marketing & Sustainability<br>Nespresso Australia

Mariah Monaghan
Head of Marketing & Sustainability
Nespresso Australia

 Mariah Monaghan is Nespresso Australia’s Head of Marketing and Sustainability. She is an experienced strategist with an extensive history in leading, developing and bringing sustainable innovations to market. Since joining Nespresso in March 2021, Mariah has led and accelerated a number of progressive initiatives to help create a circular coffee economy, including a first of its kind trial to bring kerbside collection of coffee capsules to Australia, geo-targeted advertising campaigns to raise awareness of local collection points, and a new Recycling Rewards pilot to understand whether incentives have a role to play in driving recycling behaviour.
Nik Robinson<br>Co-Founder<br>Good Citizens

Nik Robinson
Co-Founder
Good Citizens

 Nik has had many careers; radio broadcaster, creative director, donut maker and lecturer. Passionate about using his creative skills to make a positive difference, in 2018 he set up Good Citizens with his young kids to take on the world’s plastic issue.
Good Citizens has one mission - to untrash the planet™ by turning trash into good. Good Citizens turns single-use plastic bottles into sunglasses frames. The frames are 100% recycled and made in Australia. Within a few months of launching, Good Citizens was awarded two prestigious 2020 Good Design Awards and The Design Files Sustainable Idea of 2020 plus Selfridges in London gave the brand an entire window.
Charlotte Connell<br>Climate Reality Leader<br>Co-Director,<br> Sustainability lead at Founder Institute and EIR in Sustainability at Fishburners

Charlotte Connell
Climate Reality Leader
Co-Director,
Sustainability lead at Founder Institute and EIR in Sustainability at Fishburners

 Charlotte is an award-winning sustainability leader. As Ecosystem Director for Australia’s leading climate tech network, Climate Salad, Charlotte helps climate tech founders reach their global potential by connecting them with mentors, customers and investment. Charlotte founded The Sustainability Collective to democratise sustainability so that all businesses can create positive change for people, planet and a prosperous future. She’s also Fishburners Expert in Residence for Sustainability and recently developed the Founder Institute’s first global Sustainability Accelerator program. An advocate for social change, Charlotte volunteers her time as a Director on the Board of international charity One Wave which raises awareness for mental health issues through surfing, saltwater therapy and community.
Yasmin Grigaliunas<br>CEO and co-founder<br>World’s Biggest Garage Sale

Yasmin Grigaliunas
CEO and co-founder
World’s Biggest Garage Sale

 Yas is a Director and Founder of the award winning circular economy enterprise, the World’s Biggest Garage Sale (WBGS). An entrepreneur of impact and a circular economy pioneer in Australia, Yas recently closed an equity capital raise to expand nationally, with Officeworks as a key investor and shareholder. Together, through expansion of reuse, repair, resource recovery and recommerce initiatives, Yas is thrilled to work with partners and investors to bring her Circonomy vision to life.

OUR CHALLENGE WINNERS

Uuvipak, a tech meets science innovation, claims to be on a mission to eliminate single-use plastic pollution with 100% home-compostable packaging, currently in the form of cups and containers. The winning submission by co-founders Dr Shafali Gupta and Andy Epifani revealed the pair has created a new patent pending edible material made from clean, upcycled organic food waste sourced from food and drink manufacturers across Australia. The entry states that the material is strong, hot water resistant for over 12 hours, and 100% biodegradable without leaving any toxic or harmful by-products in the process, creating a closed circular loop.

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