Rewriting the Focus
A million-dollar investment in gold bullion has kept Wellingtonian Theresa Gattung, 49, financially secure for the past four years out of the spotlight, but now the former chief executive of Telecom New Zealand (TNZ)…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Doing Business Like Conchords
“As the duo behind the comedy and musical group Flight of the Conchords, you might be wondering what a folk band from New Zealand can offer by way of business advice,” Forbes contributor Deborah…
Stateside for Sealegs
Auckland-based Sealegs International, makers of amphibious marine craft, will open its North American flagship showroom at the Hingham Shipyard Marinas in New England this month, the company’s first store outside New Zealand….
Undeniable Success
New York’s hippest hotelier New Zealand-born Sean MacPherson — co-owner of the exclusive Waverly Inn, Maritime Hotel, Bowery Hotel, Jane Hotel and Montauk’s Crow’s Nest — makes the cover of August’s Avenue for a…
Ensuring World Nourishment
With a rapidly growing world population New Zealand has a key role in ensuring food security and safety for future generations, according to Mark Ward, general manager of Massey University’s The Riddet Institute, which…
In Love With His TV
Chief executive of Virgin Media New Zealander Neil Berkett has been placed at number 52 on the MediaGuardian annual top 1 guide to the most powerful people in television, radio, newspapers, magazines, digital media,…
Talent Spotting Down Under
“There’s a lot of incredibly talented people in New Zealand,” legendary American venture capitalist Peter Thiel told the New Zealand Herald recently. “You look around and you see the small businesses and it’s very…
Market Prevails
New Zealand’s stock market, worth a total of around only $48 billion, is one of the world’s best performing this year despite the effects of the Christchurch earthquake, a weak economy and a foreign…
Juicy Japanese Deal Done
Former All Black and television personality Marc Ellis has sold his juice company Charlie’s to Japanese drinks giant Asahi for NZ$129 million. Ellis told the New Zealand Herald the deal would not change him…
Lured by Indian Skies
A host of New Zealand companies are keen to enter the Indian aviation market enticed by the South Asian country’s booming economy and its burgeoning aviation sector growing at 19 per cent. Pacific Aerospace,…
Enough Room for Everyone
The New Zealand company behind Toyota people-carriers Spaceships — in the UK now for 18 months — is recommended by the Guardian in a travel feature about campervanning in Britain and mainland Europe. “The…
Hart’s Packaged Deal
New Zealand billionaire Graeme Hart’s Reynolds Group Holdings Ltd has acquired Graham Packaging Co Inc (GRM.N) after raising its bid to $1.69 billion. Reynolds, a private-investment firm run by Hart, raised its…
Challenging the Monopoly
New Zealand company Pacific Fibre has embarked on an ambitious unlisted capital raising to fund a submarine cable from Australia to New Zealand and on to the US west coast, challenging the…
Out of Africa
New Zealander Stephen Jennings, industrialist, investment banker and CEO of Moscow-based Renaissance Group, discusses the issues surrounding wealth creation in Russia, and doing business in Africa, on BBC Hardtalk. Jennings contends that Africa is…
Chasing Emerging Markets
“When you are the world’s biggest exporter in a sector powered by Asia’s high-octane economies, it is not difficult to find opportunities for growth,” Kevin Brown writes for the Financial Times. “Fonterra,…
Board Made Bespoke
Wellington-based tailoring firm Working Style will make 1 bespoke suits for the management team of the International Rugby Board this year after winning a six-figure contract normally reserved for European companies….
Ponoko Perfect
Ponoko, the virtual manufacturing pioneer, has announced that its Personal Factory platform will support the new 3D modelling software, Autodesk 123D. The partnership between Autodesk and Ponoko allows the companies to meet…
Spend Your Time Wisely
New Zealander Derek Handley, who sold his mobile marketing company, The Hyperfactory to American media conglomerate Meredith Corporation last year for an undisclosed amount, gave a speech in April at Kea, New Zealand’s global…
Distinctly New Zealand Feel
New Zealand landscaper Sam Martin has landed a multi-million dollar contract to redevelop London’s iconic Battlesea Power Station. After sitting derelict for nearly 3 years, Europe’s largest brick building is now being revamped to…
Repositioning Long-Haul Travel
Air New Zealand’s “innovative” Skycouch Economy seat has won the Aviation category in Condé Nast Traveller’s 211 Innovation and Design Awards trumping new First Class A38 cabin designs entered by…
Burgers and Fries to Iraq
New Zealand-listed gourmet burger company BurgerFuel Worldwide has sold the Master License agreement for the rights to BurgerFuel Iraq. It is the company’s fourth new territory in the Middle East. The brand…
Don’t Ask About the Price
Auckland yacht manufacturers Diverse Projects’ 31.5m boat Black Pearl headlines this year’s Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show in Queensland. The hull of the superyacht is modelled on a rare…
Have a Beer With Them
The world’s first personal brewery, invented by Auckland company WilliamsWarn, features on luxury item website eXtravaganzi. “Of all home appliances, this is my favourite. The WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery is created…
Grand and Green Design
WoJo™, a revolutionary upholstery fabric created by Wellington company The Formary, has been named one of UK television presenter Kevin McCloud’s ‘Kevin’s Green Heroes’. McCloud, who fronts Grand Designs, personally chose ten products…
Trading Yoghurt Secrets
Family owned Piako Gourmet Yoghurt, which operates out of Auckland, was the inspiration behind a new gourmet yoghurt range for the UK market, called Little Melton Gourmet Yogurt and produced in Norfolk. The company…
Jennings Keeps it Under Wraps
New Zealander Stephen Jennings’ Moscow-based company Renaissance Group is included in a Guardian list of 1 invisible corporate giants you probably haven’t heard of. “Renaissance Group has quietly emerged as one of the world’s…
Flight Company Sold to Canada
Nelson-based Helicopters New Zealand (HNZ) has been bought by Canadian Helicopters Group for $16 million. HNZ operates 33 helicopters at 11 bases in New Zealand, Australia, Laos and Cambodia. “The acquisition of HNZ represents…
Retaining Our Competitive Edge
Executive director of the Lowy Institute in Sydney Dr Michael Wesley was in Auckland in early April addressing the Australia/New Zealand Leadership Forum. The latest in a string of bilateral gatherings which aim to…
Winners at Caples in NY
Draftfcb New Zealand was named the top winner and most awarded agency in Australasia at the 33rd annual John Caples International Awards held in New York on March 24. Draftfcb NZ picked up eight…
Afghanistan Made Light
Founder and CEO of Kabul-based renewable-power firm Sustainable Energy Services Afghanistan (SESA) New Zealand-raised Tony Woods says helping the poor was never his primary goal; he came to the energy business —…
Star Rising in US Car Industry
“Dan Ammann’s meteoric career track began with a call from his native New Zealand,” Detroit Free Press business reporter Chrissie Thompson writes. “We’ve got somebody very special whom we think should spend some time…
Global Merino Expert
Icebreaker owner and CEO Jeremy Moon hated wool as a child. “I had to wear it as a kid and it was my nightmare — itchy, heavy and prickly. It sucked.” In 1994, a…
Easy On the Planet
Sisters Andrea and Robin McBride’s eco.love is the first carboNZero Cert™ winery in the world; the pair tell American sustainable business innovator Paul Smith how it can be, coming all the way…
Trading Dairy for Baht
New Zealand’s high quality food and beverage industry is responsible for market growth in Thailand, according to acting New Zealand Trade Commissioner to Thailand Thanadej Trakulyingyong. New Zealand’s food industry, in particular dairy products,…
Snoop and Rico Salute Sun
Air New Zealand’s mascot Rico has teamed up with US rapper Snoop Dogg to produce a music video for the airline. Rico, whose controversial antics promoted Air New Zealand’s Skycouch, joins Snoop, who dons…
Opportunities for Growth
Business between New Zealand and India has reached nearly $87 million in the past two years, with India now New Zealand’s 1th largest market. Coal has led the list of trade items with India…
One Hundred Days Without Fail
New Zealander Geoff Vuleta runs New York’s Fahrenheit 212, an innovation consultancy firm that helps Fortune 1 companies build products and bring them to market. “This business structure leads to greater opportunities, as we’re…
Steaming Forward
Contact Energy is to go ahead with the $623 million Te Mihi geothermal power project, having awarded the contract to engineering and construction management giant SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. in a joint venture with United…
Money Helps
“Even when wandering through the heat in the transport black hole of Pyrmont, Sam Morgan is alive to a gap in the market,” Tim Dick writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. “He asks why…
Back to Business
The New Zealand dairy co-operative of 1,5 farmers, Fonterra, which controls about a third of all internationally traded dairy products, has resumed its operations in Egypt in the wake of political unrest there. “We…
German for Float
“With its eagerness for wacky rides and a steady stream of adventure-seeking human guinea pigs, New Zealand was the obvious location” for the 2m monorail Swheeb track, writes the Financial Times’ Tarquin Cooper. “The…
Entrepreneurs Abound
New Zealand has begun 2011 as one of the most entrepreneurial countries on the planet — “an entrepreneurial powerhouse,” according to The Economist. With a recent study by The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation finding…
Trail-blazing Tomatoes
Auckland-based Status Produce is New Zealand’s largest tomato supplier producing 10 million kilograms of tomatoes each year. Status Produce began as a vision in 1993 by John Becroft, a second-generation tomato grower and Garry…
Utopian Tech Mecca
New Zealand is a newly discovered “utopia” for American entrepreneur Peter Thiel, famous for co-founding PayPal and being an early investor in Facebook, buying 5.2% in 2004 (the scene is in The Social Network)….
Business Realities
In an article titled ‘The Rise of the Global Elite’, in which New Zealander Stephen Jennings is referenced, The Atlantic’s Chrystia Freeland discusses the modern-day super-rich, a “more hardworking and meritocratic” group, though “less…
Little guys think big
“Historic inner-city suburb” Freemans Bay in Auckland is one of “five great city districts” included in Monocle’s December 2010/January 2011 issue as part of the magazine’s “annual global guide to the little guys with…
One big game changer
Air New Zealand’s new Boeing 777-3ER is reviewed by industry publication NYCAviation reporter Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren who takes a detailed tour on board “one of the biggest game changers to hit the commercial aviation industry…
Polished Parisian Finish
A simple New Zealand-designed plastic-clip system — originally made for superyachts — held together a recent Parisian exhibition celebrating the 125th anniversary of Italian fashion brand Bvlgari. The fifteen 8.5m-high pyramids constructed at the…
Luscious success
Handmade cosmetics company Lush, which Wellington-born Andrew Gerrie helped found in the UK in 1995, will release chewable toothpaste tablets to help reduce the amount of tubes thrown into landfills every year around the…
Airline alliance
Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue will form an alliance on trans-Tasman routes, after the competition regulator dropped its opposition to the plan. After indicating three months ago that it would block the deal,…
Diamond forever
Auckland couple Cameron and Shariyah Morris have won the title of “The World’s Best Couple” and a 22-carat diamond ring worth $1 million, which was presented by US reality television celebrity Kim Kardashian, in…
General Ovations for Liddell
General Motors CEO Dan Ackerson and Vice-Chairman and CFO Chris Liddell (center, at the New York Stock Exchange listing) received standing ovations from the trading floors of JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley to cap…
There is such a thing
New Zealand dairy company Fonterra has created a new yoghurt tailored for men, filled with fruit, seeds, grains and barley, under the brand name Mammoth Supply Co. Its marketing plays on social stereotypes of…
Factory opening in US
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra is taking on the tenancy of the Heartland Corporate Center in Shorewood, Illinois. Fonterra’s products will come to the United States from New Zealand via ships and then be…
Pago Pago challenge
Fletcher Construction of New Zealand has been awarded a US$7 million contract for the replacement of 33 homes destroyed in last year’s 8. earthquake and tsunami in American Samoa. Fletcher Construction has done business…
Mood-lit air travel
“Air New Zealand’s new Boeing 777-3ER passenger cabins look more like those inside a private jet than a commercial airliner,” according to Alan Ferguson reporting for The Province. “Redesigned from scratch, the mood-lit cabins…
