Inside the room built to fix New Zealand’s tall poppy problem
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.
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.
As New Zealand businesses face mounting productivity pressure, new research from 2degrees shows AI is already delivering measurable gains for SMEs. From streamlining operations to unlocking new growth opportunities, the challenge now is turning early experimentation into lasting business impact.
Successfully running a business is an impressive feat and challenges can be frequent, and testing. Yet through obstacles like these, business owners gain valuable learnings and insights into consumer behaviour, their market, and business in general. One area where small businesses often run into hurdles is during debt recovery. Healthy cash flow is instrumental to running a successful small business, with the power to turn a struggling operation into a happy one. In this article, we explore some of the biggest obstacles that New Zealand businesses run into when chasing their unpaid accounts. 1. Clear systems and expectations. Small businesses are known for moving quickly to try and hit the ground running. Often this comes at the expense of critical
The new D-Link Eagle Pro range aims to combine Wi-Fi 6 connectivity with AI (Artificial Intelligence) to enhance speed and coverage. The M15 mesh system comes in both a 2-pack and a 3-pack version depending on the coverage area required. D-Link recommends the 2-pack for coverage up to 370 sqm and the 3-pack to 500 sqm making them overkill for most houses, however house configuration plays a part in this so if you have solid walls or multiple floors you may want that extra unit! If you have Wi-Fi 6 devices (Most recent phones and tablets support it) you will get a significant speed increase moving to a Wi-Fi 6 router and even if you don’t it will future proof
There are several options when it comes to selling your business. It’s important when deciding your best path to keep in mind your financial and non-financial goals. After all you want the best possible return and outcome for your business, in order to maximise the investment you have made over the years. Here are three options to choose from: 1. Selling your business privately This will often provide the best return, especially if there is a strategic reason for someone purchasing your business. It pays to ensure the buyer is genuine and committed to going through with the purchase. Watch for competitors disguised as ‘buyers’. They may just use the opportunity for gathering valuable knowledge on your business systems and your
A new four-day week pilot is underway, as over 30 companies and almost 1000 workers across Australia and New Zealand get an extra day per week back with no loss of pay. The six-month coordinated trial, run by non-profit 4 Day Week Global, operates off the 100-80-100™ model where workers get 100% of the pay for 80% of the time, in exchange for a commitment to maintaining at least 100% of the output. Participating companies operate across a diverse range of industries, offering services in the manufacturing, fashion, healthcare, real estate, finance, technology, education and PR sectors, to name but a few. In New Zealand the companies include Cook Costello Limited, Haemata Limited, Kowtow Clothing and BVT Engineering Professional Services’
Brett Ashley shares four key actions to help business owners and leaders create greater resilience and buoyancy in business teams. Owning or managing a business will provide many challenges but once you have made that decision, the biggest challenge will be understanding your role as a leader. The first question you need to ask yourself is what type of leader do you want to become? I believe that we all have the ability to become effective leaders of people, and that leaders are created, not born. But to be both an effective and successful leader you have to be prepared to commit to a number of personal and organisational beliefs. Firstly, effective leaders need to understand the difference between leading
For many business owners social media has a reputation for being ‘too hard’ and a ‘time-wasting pain’. Christine Westbury is on a mission to change this perception. “We are noticing that businesses who are leveraging social media for story-telling, brand building and employment attraction are standing out among the crowd,” shares Christine Westbury. “The truth is, social media has evolved the way we perceive and learn about businesses. People want to see the humans behind a brand, who they will be working with and the ‘good’ they are doing in the world.” A human-centric approach to social media helps employee recruitment, too. This has been a major headache for many businesses over the past 18+ months and it’s been difficult
Upcoming event
Thursday 30 July 2026 | 7:00am – 9:00am
📍 Covert Theatre, 51 Mackelvie Street, Grey Lynn, Auckland
Everyone talks about the importance of business strategy, but what does it actually mean in practice? Strategy trainer Ryan Sproull cuts through the jargon to give SME owners a clear, practical framework for thinking strategically about their business.
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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