What if you could capture the nostalgia of disposable cameras in a digital world? One UQ student did just that and they have been celebrated at this year's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Awards.
Mackenzie Salisbury, an undergraduate from The University of Queensland (UQ), with a love for mechatronics engineering and old school camera technology has been recognised as the UQ Student Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2024 UQ Entrepreneurship and Innovation Awards. Mackenzie is the co-founder of startup Flashback, a digital camera that recreates the experience of old school photography.
A current engineering and science undergraduate student at UQ, majoring in Mechatronics Engineering and Chemistry, Mackenzie has an extensive background in software development. He has represented Australia multiple times in robotics contests and is also a recipient of UQ’s ICT Excellence Scholarship. While attending Cromwell College, he met his now best mate and Flashback co-founder Kelric Mullen, and the rest, as they say, is history.
As company executive of Flashback and the only in-house engineer, Mackenzie leads an international team in product development. All this before graduating!
So, what’s the big deal about Flashback? According to its makers, Flashback is the soul of a film camera reborn in a digital era.
“It all started when Kelric and I noticed that disposable cameras were becoming really popular because young people wanted a more authentic experience in photography,” says Mackenzie. “We started up with the UQ Ventures ilab Accelerator Program. For a long time it had just been the two of us basically building this company in the garage. Since then. we’ve made a reusable and re-chargeable alternative product and we’ve built a software ecosystem around that. We’ve designed it all in-house and it’s now live in the market.”
Each year, Gen Z purchases 10 million disposable film cameras in search of a more authentic way to take pictures. Flashback combines that analogue experience with the best parts of the digital world. Flashback’s product launch on Kickstarter raised $80,000 in the first 13 minutes. They went on to raise over $800,000 in just a month, with a total of approximately $1.5M in revenue.
“Customers using our product have collectively captured over 2 million photos. Now we’re growing our team, expanding fulfilment networks into our largest markets, and financing inventory to keep up with demand.”
Mackenzie was one of four winners at the 2024 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Awards. Held on 21 August to coincide with celebrating World Entrepreneurship Day, UQ’s annual awards event recognises outstanding entrepreneurs and mentors across the university’s ecosystem who are making significant contributions to the economy and creating job opportunities in their communities.
“This is the third year that the Awards have been running and each year I am thoroughly impressed by the ingenuity and tenacity of our students and the diversity of their ideas which are leading to longer-term impact in their work,”
Head of Entrepreneurship, Mr Nimrod Klayman, said it was wonderful to see the broader entrepreneurship community come together to celebrate the visionary and intrepid people who are driving positive change and innovation.
“The awards are proudly sponsored by UniQuest and FaBA (Food and Beverage Accelerator). UniQuest has been supporting our Entrepreneurship & Innovation Awards since our inaugural event in 2022. We’re excited to welcome FaBA as a new sponsor this year, extending the Awards to include the rapidly advancing food and beverage startup community across Australia.”
Congratulations to the 2024 Award winners:
- UQ Student Entrepreneur of the Year: Mackenzie Salisbury
- UQ Startup of the Year: Young Stripes
- UQ Mentor of the Year: Felix Hall
- FaBA Food and Beverage Startup of the Year: All G Foods
UQ Startup of the Year: Young Stripes (Hemanshi Galaiya)
Young Stripes is an experiential education and leadership startup aimed at positively impacting STEM careers in Kenya. Founded by UQ bioengineering PhD student and entrepreneur Hemanshi (Hemi) Galaiya, Young Stripes has provided improved STEM education opportunities for nearly 1,500 students from low-income backgrounds.
"Children learn by doing and science is all about the doing,"
Hemi is a passionate educator, driven by curiosity and a deep desire to solve global challenges through science. In her entrepreneurial journey, Hemi has undertaken highly competitive business incubator programs such as Africa Insight and UQ’s First Empower Women’s Accelerator.
Hemi's mission in life is to ensure that every young person is empowered to reach their true potential irrespective of where in the world they come from.
“It was important for me to do this because I am a product of our current education system in Kenya… [and to] showcase a different light and lens on science ensures we can sustain a pipeline of talented young people.”
Hemi is currently in Denmark undertaking research as part of her PhD.
UQ Mentor of the Year: Felix Hall
Felix is a social entrepreneur with a Bachelor of Arts in Machine Learning and a heart set on making a scalable impact. His startup MindMuse, co-founded with UQ Chief Student Entrepreneur Jack Feng, is dedicated to mitigating psychosocial hazards in the workplace and promoting mental health.
Felix has a Bachelor of Arts in Machine Learning and extensive experience founding and running startups, including graduating this year from UQ’s ilab Accelerator Program. He is a very active and committed member of the UQ student entrepreneurship community, keen to give back and pay forward for collective success. He has mentored over 40 student startup teams, supporting them with business and no-code mentorship or access to external opportunities.
“I use mentoring as a way to magnify impact and the learnings on my journey to help others,”
Felix’s journey is marked by innovation, compassion, and a drive to solve pressing global issues. His goal as a social entrepreneur is to help 100,000 people by 2032. Felix has been instrumental in steering projects towards success, from improving health and wellbeing in developing nations to launching MindMuse.
His achievements include building a medical record system to combat malnutrition in Indonesia and organising the largest collaborative effort in Australia’s university student entrepreneurship ecosystem. As both a visionary in the tech and product space and a social entrepreneur, he is constantly exploring new horizons in mental health technology.
FaBA Food and Beverage Startup of the Year: All G Foods
All G Foods is a cutting-edge biotech startup on a mission to revolutionise the production of dairy proteins using precision fermentation, as well as plant-based solutions. Envisioning a global system capable of providing dairy without relying on animals or traditional farmland, the team is focused on combining nature and science at the forefront of ethical and sustainable food solutions, by producing real dairy without the calories, using a process called precision fermentation.
Founded by Jan Pacas, who is also the CEO, All G Foods employs a team of 25 scientists and 8 commercial staff members. The startup has attracted substantial investment and formed strategic alliances with industry leaders, bolstering success in the Australian market and developing strategic subsidiaries overseas, expanding into the APAC region.
With a 4 year, $4 million project with FaBA (Food and Beverage Accelerator), All G Foods will be able to commercialise dairy protein products for use in the market. This is made possible by partnering with UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, where All G Foods will have access to bio-reactor technology which will help expedite commercialisation of their research to the market.
All G Foods is one of the vanguard organisations changing how we produce food into the future, improving the environmental impact of the dairy and agriculture industry by producing high-quality proteins more efficiently and sustainably.
The UQ Entrepreneurship and Innovation Awards showcase the university's vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and its impact on fostering innovative ventures across various fields each year. More of our inspirational founders will be on display in September, when we take Ventures to the stage for the Ventures ilab Accelerator Pitch Night!
