Leadership Network member finds formular for oat milk success

Emma (right) with her friend and Teiny co-founder Renee Tauwhare

It seems hard to believe the then University of Canterbury chemical formulation design student stumbled across a much-sought-after solution to turning the product into powder, succeeding where top food tech engineers had failed. 

Her own journey towards a plant-based diet in response to health issues was the catalyst for the university project. 

So, how did she crack the formula? 

“What I've come up with is that it was actually the naivete and the fact that I had a chemical formulation background as opposed to a food tech background, so I approached it quite differently,” she says. 

“It was like a complete accident.” 

A research grant allowed Emma to work with scientists at Callaghan Innovation to unravel her work. 

“They helped me ‘reverse engineer’ what actually happened.” 

The end result – a very marketable new product. 

The pair hope to launch Teiny in supermarkets in comng months

Emma joined forces with childhood friend and fellow University of Canterbury alumna Renee Tauwhare to create company Teiny to produce and sell her instant oat milk supercharged with protein, calcium, B12 and D2, with a strong emphasis on sustainability. 

Using oats grown in New Zealand and recyclable packaging for their powder is a priority for the pair. 

They have spent the last few months nailing down an intellectual property strategy to safeguard their innovative product from competitors. 

Emma reckons they are now a couple of months away from launching in supermarkets and are actively talking to other food manufacturers about the potential for oat milk powder to be used as an ingredient in other dairy-free foods. 

“We've had so many people reaching out to us asking for the product,” she says. “We've realised that this is a really, really big market for us.” 

Longer term, Emma has her eyes on Asia.  

"We had an MBA (Master of Business Administration) student who did some market research for us in Asia, and they identified that Singapore would be a really ideal market for us.” 

Lactose intolerance is prevalent in that part of the world, plus consumers there embrace goods like Teiny’s, she says. 

“They’re really used to working with powder products. They often have to walk to the supermarket (as private car ownership isn’t as usual); they don’t want to carry heavy packages back. It’s almost like they actually expect a powder product as opposed to a liquid.” 

Emma: "We've had so many people reaching out to us asking for the product...”

Emma is a recent inductee to the Asia New Zealand Foundation’s Leadership Network. 

Her journey so far has shown the value of strong connections to personal successes. 

“Every challenge that we had in the last year, and there were a lot of them, we wouldn't have got through them without the network that we have.” 

However, Emma realised that network was New Zealand-specific, and that could be a weak spot. 

“New Zealand specialises in things like sustainability and agriculture, while Asia has more expertise in manufacturing and innovation technology, so I really wanted to expand that network to learn more about what's happening in the rest of the big, wide world.” 

Kiwi dairy has a significant global presence, and Emma respects that. 

“We went out to an oat farm recently and learned so much more about the process. 

“Dairy farmers and oat farmers are usually the same people.” 

Oats are a rotational crop that can improve soil health and soak up excess nitrogen. 

“So, it all works really nicely together,” Emma says. 

“One of our big things when we’re trying to promote oat milk is to not be bashing the dairy farmers at all.  

“This is an optimistic space.”

The Asia New Zealand Foundation Leadership Network equips the next generation of Kiwi leaders to thrive in Asia. We provide members with the connections, knowledge and confidence to lead New Zealand’s future relationship with the region.