A Facebook Messenger health coach and an app that helps record the life-story of a loved one are just two of many innovative ideas coming out of Regional NSW as part of the Jobs for NSW Regional PitchFest program.
Dimity Brassil, Albury said the idea for her business, A Lasting Tale, came when she realised she no longer remembered the voice of her father and sister.
"After someone dies the first thing we forget is the sound of their voice, a couple of years after my father and sister died I couldn't hear their voice anymore," Dimity said.
"Realising this I looked for a way to record the story of my mother who is getting very elderly.
"I discovered our phones have these amazing audio tools but the problem is that most people don't know they're there, or they don't know what questions to ask somebody."
She said A Lasting Tale was created to enable anyone to record the life story of a loved one.
Initially Dimity created a Do It Yourself kit, giving instructions on how to record audio and what questions to ask.
But she is now looking to develop this into an app that allows for curated question lists, the option to turn your audio into a podcast, video and book or to request someone to do the interview for you.
Dimity is one of five grand finalists in Regional PitchFest, chosen at the end of a business bootcamp held in Sydney.
"We met all of these tech people who have created start-ups," Dimity said.
"The ideas they gave me on how to get my product into the market were amazing.
"They helped me look at how to get distribution channels, for example through aged care homes and private carers."
She said the program has given regional businesses like hers the confidence to grow into something bigger.
"There are a lot of tech start ups based in the cities so we get nervous that we won't be able to do it and I think that stops people from developing their great ideas," Dimity said.
"Regional PitchFest has been invaluable in giving us access to these tech networks which would otherwise take years to develop."
Dimity will compete against the four other state finalists in a final and public pitch event to be held in Wagga Wagga on September 5.
One of the businesses she will be competing against is PA2Health, a four-week health and wellness challenge delivered by Facebook Messenger.
Judy Davie who is representing Young is one of five founders of the app. She said their mission is to improve the mental and physical well-being of regional Australians.
"We use chat bot technology to integrate evidence based psychology with exercise, healthy eating, stress and sleep management and deliver it through a gamified four-week challenge sent through Facebook Messenger," Judy said.
"It's often hard for regional Australians to access the range of services we provide in the bot."
She explained each team member looked after a different area of well-being. Judy covers healthy eating and provides four weeks of healthy recipes with shopping lists plus healthy eating tips as part of her challenge.
Active Farmers' Ginny Stevens takes care of the exercise component and sends videos you can follow along with, while Narelle Hunter guides people through stress and sleep management techniques.
Psychologist Alice Williams is on board to intercept people with value-based messages at times of the day when they are most vulnerable to making less healthy decisions.
Their technical director is Ed Stevens who "put them all together in the bot."
Judy said the bootcamp helped in areas including how manage media, where to find funding, how to market the business and of course learning how to pitch.
"It was just fantastic. We met a great bunch of people, expanded our business knowledge and grew in confidence - which is so important at this start-up stage" Judy said.
The winner of the Regional PitchFest final will receive $7,500 in cash and a customised international mission to help build their skills and network.
Tickets to the final are available through the Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre.
