Taking care of business

Paul Hewitt is hoping to match supply and demand with his new website. Photo: Daniel Hines.

A new Tauranga start-up is trying to match lonely suppliers with desperate demand.

Paul Hewitt already has a sweet spot in the Bay of Plenty business scene with his confectionary business Global Candy.

However, he is not short of an idea or two and while others were hitting the flix or blogging weird exercise videos over lockdown, he was busy thinking.

He was thinking about how to get hold of some hand sanitiser for the factory.

'They couldn't supply – one place could only make 10,000 a week because the person who made their bottles could only make 10,000 per week. But how far did he look to get another supplier?”

So he has set up a website – www.sourceitnz.co.nz – where people who need things can post their request. People who can supply then just have to get in touch.

'The idea is to get everyone all over New Zealand working together.”

It sounds simple – the best ideas usually are – but it all revolves around getting people to take part.

Paul hopes to commercialise the idea down the line but for the first year or so, everything is free and he'll be picking up the costs.

'I have built it to assist New Zealand businesses network, prosper and grow.

'I want businesses up and down New Zealand to operate with each other and not be on the phone to China or Australia or India when they could find that perfect match right here in their own back yard.”

He has started marketing it and the amount of interest is 'unbelievable”. What he wants now is for people to list their jobs and tell other business owners.

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