New Soda Inc Chief Executive

Wintec Creative Industries Director, Cheryl Reynolds, has been appointed Chief Executive of Soda Inc. 

The appointment was announced by Soda Inc Board Chair, Dame Cheryll Sotheran.

Ms Reynolds’ appointment follows the resignation of Soda Inc’s General Manager, Grant Collier, who has moved on to another opportunity after playing a useful role in the start-up phase of Soda.

Soda Inc is now moving into implementation of its strategic plan.  Soda Inc is a creative industries business incubator that is a joint venture between Hamilton City Council and Wintec.

Cheryl Reynolds

Cheryl Reynolds is a successful creative entrepreneur and business manager with twenty years of leadership and innovation experience at national and international level across the creative industries sector.

Before making New Zealand her home in 2003, Ms Reynolds was Managing Director UK for Antenna Audio, the global leader in audio and audio-visual interpretation for museums and cultural sites worldwide.  She has also held the posts of Executive Director of Impressions Gallery York; General Manager of Camberley Theatre, Surrey; and Founding Director of Focal Point Gallery, Essex.

Ms Reynolds launched Wintec's Centre for Creative Industries in 2003 and, amongst other initiatives, has led the development of Soda Inc.  Winner of the UK’s Post-Graduate Enterprise Award and the Queen Elizabeth II UK Enterprise Innovation & Technology Award, Ms Reynolds has a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management and a Masters in Fine Arts.

SODA Inc

SODA Inc is New Zealand’s first dedicated creative industries business incubator.  It offers business support and mentoring in a high-tech custom-designed suite of offices located on the mezzanine level of the refurbished Meteor Theatre.  The name Soda Inc. reflects both its location at the historic Innes soft drink bottling factory at The Meteor, 1 Victoria Street, as well as Soda Inc.’s core mission of supporting the development of entrepreneurial businesses that have the potential for exponential growth in the creative industries sector.

Incubators are able to lift start-ups and early stage businesses to the next level faster and ensure that they arrive there in better shape to grow even bigger. Soda Inc will assist start-up businesses in the creative industries sector by providing mentoring and hands-on business support plus access to a wide range of business support services. Soda Inc also will act as a cluster core for Hamilton’s growing creative industries sector.

International research shows much better survival rates for businesses that are incubated.  In the UK, 75% of businesses are still in business after 5 years compared to a non-incubation survival rate of just 33%.  In the USA, 87% of businesses are still in business after 5 years compared to a non-incubation survival rate of just 40%.  Importantly for Hamilton, research has also shown that most businesses stay in the local area once they leave an incubation centre.