On a mission to turn gorse into golf tees

On A Mission To Turn Gorse Into Golf Tees

Project 2023-06-19 12:16:27 +1200

Just a couple of golf mates who came up with an outrageous idea ...

Green Waste Products NZ is a Pre-Seed Startup. The Founders, Koro and Vaughan are golf mates and hit out of both the Rawene and Kaikohe Golf Clubs. We are both pretty average golfers but are insanely competitive (at least Koro is, Vaughan is pretty chilled). You can only imagine, in fact you don't even want to imagine what that must look like. 

Koro has worked in Tourism & Hospitality for over 25 years. His work has ben focused on Environmental & Cultural Tourism Product Development. Koro co-founded the world reknown Footprints Waipoua tourism experience. When the borders closed Koro helped to deliver a 3 Week Tourism Programme to Maori youth in conjunction with MSD. Koro currently works in the Wellness, Youth Development and Education sectors. Koro lives between Kerikeri and Rawene in the Hokianga where he grew up.

Vaughan is a Potter/Ceramicist and Artist who has a background in Management, Sales & Marketing and Manufacturing. Vaughan considers his time working as a support worker in the disability sector as a huge privilege. Vaughan has been involved in a couple of groundbreaking startups including developing a range of organic head lice products and helping to develop the world's first organic weed spray where he was responsible for research, delivering field trials and leading out the promotions and sales. Vaughan lives in Omapere in the Hokianga.

We are both passionate Planet Ambassadors.  

That's Vaughan on the left looking like a golfer and Koro on the right thinking how much Vaughan looks like a golfer.

The back story ...

One day in October of 2021, I (Koro) was walking up the 13th fairway at the Kaikohe Golf Club rummaging through my pocket for a kurol (one of those throat lollies). There’s a heck of lot of stuff in there, so I whip everything out and when I open my hand, I am totally gobsmacked to see a palm full of plastic and wooden golf tees and there in the middle of it all, my kurol also wrapped in plastic. Just out of interest that is Koro's hand. I wonder if anyone reading this needs a hand model?

That was the moment that I started thinking about how can we remove plastic from the game of golf and what do we replace it with? After much deliberation and a chance conversation, we settled on turning gorse into golf tees. 

Our Vision

Is to help heal the planet and humanity by removing as much plastic from the game of golf and gorse from the ecosystem as we can.

We describe our vision as a Planet Ambassador journey and we aspire to inspire and grow future Planet Ambassadors.

Here's our collective problem ...

Every year the world makes 3.5 billion golf tees, primarily from plastic and gorse covers 1.7 million acres or 5% of Aotearoa, that's 13 Auckland's, and every year we spend over $20 million dollars a year trying to control it.

Plastic and gorse are a human, environmental and economic nightmare. We want to utilise this underutilised natural resource to create ‘new green’ waste to value opportunities. We believe it’s also an opportunity to encourage a new sense of hope and purpose.

What have we done so far?

We are a 2023 Kokiri Maori Business Startup Accelerator participant.

We were involved in the Northland Inc 2022 'The Pick' Business Idea Competition.

We have had our prototypes tested over a 2 month period by 20 golfers.

We have received amazing feedback and we have early adopters.

We have had positive engagement with Callaghan Innovation and Scion Research.

We have had positive engagement with the NZ Golf sector and Private Landowners. 

We have a very experienced Advisory Board who are leaders in the NZ Golf, Tech & Innovation and Enterprise & Research sectors.

The Product & Proposition

We make a niche, premium, lovingly and individually hand-crafted golf tee made from the stems and offshoots of the gorse plant.

We are the only golf tee in the world made from gorse.

Our tees have a slightly larger body so are more durable and won't break as easily as a traditional wooden tee. 

We are familiar off the club face just like a traditional wooden tee which just means for non-golfers that we are no different to a wooden tee except that our tees are made from gorse so are totally different!

We plan to scent our tees to help calm and energise golfers because it’s all about finding an edge.

The Business Model

Because we are a handcrafted product our numbers in Year 1 are not high. I suppose this aligns to our premium proposition. We will be making 120 tees a month for the next 12 months. That’s 20 packets of 6 tees in a packet. Each packet will also include an ornamental tee made from recycled kauri. If gorse is cool then recycled kauri is ‘way cool’.

The Long-Term Production Goal

The long-term goal is to use the whole plant (needles, flowers, roots) to make tees. This will require us to explore the injection moulding manufacturing process and identify potential natural binding agents. We have engaged Callaghan Innovation to prepare a Feasibility Study to help us explore and identify opportunities in this space. This process will enable us to increase our production.

Our Road Map

Years 1 & 2

Build brand awareness and develop processes and systems. By the end of Year 1, we will have more than 100 customers who have bought our tees at least once following their initial purchase.

Years 3 & 4

Engage a manufacturing partner to increase production. By the end of Year 3, we will be selling more than 2500 tees per month and have agreements in place to manufacture up to 5,000 tees per month by the end of Year 4.

Year 5

Grow NZ market share and explore the global opportunity. In Year 5 we will manufacture 10,000 tees a month for the NZ market and explore the international opportunity.

Thank You!

Vaughan and I would like to sincerely thank you in advance for your support. We look forward to you jumping on board our Planet Ambassador journey and helping us to change our landscapes one gorse golf tee at a time.

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