How do you turn a clever idea into a profitable business? That’s the question Cockburn resident and clinical child psychologist Louise Mansell had after coming up with an idea for an emotional support teddy bear to help kids who have experienced trauma.
“I’m a psychologist; I’m not a businessperson, so I had no idea how to make this into a business,” she said.
Louise applied to Curtin Ignition—a weeklong program that gives innovators a chance to hothouse their entrepreneurial ideas in a commercial environment with key players in the WA innovation startup and investor community.
“I went to Ignition with the idea of using AI so the teddy bear could have real-time conversations with the child,” she said. “But Ignition brought everything to light in terms of what I needed to do to make this into a business.”
Instead of using AI, Louise is creating a therapeutic teddy with sensory features to help children calm down, fidget-friendly paws to help children focus, and an audio device of emotional education activities.
Since completing Ignition, she’s received an Innovation Booster Grant, developed prototypes and tested them in clinical and home settings, and won the people’s choice award at the Empower Her pitch night. She plans to go to market with her bear in mid-2025.
Corey Gaidzionis had a similar experience. He is the founder of Big Emotions Academy, an educational platform centred on emotional intelligence for children, teenagers, and even adults. His idea grew from a children’s book he wrote, called The Little Book of Big Emotions, which features emotional characters and reflective questions for children aged three to 12.
“Someone (at Ignition) said the book isn’t a business; it’s a book,” Corey said. “That’s when the idea for the Big Emotions Academy was born, to create programs off the back of that. And now I can work not just with kids but across all sectors.”
It has become a much bigger, more profitable idea—while staying true to Corey’s goal of improving emotional intelligence education within our society. That could be a game changer for achieving his broader societal goal of addressing men’s mental health issues and reducing suicide rates and domestic violence.
Since completing Ignition, Corey has written his curriculum, developed his app interface, and is about to start testing his program in schools before a wider rollout in 2026. He credits Ignition with his progress.
“They really inspire you to think bigger, to think scale, to think impact on scale, which was really powerful for me,” he said. “You’ve got someone who’s really successful in business mentoring and coaching you.”
Corey received the City of Cockburn scholarship to attend Ignition.
“I couldn’t have afforded to drop that kind of money on a weeklong program, so it really changed the trajectory for me,” he said.
Louise said Ignition had been “life-changing”.
“The connections I made there have just opened up to this whole ecosystem of supportive mentors,” she said. “I don’t think you could make as many connections in a year as I made in that week at Ignition.
“They get you to step outside your comfort zone, supporting you in such a compassionate way that we all looked much more confident by the end of the week."
“You also know how to pitch once you’ve done Ignition.”
Ignition 2025 runs from 30 August to 5 September. Applications open Thursday 1 May.
To learn more about Curtin Ignition and the City of Cockburn scholarship places, come to our information session on Wednesday 30 April. To register, visit the Megatix webpage.