Mount Gambier luxury camping entrepreneur Caitlan Zukauskas has won a 10-day United States start-up tour, taking out the gold eNVIe at Flinders University’s New Venture Institute Limestone Coast Venture Dorm graduation ceremony on 3 December 2018.

Together with Limoncello Caravan Bar founder Tamara Seeley, who won the silver eNVIe, Ms Zukauskas will visit start-ups in San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Austin, as part of the NVI’s US tour in March next year, joining other business founders and previous eNVIe winners to attend more than 30 events, pitch competitions, site visits and networking opportunities.

Ms Zukauskas joined eight other graduates from the second semester of the New Venture Institute’s ‘Venture Dorm’ pre-accelerator program to compete for the award at the eNVIes, which were held at Mount Gambier, pitching their ideas for a prize pool in excess of $60,000.

With sponsorship from organisations including PIRSA, AWS and the Border Watch, the event was the culmination of seven weeks of practical learning with personalised mentors.

The other Venture Dorm graduates include People’s Choice winner Rosangela Crispino, Les Wright, Tammy Flier, Marika Gazzard, Ilana Adams and Narella Marcus.

Venture Dorm provides hands-on training for people keen to learn how entrepreneurs build and market new ventures and either create one themselves, or lift their existing business to greater success. The aim is to take an idea and establish a viable business model that can be scaled up and repeated, in just seven weeks.