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.
Acron Plastics, a New Zealand thermoforming manufacturer, had been running as a fully paper-based business before adopting MRPeasy. We sat down with Business & Sales Manager Mark Wong to see how the company uses the system to structure orders, manage purchasing and inventory, and reduce the risk of missed jobs.
Natalie Coombe shows how to get your pricing sorted so your profits go up. Most small business owners I know got into business to have more freedom and flexibility. Or more recently, to have more control over their financial stability. Yet, often the more successful you become, the more the needs of your business take over your life. Usually for very little financial reward. Pricing plays a large role in business success, and in your lifestyle. But a recent study[1] found the top four of five reasons businesses failed was related to poor pricing? That’s because pricing touches everything – from how many hours you work, how much support you get, what kind of team you build, how much freedom
Catherine Beard looks ahead to New Zealand’s new emerging export landscape. Post-Covid there is much for exporters to be excited about. The export game was rocked when New Zealand closed its borders more than two years ago. Since then we’ve had to adapt to new ways of working, while coming to terms with a new normal. But recent shifts in New Zealand’s Omicron response reveal there is light at the end of the tunnel. Exporters can finally expect a return to some normalcy, while new and potentially game-changing opportunities have emerged post-Covid. Signs of recovery Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) for inbound travellers has been a crucial component to how well New Zealand has handled Covid-19. For business travel,
Hayley and John Fraser-Mackenzie’s corporate experience and desire to succeed is helping them transform a small business into a serious export enterprise. In late 2019, 13 years after emigrating from the UK with their young family, Hayley and John Fraser-Mackenzie were given the opportunity to buy Pacific Harvest, a small business battling to make headway in the emerging seaweed health food industry. It was a brave decision, but the couple had both the desire to succeed and the necessary credentials to make a difference. John’s background covers finance leadership roles with corporates across Europe and New Zealand. Hayley brought more than 27 years of global experience spanning corporates, SMEs, not-for-profits and start-ups. Her most recent role before taking on Pacific
As a small business owner, you’re always busy, wearing many hats at once in the hope of seeing even the slightest signs of success. Some days are rewarding while others can’t end soon enough, and every morning, no matter what, you wake up with renewed energy to get in, get dirty, and get the job done. Just going through the motions isn’t always enough. It’s maybe a cliché, but it can never be said too many times – to be truly effective as a small business owner, you must start working on your business rather than simply in your business. That said, the events of the global pandemic over the past two years haven’t always made it possible, and many
If you’re an investor with a vision to positively impact people and communities, or keen to support transformational ‘green’ and ‘blue’ businesses, then Fiji is calling. In Fijian, Matanataki means ‘action’. It is also the name of a Fiji-based and owned private sector partnership of business developers, finance experts, conservationists and creatives who support the development of green and blue businesses in the friendly Pacific Island nation. Matanataki’s vision is to create a paradigm-shifting private sector ecosystem for Fiji – channelling investment directly to entrepreneurs and business owners who are passionate about bringing environmental change to Fiji’s rapidly degrading landscapes and seascapes. “We develop and arrange investment into bankable businesses that contribute to the resilience of Fiji’s oceans, reefs and
Hamilton’s CBD businesses had to endure Covid’s stranglehold throughout 2021, but it didn’t stop almost 80 entries competing for honours in the recent Hamilton CBD Awards, and the winners were celebrated in true style. “The calibre of entries was incredibly high and so impressed the judges,” reports Vanessa Williams, GM of the Hamilton Central Business Association. “It was wonderful to have the whole business community rally behind the awards and submit entries.” She says it has been heartening to see how people have adapted and kept their businesses relevant. All the entrants have a story to tell and have contributed to making Hamilton’s CBD a vibrant and exciting place to do business. “The key elements identified by the judges included
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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