Meet our judges for the upcoming BVIH Pitch Final

As many of our community members are aware, we are very excited about the upcoming Pitch Final happening at the Bega Valley Civic Centre on Thursday the 28th of November 2019.

The event will see the members of our second cohort pitch their business ideas to a panel of industry experts who will be judging the event.

Meet Our Judges:

Kristy McBain
Elected Mayor at Bega Valley Shire Council,
Small Business Owner and Lawyer

Kristy McBain is the current Elected Mayor at Bega Valley Shire Council and has extensive experience as a lawyer and small business owner. Her strengths include communication, negotiation, public speaking, management, networking and leadership. We look forward to having her on the panel and hearing her feedback and thoughts.

Stephanie Kimber
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Stephanie is an international development professional who is passionate about harnessing the power of innovation in order to help people improve the lives of people living in poverty. Her focus areas include finding new ways to increase the impact of development activities and sourcing new innovations in South Asia and the Pacific to help people living under $5/day. We’re excited to have her on the panel and to hear what feedback she has for our startups.

Omar Khalifa
CEO iAccelerate

Currently the CEO at the University of Wollongong’s iAccelerate business accelerator and incubator program, Omar is responsible for helping others to create great businesses. With a diverse background that ranges from being an engineer on the space shuttle program through to creating online communities for youth with disability, Omar is well versed in innovation and collaboration. We look forward to hearing his input.

Zoe Naden
Program Manager – Innovation Incubator Support Program

Zoe is the current program manager at the Innovation Incubator Support Program. We’re excited to have her on the panel and look forward to hearing her perspective and feedback for our participants.

Do you have a great business idea?

Come along to the Pitch Final and workshops on the same day to see how the Bega Innovation Hub could help you to grow your idea into a business, connect with likeminded professionals and achieve your goals.

For more information and to register for the Pitch Final please click here.