Altitude Farm takes out business award for handmade alpaca items

The young business woman took out Outstanding Young Entrepreneur in the New England North West Regional Business Awards.

Ms Feenstra started Altitude Farm in Invergowrie just three years ago, when she moved to the country from Newcastle with her family when she was 16.

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Her one request to her parents was some pet alpacas.

"When it came around to shearing time, we had no idea what to do with the fleece," she said.

"We asked our friends and our neighbours, and they all said there was nothing you could do, and to just get rid of it.

"I thought that was a waste, so I began experimenting."

Ms Feenstra started off selling felted cushions, dryer balls and felted soap at the local markets.

Pretty soon she had her own online store with orders from around the world.

This year she's expanded to on-farm workshops and has a retail outlet at Little Birdy in Uralla.

NSW Business Chamber regional manager Joe Townsend was impressed by Ms Feenstra's entrepreneurial spirit and she said was a deserving winner of the award.

"Age continues to be a barrier for young people, but at only 19 years old Rianna has become an industry expert providing her products to people who are two or three times her age with many years in similar crafts," Mr Townsend said.

"Leveraging digital technology, the demand was soon so great that she had to procure fleeces from other local farmers.

"Now operating a retail space in addition to her e-commerce platform, revenue growth has grown by nearly 300 per cent over the past two years."