Beef traders up to the challenge

A proposed red meat supply chain from South Australia to Singapore has won its developers the 2004 University of Adelaide Entrepreneurs' Challenge (Echallenge).

Barossa Valley-based Kalperri Trading were recently announced as the competition winners at the Echallenge final awards dinner, hosted by key sponsor Hewlett-Packard and MCed by Channel Seven newsreader Graeme Goodings.

The Echallenge provides a launch pad for early stage companies - with each company consisting of at least one University of Adelaide student - to showcase and gain support for their new business concepts. It aims to stimulate innovation, entrepreneurship and create commercial entities from viable business ideas.

Second prize in the competition went to Microbric, a company developing an electronic construction set based on the concepts of Lego and Meccano, and third went to Track to Track, a company aiming to launch Australia's first racehorse magazine to enable the trading of 1.2 million racehorses across the country.

Kalperri Trading consists of David Rutley, who is completing his PhD in animal selection and marketing at the university and is currently Business Development Officer for Biometrics SA, and Chris Duffield, a prime lamb producer in the Barossa Valley.

Their concept is based on statistical techniques, which analyse product quality and customer satisfaction. These techniques quantify product consistency and reward producers for making small continuous improvements in product quality.

"I am thrilled to win the University of Adelaide's Echallenge and this triumph has brought me one step closer to realising my dream of commercialising Kalperri Trading," Mr Rutley said.

"Our business concept benefits South Australia in many ways. We are rewarding producers for the quality of their beef, and in return, South Australia is gaining recognition from Asian importers on the quality of our produce.

"I am extremely grateful to the University of Adelaide and Hewlett-Packard for giving me this opportunity through the Echallenge program."

Echallenge project manager Ms Marissa Haltis said this year's competition was a fantastic success.

"The teams that competed should be extremely proud of their efforts - even picking the five finalists was very hard for the judging panel, let alone the overall winner," she said.

"I am also very grateful for the outstanding support which the South Australian business community continues to give this competition. Without their assistance and encouragement, it would not be the success it is."