Chia Sisters

Sisters Chloe and Florence Van Dyke make a range of health beverages via a solar powered juicery, right here in New Zealand’s sunniest city and their hometown of Nelson Tasman.

With demand growing locally and abroad, the award-winning duo are now exporting their nutritious and sustainable juices to international markets. In order to compete on the world stage, the Chia Sisters received support offered by the Nelson Regional Development Agency.

“Being from Nelson, being from the regions can make it challenging to connect with the right people. The Nelson Regional Development Agency has been pivotal in giving us those connections.”

To cater to the growth of their business The Nelson Development Agency connected the Chia Sisters with Callaghan Innovation. In collaboration with both them and Massey University the Chia Sisters were provided funding, and the networks and connections they needed to thrive and expand into export markets.

The Chia Sisters received multiple Callaghan Innovation Research & Development (R&D) grants including:

• The R&D ‘Getting Started Grant’ allowing them to develop a novel pasteurisation process, solving a production problem and increasing their businesses capacity.
• The R&D ‘Project Grant’ in order to build an early-stage prototype right through to their final commercial-ready product.

The business accessed wider innovation support services through the Callaghan Innovation Skills-Building Programmes including:

• The ‘Better by Lean’ workshop and coaching programme, designed to assist businesses to implement ‘Lean’ thinking principles. This can lead to improved product development, supply chains, production and distribution, staff skill levels and reduce overall costs.
• The ‘Understanding Innovation’ workshop helping to achieve higher productivity through increased employee engagement, improving work practises and building an innovation culture.
• The ‘Global Expert’ support service which allowed the Chia Sisters to connect with a food and beverage industry expert, boosting their R&D knowledge and capabilities.

“To compete on the world stage, we need to innovate and having the support has allowed us to do this”.

The Nelson Regional Development Agency has a passion to help both new and established businesses connect with the right experts and leaders in innovation, offering a comprehensive set of tools, facilitating government funding and services, matching businesses needs with programmes and resources, and ultimately supporting them on their personal growth path to success.

The Chia Sisters classed the Nelson Regional Development Agency’s easy access to support services and networks coupled with their passion for individual’s business growth as “a game changer” for them.

Watch their video below and get in touch with Mark Maguire, our Regional Business Advisor, if you would like to learn more about the support services available via the Regional Business Partner Programme.