Based in Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, they had a new business and a limited budget, so when Gabriel sat on their only desk and broke it, Adriana Avendano Christie’s frugal innovation swept into action.
Adriana Avendano Christie, co-founder of The Pallet Kingdom (Photo courtesy of Taking on the Giant)
She bought a circular saw and built a table from unwanted shipping pallets from a nearby construction site. After a friend offered to buy the table, the idea for what is now The Pallet Kingdom quickly sprung to life – a social enterprise that would divert pallets from landfill; give skills and support to struggling people in the community; and create furniture that would appear at expos and in trendy city cafes.
Originally from Bogota, Columbia, both Adriana and her partner Gabriel had known of each other as high-performance swimmers in their teenage years. As adults, both independently migrated to NZ (a few years apart) and eventually met through mutual friends.
Co-founder Gabriel with Adrian at work (Supplied)
They both have backgrounds in getting involved with social issues and causes in their hometown, especially with youth. Adriana’s family has a history of helping others too. Her grandparents were NZ missionaries who migrated to Columbia in the 1960s and worked tirelessly with the disadvantaged, establishing a school in a city slum. Adriana’s mother worked in one of the poorest areas of Bogota and her father founded an orphanage. It was no surprise that Adriana followed suit, having grown up spending time with girls at the orphanage and seeing the work her family did.
Gabriel too had been involved in projects in Bogota – initiatives for international students, research groups on vulnerable communities, and ran various charity projects targeting youth and displaced communities. In NZ, he has continued such work. He volunteered as a panel member for an inter-agency discussion about policies for international students; served for nine months on the Ethnic Youth Consultation Committee in 2013, and now voluntarily provides academic support for students who have recently migrated to NZ. This shared background—being from the same city, having the same social awareness and involvement in their communities—lends itself well to a successful relationship. “I’m really blessed to be able to have as my other half a person who understands and shares the same love for Colombia, admiration and gratitude to NZ, as well as understanding my kiwi western behaviour,” says Adriana.
The Pallet Kingdom (TPK) operates under the umbrella of Adriana and Gabriel’s boutique consulting agency called GWAMU, where they consult or work alongside businesses or public organisations as well as non-profits, focusing mainly on strategic development with an eco-sustainable element. Suppliers can email TPK to say they have pallets available for collection. Since they do not have a truck, Adriana says they cannot pick up all the pallets they are offered, but they do it at no cost to the suppliers. This is a cost-effective solution for suppliers to get rid of the pallets they no longer want and diverts them from landfill. When asked for a general figure of how many they might have diverted, Adriana answers with unexpected precision, “In total we have diverted 2364 pallets, plus four that are in the trunk of my car that I haven’t counted in our system.”
To read the rest of this story from our partner, Taking on the Giant, click here.
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