Leading a multi-national company takes guts, hard work and determination but without good governance, structure, and processes there is risk for shareholders – no matter how hard you work.
New Zealand’s leaders are shrinking their own ambitions in isolation. Revved Co-founder Rochelle Moffitt wants to put them in a room together instead.
Taupō’s The Cozy Corner isn’t just a café, it’s a community hub where inclusivity, wellness, and sustainability meet. With a menu that caters to every dietary need, a great team culture, and a commitment to values-driven business, owner Camilla Baker has built an eco-friendly café that sets the standard for hospitality with heart.
New Zealand small businesses are facing one of the biggest shifts in customer discovery since the rise of Google Search, as AI-powered tools change how consumers find, compare and choose who to hire.
More than 80 percent of people don’t independently verify AI-generated information. As AI becomes the first place customers go for answers, that trust is creating a new challenge for New Zealand businesses.
We’re told the economy and the environment are locked in a trade-off. Autex’s Jonathan Mountfort says that’s a false choice, and shows how circular thinking is already building a healthier version of both.
New Zealand research into scientist-entrepreneurs has identified an “IP paradox”: Intellectual property is seen as essential to start-up success, yet often experienced as a costly, complex barrier. Here’s what the findings mean for founders, investors and the wider SME community.
AI is having its “peak hype” moment, but beneath the noise there is a very practical question most New Zealand business owners are asking: Will this actually help my business run better, or is it just another shiny tech distraction?
Most of the AI conversation right now is about what the technology will eventually do for everyone. Not much of it covers what you should actually start doing, this week, to make sure your business can use any of it. Let’s change that.
Keynote speaker, educator, author, recording artist and Solo Meo Award winner Julia Grace, has turned her mental health journey into inspiring talks, workshops, and performances across New Zealand and beyond. She’s also made a success of being an entrepreneur in the process.
Setting a big, bold goal feels like strategy. It isn’t. Ryan Sproull explains why picturing success can actually work against you, and what to do instead.
After a punishing economic cycle Kiwi businesses are emerging into something of a stabilisation period. Cautiously optimistic, past the worst, but with operating costs still biting and reinvestment held back. Why the next six months will define the recovery, and what business owners need to be doing in that period.
New data from Employment Hero shows New Zealand’s small and medium business sector continuing to add headcount in May, even as wage growth stalled completely on an annual basis, highlighting a labour market where businesses are growing cautiously rather than competing hard for talent on pay.
Turning a dreaded parenting challenge into a science-powered solution, ISpy Nits is making head lice detection accurate, stigma-free, and even fun for kids, and in the process earning Kate Ricketts a well-deserved David Award.
After burnout and a corporate career, Nikki Taylor started her own business at 44, and discovered that midlife isn’t a crisis, but a chance for clarity, on what kind of work, and life, actually fits.
New Zealand’s productivity gap with countries like Finland isn’t about effort, it’s about clarity. Elliot Royce argues that as businesses grow, complexity quietly crowds out a shared understanding of what actually creates value, turning productivity into a symptom rather than the real problem.
A pilot programme’s runaway demand has exposed just how many promising New Zealand startups are being turned away by traditional bank lending.
New Zealand’s sustainable innovators remain confident about growth, but a new report shows many are struggling to access the capital and conditions needed to actually scale.
New Zealand’s small business productivity has flatlined, with the country continuing to trail Australia and the UK, even as Deloitte’s latest CFO survey shows finance leaders remain confident about growing their businesses despite economic uncertainty.
Solar retailer Lodestone Energy is opening up its “virtual rooftop” solar product to residential and small business customers for the first time, choosing Hawke’s Bay as the launch region for its new EASY Plan.
New Zealand tourism businesses are committed to becoming more sustainable, but new research shows the journey from good intentions to genuine change is anything but straightforward.
Spacebar Design won Most Innovative Business at The David Awards 2025, also taking out the Supreme Award, recognition that cements its role as a trailblazer in sustainable interior design.
New Zealand’s longest-running sustainability awards programme is calling for entries, with expanded categories and a direct pathway to a global million-pound prize.
Kiwibank has become the first New Zealand bank to roll out open banking across all its digital channels for both individual and business customers, delivering most of the data‑sharing capability required by regulators six months ahead of its statutory deadline.
Christchurch’s Tait Communications has been named PwC Hi-Tech Company of the Year at the 2026 NZ Hi-Tech Awards, capping a record-breaking night for New Zealand’s third-largest export sector.
Full-scale loyalty programmes are expensive, complex and slow to roll out, but a gift card programme can deliver many of the same benefits in a fraction of the time, and customers pay you upfront for the privilege.
Inside MOXX Brands, the Kiwi FMCG company growing at 512 percent and rewriting the export playbook in the process.
Hawke’s Bay’s Rockit has landed one of China’s most bankable celebrities as its brand ambassador.
Demand for Tapuwae Roa’s Tupu Accelerator keeps climbing, with a new cohort of ten high-growth Māori-founded ventures welcomed for the programme’s third consecutive year.
A new Christchurch start-up wants to turn the security cameras already watching your warehouse into a real-time safety system that spots risk before it becomes an incident.
Aotearoa’s Semi Permanent festival is returning after two years. Taking place in Wellington over three days, the event will host global speakers from the likes of Netflix, Nike, and Google. Designed to educate attendees about how business strategy can be framed through creative thinking, this October Semi Permanent 2022 will celebrate its 20th anniversary. To revere this milestone and appreciate the challenges of the past two years, Semi Permanent has introduced its new platform, ‘Perspective’. Organisers recognise that the lens through which we look at the world has changed, emphasising that our perspective on the future has completely shifted – setting the tone for this year’s event. Simon Velvin, Managing Director of Semi Permanent, says, “We couldn’t be more excited about
New report data has revealed that remote WFH setups reduce the cost of living and protect marginalised groups from workplace discrimination. People management platform Employment Hero has released the findings of its 2022 Remote Work Report, highlighting the flow-on effects of remote working for New Zealand employees and how it has helped soften the blow of excessive costs of living, rising interest rates, and the housing crisis. The report surveyed 1,000 knowledge workers across New Zealand, whose jobs require them to work predominantly on a computer or with documentation rather than be physically in a specific location. The 2022 Remote Work Report revealed 82 percent of respondents said working remotely at least some of the time is better for reducing the cost of
A Kiwi biotech startup created to reduce global dependence on milk protein is the first recipient of funding ….
Kiwis are being invited to own a piece of Peoples Coffee as the company looks to raise $1.5 million to supercharge its production capacity and expand its organic Fair Trade footprint across the country. Founded in 2004 by Matt Lamason, Peoples sources only organic Fair Trade beans to make its coffee, and it was the first New Zealand food and beverage business to be B-Corp certified. Now found in kitchens around the country and cafes and restaurants from Wanaka to Auckland, the company has a $10 million pre-raise valuation and will have a post-raise valuation of $12 million if fully subscribed. Lamason says Peoples came into the world to make a difference. He started the company after becoming disheartened by
MYOB’s new SaaS platform, MYOB Business, offers a completely reimagined cloud platform for SMEs of all sizes. With a more flexible, modular approach designed to improve efficiency and ensure businesses are paying only for the software they need. MYOB Business consolidates MYOB’s existing cloud SME product lines on a single SaaS platform, allowing customers to seamlessly move between subscription plans as their business evolves, and configure their business management solution in a way that’s right for them. Supporting business growth The platform also helps to reduce ‘subscription overwhelm’ for local business owners. MYOB’s recently released Digital Disconnection research has highlighted that, while local SMEs have been digitising rapidly over the past few years, boosting both performance and resilience, around half of New Zealand SMEs have digital tools
Alex Hattingh shares how SMEs can look beyond pay rises to attract the right candidates. Times are tough and employees are looking for greener pastures – and when I say greener, I mean in terms of money. They are working harder than ever and want to be compensated for it, particularly as the cost of living is skyrocketing. The pressure is on small businesses to avoid losing staff to their competitors and attract the best candidates for their vacancies. But at the end of the day, the cost of paying staff more is decreasingly likely to be offset by revenue coming in. Working arrangements have now deviated from the traditional “9 to 5”. This means that employee remuneration can no
Upcoming event
Thursday 24 September 2026 | 5:00pm – 7:00pm
📍 The Icehouse, Textile Centre, Level 4, 117 Saint Georges Bay Road, Auckland
If you’re looking to unlock capital to help your business grow then our Funding that Accelerates Your Business networking event and panel discussion on September 24 is for you.
Latest issue
Practical AI insights, Kiwi tech innovators, and the tools helping Kiwi SMEs compete on a global stage. It’s all packed into this special tech issue of NZBusiness.
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