Honouring the Historic for Business Sake
“Even if you’re familiar with the All Blacks, you probably still weren’t aware of their dominant 77 per cent winning percentage against the planet over the last century. What you’re probably familiar with is…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Allbirds’ Tim Brown on Team Dynamics
New Zealander Tim Brown, 38, didn’t have the typical resume of a hotshot Silicon Valley entrepreneur when he co-founded his shoe startup Allbirds in 2016, but he knew firsthand how to put together a…
Eco-Star Cristina McLauchlan Spreads the Word
New Zealand-born Hong Kong-based wellness advocate Cristina McLauchlan aims to achieve sustainability in all aspects of her life, but she has seen enough of the world to understand that a waste-free society is highly…
Weta Digital Receives Significant Investment
Napster co-founder and former Facebook president Sean Parker has invested in film director Peter Jackson’s Wellington-based visual effects studio, Weta Digital, Fortune magazine reports. Weta Digital has contributed work on a number of blockbuster films…
Otago Scientists Explain Loch Ness Mystery
The most famous photo of the Loch Ness monster has long been discredited as a hoax, but University of Otago scientists have come up with a new explanation for other sightings of the elusive…
Rocket Lab Aims to Catch Boosters with Choppers
New Zealand-founded California-based Rocket Lab wants to use a helicopter to “catch” the first stage of its Electron rocket as it floats toward the ground with a parachute, according to Robert Mogg reporting for…
Statistician Hadley Wickham Wins Global Award
Hadley Wickham, a statistician from Hamilton who is now based in Houston, Texas, has won the international 2019 COPSS Presidents’ Award. The prize is awarded annually to a statistician under 40 in recognition of…
New Zealand Study Looks At Robot Racism
The reason for shades of technological white in the creation of robots may be racism, according to new research undertaken by the Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand (HIT Lab NZ) and published…
Entrepreneur Steve Ashby Helping Others Start Up
New Zealander Steve Ashby tells Dubai-based newspaper The National that he launched his start-up Businessmentals in the UAE in 2017 with one clear ambition: to provide other would-be entrepreneurs with everything they needed to…
National Australia Bank Hires RBS Head Ross McEwan
National Australia Bank (NAB) has appointed the New Zealander who oversaw Royal Bank of Scotland’s lengthy restructuring as its new chief executive, Daniel Shane and Jamie Smyth report for the Financial Times. Melbourne-based NAB,…
New Culture Making Cow Cheese Without Cows
Head of Silicon Valley-based food startup New Culture, New Zealander Matt Gibson, founded the company because he didn’t like the non-dairy options on the market, according to a story by Larissa Zimberoff published online…
How the Gig Economy Worked for Sue McLachlan
New Zealand-born mother-of-two Sue McLachlan is pursuing her passion in the gig economy and making a comfortable amount of money after the collapse of her cloth nappy company business. Yahoo Finance reports on how…
Modulation Effects Man Lee Nicholson Talks Business
Dunedin boutique effects maker Lee Nicholson has earned a reputation for creating innovative modulation-based analogue effects with digital brains that blend sonic experimentalism with ease of use. Josh Gardner at Guitar.com spoke to him…
Barbara Rae-Venter’s Revolutionary Cold Case Crime Breakthrough
Auckland-born genetic genealogist Barbara Rae-Venter has become the go-to expert for law enforcement agencies hoping to crack the cases that defy traditional investigative methods, according to a profile in the San Francisco Chronicle by…
Hilton Boss Alan Watts Sets His Sights on India
Alan Watts, Asia-Pacific president of iconic hotel brand Hilton, which turns 100 this month, is bullish on India, Ashish Gupta writes for Fortune. New Zealand-born Watts joined Hilton in January 2018 after a 20-year…
High Hopes for the Town of Ruatoria
New Zealand medicinal business, Hikurangi Cannabis is looking to secure its slice of the “cannabusiness”, all while empowering the marginalised community of Ruatoria and allowing it to create wealth from within. Anna Watanabe reports…
On the Anniversary of Ernest Rutherford’s Find
“In 1907, a New Zealander named Ernest Rutherford moved from McGill University in Canada to the University of Manchester. There, he conducted a series of experiments where he fired alpha particles at different materials,”…
New Zealand Responds to Alternative Protein Threat
In a report for The Japan Times, journalist Charlotte Greenfield talks to Dave Harper, a farmer in the scenic Canterbury region, where his painstakingly bred flock of lambs is grazing not on grass, but…
Allbirds Is Just Flat out Busy
Allbirds’ first distinctly feminine silhouette has just been released. Shannon Fitzgerald reports on the new line, a brightly-hued ballet flat called The Tree Breezer, for Fortune magazine. The flat is constructed from an extremely light…
Pioneering Facial Reconstruction Work Of Harold Gillies Carries Graphic Warning
The pioneering work of Dunedin-born surgeon Dr Harold Gillies is graphically displayed in a Daily Mail spread featuring the facial reconstructions of soldiers wounded in WWI. Under the headline “The rebuilt faces of war:…
Mental Health Means Business for Hannah Hardy-Jones
A new wave of female entrepreneurs who are using their own experiences of mental health to help others feature in Forbes, including New Zealander Hannah Hardy-Jones, founder of The Kite Program, “the world’s first…
Rachel Carrell Fixing Broken UK Childcare System
There are a dozen different words that Rachel Carrell can think of to describe the challenges of finding childcare for parents in the UK. None of them are positive. “It’s exhausting, expensive, overwhelming, stressful…
Virgin CEO Josh Bayliss Reflects on Climate Action
New Zealand-born Josh Bayliss, CEO of multi-billion-pound brand the Virgin Group, which holds a stake in Virgin Atlantic, discusses with BusinessGreen journalist Michael Holder how corporates should respond to consumer outcry over climate change. There…
Ross McEwan Completes RBS Turnaround
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s top banker, New Zealander Ross McEwan, will leave the state-backed lender within a year, Bloomberg reports. The bank will start searching for chief executive officer McEwan’s replacement immediately, according…
Software Startup AskNicely Moves to Portland
Auckland-founded software startup AskNicely has moved its headquarters to Portland, Oregon. The company’s technology is designed to help clients improve customer satisfaction and it opened its Portland outpost in 2017 and now employs 35…
Rocket Lab Now Building Customisable Satellites
Small satellite launcher, New Zealand-founded Rocket Lab is getting into the business of making satellites in addition to launching them. The company has announced that it is offering a new service to customers: a…
Paul Clews in Legal Team Dealing to Risky Bonds
A legal duo made up of New Zealander Paul Clews, 41, and American Sabrina Fox, 42, lead the newly formed European Leveraged Finance Alliance (ELFA), a group trying to raise standards in Europe’s junk…
Menstrual Company Hello Cup Expands into US
New Zealand menstrual cup brand Hello Cup, co-founded by Robyn McLean and best friend Mary Bond, has signed a deal with American clothing brand Urban Outfitters. From the end of this month, Hello Cup will…
Surgeon Simon Talbot Heads World-Leading Team
Harvard-based New Zealander Dr Simon Talbot M.D. leads a team of surgeons performing astonishing hand transplants and plays a part in operations that give patients a new face, reports Clare de Lore…
Laybuy Continues its Move onto UK Platforms
Laybuy, which was co-founded by Gary Rohloff and his son Alex, is a New Zealand company that’s trying to bring a new payment model to the UK. It’s based on a model known as “layby”,…
Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck at TED in Vancouver
Peter Beck is a space entrepreneur with a rocket and launch pad in New Zealand that has permission for flights “every 72 hours for the next 30 years”. Beck recently spoke at the TED…
Māori Business Revaluing the Past
Global businesses should heed traditional, indigenous knowledge to better protect land, honour old customs and boost profits, participants at a Wakatū Incorporation conference in Wellington said last week. Instead of a wasteful “take, make and…
Your Apples May Soon Be Picked By Laser-Shooting Robots
Roboticists are creating crop-specific machines to harvest fruits and veggies. One of these inventions is “the apple-picking robot, a metallic farmer that just graduated from R&D and won a job in a New Zealand…
Travel the World Like Influencer Alex Gillespie
New Zealand-born Instagram travel guru Alex Gillespie has amassed over 54k followers on Instagram over recent years, and has made a living travelling the world. He’s one of those enviable people who seems to…
40,000-Year-Old Log Explains Earth’s Mystery
A 40,000-year-old 60-tonne kauri log discovered during excavations for a new power station in Ngāwhā could explain a mysterious global event, which may have dramatically changed the Earth’s climate. Scientists in New Zealand believe the…
New CMO Role at TRI Pointe for Linda Mamet
One of America’s largest homebuilders, California-based TRI Pointe Group, announced last week that New Zealander Linda Mamet has been named chief marketing officer. In her role as vice president of corporate marketing for the past…
Tim Topham Drills Through Adversity
New Zealanders Tim Topham and his brother had little to show for their business dream in 2006, spending their nights on mattresses in their newly purchased yard in Boulder, Western Australia. By day they…
Lonely Lingerie One of the Labels Changing Lingerie
“Lingerie is set to become a $59 billion market globally by 2024, up from $38 billion in 2017, according to Zion Market Research. And as sales grow, tastes also appear to be shifting,” writes…
Laybuy Partners with Footasylum to Mark UK Launch
“New Zealand-based ‘buy now, pay later’ platform Laybuy has marked its official UK launch by announcing a partnership with high street brand Footasylum,” George Nixon reports for The Daily Mail. “Online…
Samuel Wilkes Rolls Out New Business in Manila
Serving handcrafted ice cream in Bali, Indonesia since 2017, XOXO has now opened branches in Manila. “We opened here at Greenbelt 3 in October of last year,” says Samuel Wilkes, the New Zealand-born co-founder…
New Zealand Farmers Herd Sheep with Barking Drones
In New Zealand, farmers are using drones to herd and monitor livestock, assuming a job that highly intelligent dogs have held for more than a century, and though the robots have not replaced the…
Zero-Waste Advocate Kate Mercurio Starts with Soap
Having grown fed up with watching her children play among plastic rubbish on Hong Kong beaches, New Zealand-born Kate Mercurio decided to tackle the issue head on – one bar of soap at a…
Allbirds Taking Viral Wool Tennis Shoe to China
Allbirds Inc., the wool shoe startup co-founded by New Zealander Tim Brown that’s become a staple of Silicon Valley fashion, is opening its first stores in China, aiming to replicate its viral success in…
Virgin’s CE Josh Bayliss Brings Focus to Group
The first tickets went on sale last week for Virgin Voyages, a Miami-based cruise operator aiming to launch the first of the four ships it is building early next year. Followed by a group…
Deer Milk Heralds New Industry With Kōtia Skincare Brand
Offered some goat, sheep and cow milk cheese to accompany an early evening pinot on the deer farm of a friend, South Islander Graeme Shaw asked out loud “Where’s the deer cheese?” The response…
Entrepreneur Phil Richards Exchanges Ideas
New Zealand-born Phil Richards, author of The Entrepreneurial Accountant, straddles two worlds. Part qualified accountant, part tech pioneer, he outlines his formula for success in both areas. Most would think anyone tagged with the moniker…
Luxury Hotel Manager Tapa Tibble Heads to Bahamas
Late last year, New Zealander Tapa Tibble was named the Singapore-founded COMO Hotels and Resorts managing director of the Americas, meaning he’ll oversee operations in Turks and Caicos and Miami, and help lead spearhead…
Rachel Carrell Not Your Average Venture Capitalist
New Zealand-born Rachel Carrell cut an unusual figure when touring venture capital firms to raise funds for her childcare company. “You’re quite a spectacle when you are nine months pregnant. And I suspect if…
Malware Doesn’t Sleep and nor Does Emsisoft
Christian Mairoll is the CEO of malware protection business Emsisoft – a New Zealand-based company with no offices, where every single one of his 40 or so employees works remotely, including Mairoll who works…
CoAqua Snapped Up by Gywneth Paltrow’s Goop Store
New Zealand coconut water brand, CoAqua has caught the eye of actor Gwyneth Paltrow and her team at Goop, her international “lifestyle” store. The store, which offers “cutting-edge wellness advice from doctors, vetted travel recommendations,…
Ed Mumm’s Earthmoving Fun to Franchise
New Zealand-born Ed Mumm is the founder of Dig This LLC, a hands-on excavating experience in Las Vegas unlike any other where people from 8 to 108 can operate heavy machinery just as if…
IKEA to Open in New Zealand
IKEA Group, the world’s biggest furniture retailer, is expanding into New Zealand – even as it faces stiff competition worldwide from online outlets and traditional department stores that are branching out into home furnishing. IKEA…
New Zealand Tech Companies Making It Big in US
As Peter Jackson has shown, it’s perfectly possible to do things on a global scale from New Zealand. But the big money, support and collaboration with other scientists overseas can be a powerful lure,…
Blockchain Tech Opportunites Abound for Aotearoa
A new report commissioned by New Zealand’s innovation agency, Callaghan Innovation, suggests the country is fertile ground for blockchain tech. The crown entity has published an opportunity report on blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT)…
24/7 Geohazards Monitoring Centre Debuts in NZ
A new centre providing enhanced monitoring of natural geological hazards manned 24 hours a day in New Zealand has officially opened in Lower Hutt. The National Geohazards Monitoring Centre is a purpose-built facility located on…
Rocket Lab Launches First NASA Mission
New Zealand-founded spaceflight startup Rocket Lab has launched 13 tiny satellites on its first-ever mission for NASA, just a month after acing its first commercial flight. All of the payloads separated from the Electron’s “kick…
