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.
Short Notice is a brand new service designed to help small businesses find staff… at very short notice. Do you know your way around a cash register or a coffee machine? If you do, your local might be looking for you. Neighbourly has devised a clever little service to help keep the community economy ticking, propping up small businesses with a resource that is proving hard to find: people. Short Notice is designed to help small businesses find staff… at short notice. Neighbourly is a proudly Kiwi-owned social impact platform for individuals and communities to interact with each other with a goal to do more ‘local good’. The initiative is not about providing long-term recruitment solutions, but rather a helping hand
James Rowlands shares his top five tips for securing and protecting your business website in 2022. For most businesses, a website is the key part of an online presence, and increasingly the way the business communicates and sells to customers. For these reasons, it’s crucial a website is well-built, so it is able to attract and convert customers. It’s also vital that a website is secure, since any website is vulnerable to hackers. Hacking attacks can be devastating for a business, so here are five key ways to protect a website from attackers: Install an SSL Certificate An SSL certificate is a piece of code on your web server that provides security for online communications. When a web browser contacts your secured website,
Outsourcing arrangements can be mutually beneficial if the focus is on acquiring critical IT skills rather than securing cheap labour, writes Ben Rose.
Entries and nominations are now open for the New Zealand International Business Awards 2022, the country’s most prestigious national awards for export businesses. The NZIBAs celebrate the global success, vision and determination of New Zealand businesses, and over the past two years the resilience and innovation of New Zealand’s export community have mattered like never before. As New Zealand reconnects with the world, the NZIBAs aim to celebrate and acknowledge some incredible achievements – and look ahead to the future. Special award categories in 2022 have been refreshed to include; Excellence in Integrating Digital Commerce for Growth, Excellence in Innovation; Excellence in Brand Storytelling; Excellence in Sustainability; and Leveraging Investment for International Growth. These join general award categories for Best
Thousands of makers at Felt.co.nz collectively make more than $1 million in sales every year. New Zealand’s largest online marketplace for locally made goods and gifts has its 15th birthday this June. This creative hub of craftsmanship has ensured thousands of New Zealand makers have a platform to connect with customers, and in turn, their own businesses are thriving. Felt is a one stop shop, where you can buy direct from Kiwi makers, 24/7. One visit will show you everything from jewellery and art, to homewares and toys. Your Felt purchase could very well be made by the passionate artist next door or a work-at-home parent. It could be the side hustle of a self-employed designer, or the project of
A new book by Carolyn Butler-Madden explores the rise in social purpose in business and why it matters for employee engagement and customer retention. Social purpose in business has become increasingly important for employee engagement and customer retention, yet many leaders still struggle to understand what it means for their business. So, how can defining your purpose help you grow a profitable business that people love? In her new book, For Love & Money (Publish Central, $34.95), purpose specialist Carolyn Butler-Madden draws upon extensive experience and research to provide a practical guide on how to profit with purpose. She shows readers how to be a business led by a higher purpose and why it matters, how to define and embed meaningful purpose in your
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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