Stories

Growing up, Gaurav Kawar lived in a house of plain blue walls. He found himself wishing that he could wake up every morning to something that inspires him.

Michelle Hicks’s first foray into equestrian clothing was to tailor a dressage tailcoat for a friend. One request led to three, and three led to 10. Soon enough, she discovered first-hand what needed to improve in equestrian fashion.

Activator is thrilled to welcome nine new teams to our flagship LaunchHUB program.

When it comes to fashion, the word “nurturing” is not exactly what comes to mind. Nadia Foti and Tamsin Pritchard want to change that.

Imagine this: you are in a new home with the power to install the fixtures and furniture you like. The white kitchen countertop doesn’t seem to match the décor, so in a blink of an eye, you change it to a more polished black. You see how high the ceiling is and know that a chandelier would look amazing in the hallway. The best part? This house has not even been built yet.

Claire Boulange first approached Activator to collaborate on designing a course. A researcher at the Healthy Livable Cities group at RMIT Centre for Urban research, she and her colleague Will Moore have designed a Masters intensive course. Lucky for Claire, she was just in time to sign up for the Activator X Kaospilot Transformational Learning masterclass.

Who can forget the feeling of getting your first customer? For Shahryar Faraji, founder of 1receipt, it was a particularly euphoric experience. After years of developing the app, accumulating customer validation and too many rejections to count, he finally got his long-awaited “yes” from a retailer.

As a child, Ahmad Elhawli wanted to become a pharmacist just like his mother. However, an introduction to high school chemistry was enough to change his mind. Instead, he turned to business.

With more than 15 years of experience working in Human Resources for big organisations such as Telstra, ANZ and Deutsche Bank, Kristin O’Brien has had her fair share of the dark side of corporate life.

Activator is thrilled to welcome the new teams of our latest LaunchHUB intensive.

Even though Zac McClelland studied Aerospace Engineering in university, his education began on the farm.

RMIT Activator is pleased to announce our first ever Coach Collective. Comprising seven remarkable individuals, our Coach Collective will guide and mentor the fifth LaunchHUB cohort starting 22 July.

Two years ago, Marco Muscat attended a pitch that changed the course of his life. The presentation was about Brandollo, an online marketing platform powered by Machine Learning for small businesses.

Nelson Mandela once said: “Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead”. His words resonated strongly with everyone at RMIT Activator’s Startup Celebration Night, where we revelled in the progress and achievements of the startup founders within our Activator community.

The City of Melbourne has partnered with RMIT Activator and Hub Australia to launch The City of Melbourne Accelerator Program (CoM X), a 12-month pilot program for retail and hospitality start-ups.

In his 10 years working in hospitality, Tom McAll noticed how time-consuming it was to hire a new employee. Much to the frustration of employers, it was common for them to conduct job interviews over a few days’ time only to hire a handful of people.

Trunked was created to provide a positive impact on the local community, environment and to provide a better choice for consumers. We recently sat down with Co-Founder Adam Kostarelas to hear more about his entrepreneurial journey.

Olivia Ilic, Senior Education Product Adviser, from RMIT Activator’s Education team recently ran Train the Trainer, a brand new Activator experience designed specifically for enthusiastic RMIT staff who want to explore innovative ways of delivering learning.

Since starting her amazing entrepreneurial journey with Activator, Jo Zimpel, Founder of STEM Hub has garnered a significant amount of momentum and partnered with multiple outstanding companies, high schools, and universities.

Acustico’s Acoustic Pendant Lighting collection was recently awarded first place in the Pendant Lighting category at the esteemed LIT Lighting Design Awards.

Meet Nick Pearce, co-founder of HoMie, a clothing brand which provides brand new clothing, training and job opportunities to people experiencing homelessness.