We have a space industry now worth a couple of billion dollars, but going back a few years, no one would have thought it. Except for Mark Rocket, that is. Not only was he the first New Zealander to book a ticket with Virgin Galactic, but he was the seed investor and co-director of Rocket […]
[podcastfooter] What exactly does one do after they sell their business for $500m? Vaughan Fergusson, founder of Vend, dropped in for a fireside chat with editor Andre Rowell at the M2 Summit to give us the insight and impart with some wisdom on just how he grew his business to that astonishing value. Fergusson […]
[podcastfooter] For so many of us, the first COVID lockdown was a real stifler of our productivity and motivation, and a really scary time for small business owners who faced the threat of losing their livelihoods. However, some of us were able to find ways to create, innovate and make a big difference in helping […]
[podcastfooter] If you were to make a list of guaranteed, instant money-making industries, I’m not sure how far down you’d have to go before you reached the umbrella industry, but I’d imagine it wouldn’t be near the top. It’s in an industry, that in order to really succeed, you’d have to come up with […]
There’s a breed of business thinking that is not only about making money but also making a positive impact on the world. And Oz Jabur from Future co is this breed of entrepreneur, helping to drive those other metrics of success. We talk to Oz about the future of active wear, sustainable sportswear and how […]
New Zealand’s tourism has of course been adversely disrupted by Covid enough, but Kiwi Welcome founder Sam Brough has brought some positive disruption to the industry with a member-based app for the Queenstown Lakes region which not only gives users special discounts and access to local tourist attractions, hotels and restaurants, but then puts all […]
The problem of stock control has been around as long as businesses have been around for and still today companies often bear the opportunity cost of not having enough of a particular product or having cash tied up in having too much of another product. Dom Sutton, the co-founder of StockTrim, set out to change […]
Like many New Zealanders, Sarah Colcord’s work as a freelance event and project manager stalled during the lockdown. Rather than complaining though, she set to work to create opportunities for New Zealand businesses like hers in the form of a community. Within a few months that community turned into a Facebook group of over 540,000 […]
Bricks and mortar retail, commercial property and inner city living have all being going through some evolution over the last few years and then 2020 came along and whipped things up. One of New Zealand’s premier locations for all of these things is Newmarket and to get sense of where things are at now we […]
While young entrepreneurs these days might be focused on the next big app or software solution, Israel Whitley has created a success out of old school hard work and human talent with his company, Auckland Labour Hire which supplies contractors to the building and construction industry. With the backing of investors like Rob Fyfe and […]
As we start to put a bit more of a spotlight on local manufacturing and supply chains, Ben Kepes and his company Cactus Outdoor is proof that it is possible to manufacture great products here. While it might have been better for profit to move manufacturing overseas, Ben has other metrics for business beyond the […]
In 1998, you’d be at the cutting edge of things if you had a 56kb dial up connection. To download a song via Napster might take an hour all going well and, if you were one of those progressive companies to have a website, it might take you 6 months to get it manually listed […]
The multi-award winning New Zealand spirits company Scapegrace obviously know a few things about how to create and market great products from New Zealand to the rest of the world. We talk to two of the co-founders, Mark Neal and Daniel McLaughlin, about Vodka, Pavlova (well sort of) and what we can leverage in New […]
Mark Eltom’s career has really been defined by an intersection of science, business, innovation and the power of these things to make a positive impact for the communities that they are based in. From working as a scientific advisor to Rwanda’s agricultural sector, to helping open export pipelines out of the Pacific, to working with […]
In 2013, Aidan co-founded entertainment website EMGN.com. Within its first year, it was a global, multi-million dollar business. Following the successful exit in 2017, Aidan started mentoring local founders voluntarily as a way to occupy his time. What started as a desire to give back and to challenge opinions in the start-up world, has now evolved […]
Ash Parmar has been in the liquor business for over 14 years and over those years, Ash and his family have built up a high performing retail business. The road hasn’t been easy though, hours have been long and there have even been armed robberies along the way. The journey though has been accompanied by […]
Catherine van der Meulen was born and raised in Sydney until recently, moving to rural New Zealand with her children to embark on a greener, more purpose-led lifestyle, after being disenfranchised by the pace that living a life wearing multiple hats required. Last year, Catherine launched Entrepreneurial Women with Purpose – a community designed to […]
Kirsty Harkness is the first licensed industrial hemp grower in NZ vineyards, Co-founder and Managing Director of Mount Base Vineyards, Owner of Tigertiger photography agency, and Ice Angel. While very seemingly different businesses, Kirsty leverages the connections and creates new value along the way. While only it’s early days, Kirsty’s trials in growing hemp alongside […]
Ever wanted to run your own VC fund but thought that was another world away? Well, Rob Vickery wants to not only connect a new level of VC focus to New Zealand innovation and help us go global, but also to encourage budding VCs here as well. His newly formed Hillfarrance Venture Capital fund has […]
Chloe and Florence are sisters who craft health beverages in their hometown of Nelson, New Zealand. Surrounded by mountains, lakes, and at the edge of the Pacific Ocean; the outdoors is their playground. Chloe is a neuroscientist and holds a diploma in herbal medicine. With this background and a passion for nutrition, Chloe set out […]
After 25 years in the corporate world, Gavin Oliver arrived in New Zealand in 2008 with a young family and a visa that gave him 24-months to establish a business or get unceremoniously sent home. With no experience of tourism and little knowledge of New Zealand, plus a vow to never wear a suit and […]
From emergency operations control for the New Zealand Police to building several businesses, Ash has a passion for innovation and helping people achieve their dreams and success. An engineer by profession, Ash built up one of the country’s most respected cloud service’s agency before realising a long-standing dream of building a modern, stylish entertainment and […]
Dave Rouse is the CEO of CarbonClick, which bridges the sustainability gap through delivering certified carbon offset projects either at the point of sale or via a subscription. He’s also passionate about preserving our marine ecosystems and is a founding trustee of the zero administration, registered charity – SeaCleaners. He is an investor and entrepreneur […]
While there has been a big jump into eCommerce for many brands lately, there is also a less progressive danger with environmental impact. And after working with couriers and eCommerce for years, Kate Bezar and Rebecca Percasky became horrified at the amount of plastic waste the industry was generating and so set out to do […]
As the Co-Founder and CEO of Comacc, which sold to MYOB a few years ago, Steve Nathan could have retired young, but he is a breed of Kiwi Tech Entrepreneur that wants to keep using his time to keep creating things. One of these things ironically is a platform, TimeHub, which allows business ideas to […]
As the founder of Shine Global, a group of global entrepreneurs who see business and enterprise as way to create positive change, Julian Noel is no stranger to the thoughts that many of us are having right now in terms of how we rebuild but in a positive way. Part of this the importance of […]
Win Charlesbois is the co-founder of The Diamond Shop which specialises in handcrafted diamond engagement rings. At one point he was a Navy pilot, landing on and taking off from aircraft carriers, before settling for a slightly slower form of transport in the form of a hand-built sailboat. In 1974, Win and his wife Linda […]
Search Engine Optimisation guru, Richard Conway started his company, Pure SEO, in 2009 with just $200 to spend on a single web page. From there, mostly using digital marketing, he has expanded the business to four offices in New Zealand and Australia. Pure SEO has been listed by Deloitte in the fastest-growing 500 tech companies […]
Called Rutherford, out of respect for one of New Zealand’s greatest thinkers, Lord Ernest Rutherford, is a company that is built on helping New Zealand prepare for the new world. While COVID-19 has seen them adapt to produce fascinating insights into what New Zealanders are thinking and feeling right now, they are also working on […]
Naomi Ballantyne (ONZM) is a leader in New Zealand financial services. And might be the only woman in the world to have played a founding role in three life insurance companies. Partners Life, which she established as a small start-up in 2011, is now a recognised leader in the sector in New Zealand. It currently […]
Jay Harrison is the founder and CEO of Edison, a company committed to the extension of human health-span and life-span using precision health and technology. The company’s namesake, Thomas A. Edison, in fact inspired the vision back in 1903. “The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the […]
Ira Munn is Founder and CEO of Ierospace Industries International, where the team is developing electric efficiency technologies and 3D printed electric vehicle kits using recycled plastics. Incubating at Accelerating Aotearoa’s We o Tara STEM Learning Centre in Otara, Auckland. Ierospace merged with Los Angeles-based technology company R.E.P.S. Inc. after the BMWi/TED Next Visionaries talk […]
A former street kid, Sir Ray Avery went on to become an internationally recognised scientist and entrepreneur and Knight of the Realm. He’s founding member of the Auckland University School of Medicine, Department of Clinical Pharmacology and former Technical Director of Douglas Pharmaceuticals who, over the past thirty years, has made a major contribution in the […]
Innovator, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Andrew Barnes has made a career of market-changing innovation and industry digitisation. Most recently, in New Zealand, Andrew triggered a revolution of the entire fiduciary and legal services industries, and the transformation he has led as the founder of Perpetual Guardian has positive implications both locally and globally as evidenced by […]
Mark Collins has competed as part of the NZ Cooking Team at the Hotel Olympia in London and has run several multi-million dollar food service, hospitality and food manufacturing businesses; the largest of which turned over $20m a year and employed over 230 staff. Not only now is he a business process consultant, but he […]
Danu founded RUSH Digital in 2010 and has led its technology teams in developing world-first solutions for global companies such as Microsoft, Disney, Google, Samsung and Nokia. He’s overseen and been hands-on involved in the design, development and deployment of numerous software and hardware projects across a wide range of platforms and disciplines. Not only […]
John Cleghorn is a Founding Partner of Prime Strategies Group. Prime focuses on business excellence in the Small to Medium (SME) business market. Their ethos is to help SME owners make their respective businesses operate better, become successful and put their lives back on track. Getting good advice and some outside perspective is important, even […]
