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.
Businesses must view digital capabilities and platforms as an investment that strengthens their offering. Damon Kelly explains the how’s and why’s. Technology has rapidly integrated itself into every aspect of our lives these past few years – whether it’s the way we work, order food, shop, or even communicate. New Zealand’s move to digital has been fast-tracked by the pandemic, with every four percent growth in tech sector creating $2.7 billion additional GDP. But what does this new digital wave mean for Kiwi businesses? It means that enhancing your digital capabilities and presence is now even more essential to staying relevant in a competitive market. Large enterprises have always been ahead of the pack when it comes to digital transformations
In finally hosting its annual Event Awards Gala Evening, the NZ Event Association has experienced first-hand the frustration, heartbreak, challenges, and ultimately triumphs faced by its members over the past two years. As the events industry emerges from a long Covid-induced hiatus, the NZEA has announced the winners of its 2021 Awards after its premier gathering finally took place in Napier, more than 15 months and four postponements later. An enthusiastic crowd of nearly 350 event professionals from across the country made the trip to Napier to celebrate the industry’s best. It was a great night out much anticipated after so much disruption for the sector to celebrate excellence, innovation, resilience and evolution in New Zealand’s world-class events industry. The
Hospitality, fashion and luxury retail are at greatest risk as Kiwi consumers reduce non-essential spending, leading companies to rethink their customer propositions and omni-channel offerings. Consumer confidence in New Zealand has taken a hit in 2022, leading consumers to restrict non-essential spending amid some of the world’s highest levels of concern about COVID-19, rising inflation and other global events. The findings are drawn from Boston Consulting Group’s inaugural New Zealand Consumer Sentiment Survey, which is part of the firm’s global consumer sentiment series. Phillip Benedetti (pictured), a BCG managing director and partner and head of the firm’s New Zealand office, said New Zealand consumers showed a higher level of concern than those in most other markets surveyed around the world.
How to Sustain and Strengthen Corporate Culture The pandemic will be remembered as the catalyst to workplace change. It sparked the transition from predominantly office-based work to hybrid work arrangements, causing employers to reimagine fundamental workplace practices. Employees want hybrid work Since the pandemic, employee sentiment has evolved and there is a strong preference for hybrid working. According to ELMO’s Employee Sentiment Index1, only 10% of New Zealand workers want to return to a traditional work environment, with the other 90% wanting varying degrees of a mix of face-to-face and remote working. The new employee experience Pre-pandemic, the employee experience (EX) aimed to cultivate connection, purpose and belonging, but international lockdowns and forced remote working shifted its focus to employee
Before understanding the future of Artificial Intelligence in business, or how AI technologies impact the business world, it is important to know what AI actually is. AI refers to any computer software that engages in activities usually undertaken by humans, including customer support, business forecasts, and asset management. Years of science fiction movies have led us to believe that AI is a fleet of sentient robots, but today’s AI technologies are far more subtle. Most of us interact with AI in some way or another daily. With its wide range of uses, it is becoming an imperative option for businesses that want to maintain a competitive edge. So, what are some of the ways you can improve your business with
When correctly applied, technology makes a world of difference to the efficiency and profitability of any business. GoFi8ure Executive Director Lisa Martin explains why you should embrace technology in 2022. Let’s face it, business owners can be reluctant to utilise new technology, and this can have a detrimental impact on their business. GoFi8ure’s Lisa Martin says often their new clients need some convincing to try something new, but once they see what it does for their business’s performance, they are sold. But that’s not always the case. Lisa remembers one client who, when asked for an online video-meeting to review his financial statements and tax returns, admitted to not even having downloaded the Zoom app. The client hadn’t grasped the
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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