What’s on the minds of businesses this year? (And how can Kea help?)

What are the main challenges facing your business this year?

The vast majority of answers for this question could be grouped into three main categories: attracting talent, securing funding or investment, and adapting to changing technologies including the increase of AI.

When it came to staff businesses, they felt the biggest challenge was getting access to high quality staff and having avenues to recruit staff from. Last year, to support our community in this area, we launched Kea’s Job Platform. This site is specifically designed for businesses looking for people with global skills and experience and is a great way to showcase your role or business to returning Kiwi. If you are struggling to find the right person for your team, keep in mind that lately there has been a growing trend towards hiring people who have additional “softer skills”, such as communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and leadership skills which can make a long-term difference in your team.

Did you know that Kea Connect can work with your business to showcase opportunities for funding and investment? Every eight weeks Kea showcases businesses to our international community – if you would like to be included in these updates please get in touch with us at [email protected].

And finally if it’s technology questions or advice you are looking for, keep an eye on Kea’s event page, where we are working on a series of events where our community will share their thoughts and advice and answer your questions. We have two events coming up soon: our ‘What’s in Store for 2024?’ event and a tech-focused event for International Women’s Day featuring female trailblazers advocating for inclusion in their leadership and industry.

See our upcoming events here.

What are the three key areas you would like the most support in?

The answers to this question often mirrored the above as businesses look for support to navigate challenges ahead. We also had a number of people discuss the difficulty of finding funding specifically for pre-revenue companies especially when your product is not quite ready.

“We would like support to get in front of customers who understand that we are at a prototype stage, and are willing to work with us as we develop the product.”

A number of businesses are also looking for extra support to grow international networks and expand into offshore markets. Our Kea Connect service is the best way for businesses to grow their international networks and, most importantly, it’s free. Kea has a community of more than 800 solvers around the world – experienced Kiwi who are ready and waiting to connect you into key markets and distributors. This year, Kea will also have a focus on events and will be hosting a number of networking events globally which are a great opportunity for our customers to grow their professional networks.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

Many businesses shared their stories with us about the help and support that Kea Connect has given them and also shared their advice on how to get the most out of the service.

“There is a clear ‘best practice’ method to engage Kea Connect to get better outcomes; we had an amazing experience when we engaged last year, and the connections remain valuable today; but the way I empowered and helped to target the connections made a difference.”

“We have just signed up to Kea so we are still understanding how we can utilise all the opportunities. This year we are very focused… so hopefully we will see some good outcomes.”

Thank you to all the businesses who shared their thoughts and advice, please keep an eye out for future surveys.