William Murrell, along with his business partner Ben Phillpotts-Scales from KiwiFibre, were named yesterday finalists in the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards in the innovator category.
They were acknowledged for their pioneering work of exploring the harakeke (flax) and composite textiles as a replacement for carbon fibre and fibreglass to make things such as parts of race cars, boats and even snowboards.
The initiative could also put unproductive land to sustainable use.
Mr Murrell was the only Southlander in the list and said he felt quite proud of that.
“I’m pretty stoked. It is pretty special to be nominated for that kind of award.
“I guess, I would like to show young people through this award that you can really do anything that you want to achieve in life.”
Mr Murrell and Mr Phillpotts-Scales were friends at the University of Canterbury where they completed their industrial design degrees.
By the time they graduated in December 2022, at the age of 23, they had founded KiwiFibre Innovations and raised $1.5 million to develop the fibre for hi-tech industrial uses.
“During our studies, we look at natural fibres and … we sort of discovered or learned some of the harakeke industry or what it used to be.
“It used to be New Zealand’s largest industry and [we] learned about the properties and the benefits that it has … literally, like the last week of exams, we closed our first pre-seed capital raise, which really kicked off everything for us.”
The former Southland Boys’ High School student — who lived in Invercargill until his university years — said he had always been curious about how things worked and enjoyed problem-solving and making solutions.
“I grew up around farms or working on farms and having that connection to the land and wanting to protect it for, you know, the future generations is something that is really, I guess, coming from Southland, was important for me,” Mr Murrell said.
He hoped the nomination would give his company even more credibility so they could pursue their goal of reviving the harakeke industry, which they believe “has the potential to be the most sustainable industry in the world”.
“We have the ability to compete with the big companies overseas and the capacity of replacing all the carbon fibre.”
Otago lawyer Deborah Manning was also a finalist in the category New Zealand sustainability leader of the year.
She was described as a “trailblazer in sustainability and food security”, transforming New Zealand’s food rescue landscape through her venture KiwiHarvest and the NZ Food Network.
The winners will be announced on March 20.
