Dr Hazel MacTavish-West

Hazel is a strong believer in ‘together we are more’ and in 2019 Hazel had a vision to help start-up businesses start, scale and grow. This vision led to Hazel and her partner Darren co-founding Seedlab Tasmania, an incubator and accelerator program to support start-ups.

Hazel’s contagious passion combined with the high economic and social impact delivered by accelerator program, led to the Woolworths Group committing significant funds to create Seedlab Australia. Seedlab Australia support small businesses and founders to become retail-ready and pitch to national retailers.

As co-Founder and CEO of Seedlab Australia, Hazel leads a small team of trusted advisors, nurtures a connected community of hundreds of Founders and has made dreams real for many Australian entrepreneurs.

Prior to Seedlab, Hazel spent most of her career as a curious food scientist. She worked on diverse projects for the fresh produce industry, and developed many innovative and award-winning value-added products. Hazel regularly makes presentations, writes articles and provides media commentary.

Hazel undertook a Churchill Fellowship in 2018, and has a PhD from the University of Tasmania and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Sydney.