Need for challenge resulted in Pikaado skill-sharing site

Burcu Cakmak (left) and Kate Gray are behind the launch of online skill-sharing site Pikaado....
Burcu Cakmak (left) and Kate Gray are behind the launch of online skill-sharing site Pikaado. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
It all fell into place when Dunedin woman Kate Gray was seeking a new challenge.

Ms Gray was keen for something new to do, whether that was getting a job or starting a business.

Coincidentally, her friend Burcu Cakmak - who ``lived around the road'' - happened to be in the same position.

With their respective backgrounds, they thought they might work well together and started talking about things they could do.

They researched many ideas and discarded most, largely as they believed those ideas were more suited to bigger cities.

They focused on what Dunedin needed and the result was Pikaado, an online skill-sharing site allowing people to list profiles for workshops or experiences.

It went live last month.

There had been plenty of interest in the concept. Everyone had a passion and it was about sharing those passions, Ms Gray explained.

It ranged from stained-glass making and Japanese embroidery, to ethnic food workshops and zombie apocalypse makeovers.

The platform aimed to be a ``new arm to the gig-economy'', providing new things to do around the city.

``Dunedin is stuffed full of creative people doing interesting things, but they are hard to find. We wanted to build a central place to connect with these people, and to create more to do here.

``We also felt that while Dunedin is a great place to live, it can be difficult to find part-time work which fits around family.

``Pikaado offers people a flexible way to make money using their skills and hobbies. We also hope to provide small business people a new way of marketing themselves, and a way for community organisations to fundraise,'' she said.

The pair envisaged Pikaado would use the site to share knowledge in their local communities and connect with people living in their neighbourhoods.

People were also using the site to test business ideas, to see if there would be a local market ``in a low-risk way''.

Both women had backgrounds in the digital space so everything they had done, they had done themselves, working part-time from shared office space Petridish in Stafford St and from home.

Dunedin had been a ``fantastic'' place to launch, as the community was very supportive of new ideas and startups. The aim was to take the concept to other cities in the future, Ms Gray said.

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