Chch man in running for Entrepreneur of the Year
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 13 August 2018
A Christchurch businessman will pitch Dragon’s Den-style in Auckland tomorrow as the sole Christchurch finalist for EY
New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year.
In 2010, Dan Fowlie co-founded IT company Trineo with Abhinav Keswani in a Christchurch broom cupboard. They knew the future of business would be on the cloud and
wanted to help companies make the transition.
Trineo quickly became a global leader in building bespoke customisations of world-leading Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) software, Salesforce, and its subsidiary cloud software platform, Heroku.
Today, more than a third of all billboards in the USA are managed with software designed in Christchurch by Trineo.
Closer to home, 22,000 global Fonterra staff use a Trineo-built social intranet.
The business, whose headquarters are in the former McKenzie and Willis building on Lichfield Street, now has four
offices around the world and employs more than 60 staff.
Of 22 finalists for EY New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year 2018, Fowlie is the only one from Christchurch and only one
of two from the South Island.
Following a workshop and dinner today, finalists face a judging panel — Dragon’s Den-style — tomorrow. They each have
2-3 minutes to pitch, before taking questions.
“It’s a real honour to be in the running for Entrepreneur of the Year, especially given the calibre of the other
finalists,” Fowlie says.
“Now the hard work starts in trying to impress the judges.”
On Friday, five winners will be announced for the following categories: Product, Services, Technology, Young, Master.
Those winners will then face further judging before the EY New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year is announced at an
awards evening on Thursday 27 September in Auckland.
“A part of me feels as though I am representing Christchurch. This city has been an amazing incubator for Trineo and
hundreds of others in the digital industries, so it’s always nice to get recognition for the city, no matter what
happens from here.
“When we set off on this journey eight years ago, we had big aspirations to help as many businesses as possible
modernise their systems and take advantage of the opportunities presented by the digital age.
“Today, it’s incredibly gratifying to look back on the growth we’ve had and the team culture we’ve built at Trineo. This
nomination is the cherry on top.”
ENDS