Businesses going global

For Tim Brown, Kaitiakitanga, or the guardianship and protection of the environment, is key. So when it came time to hang up his boots at the end of his successful New Zealand football career, he saw an opportunity to create a better future. 

“I realised there was an opportunity to bring natural and sustainable material and innovation to the enormous category of footwear, through a different type of direct to consumer business model. Off the back of a grant in 2014 I created an innovation platform based on merino fibre, I spent $1000 NZD shooting a video to showcase the fibre on the farm of a family friend and launched it on Kickstarter. It was really successful. Following that success I partnered with my co-founder Joey Zwillinger and in 2015 we launched Allbirds from the garage of his mother-in-law’s house in San Francisco.”

In the past five years, Allbirds has become a global phenomenon and a huge Kiwi success story. The company, which once consisted of Tim, Joey and Joey’s dog Walter, has now grown to more than 750 employees worldwide and has expanded their offering beyond both merino and footwear. Time Magazine named Allbirds the “world’s most comfortable shoe” and its investors include superstars like Leonardo DiCaprio. Most recently, Allbirds successfully listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

Tim says Allbirds has always used carbon emissions as their ‘north star’ but it wasn’t until after meeting fellow Kiwi Zion Armstrong, who was the President of adidas North America, that the two brands realised they shared similar values and had a unique opportunity to do something special.

Zion was introduced to Tim through Kea Connect and says right away he was impressed with Tim’s passion for sustainability and innovation, something adidas is also heavily focused on. 

“Tim and I met for lunch in Portland. It was a positive connection right off the bat. I asked him if he wanted to come up and see our campus. I took him to our Innovation, Research & Development space so he could see some of the things we were working on. At that point it was just two Kiwi guys having a yarn and talking business and discussing how we could do things better. When Tim left I reached out to our Executive Director of Global Brands and said you have to meet this guy, the founder of Allbirds. For me it was about the personal connection and really understanding what both brands were trying to do. We knew at adidas we didn’t have all the solutions, but potentially putting the two brands together we could really create something special. It certainly started off as a Kiwi connection but more importantly it became about what we could do for our planet.”

Tim was also impressed by the work adidas were doing in the sustainability space and says meeting Zion was ‘the New Zealand network in full force.’ However at the time of that first lunch he says a collaboration was the furthest thing from his mind. 

“Zion is a little bit of a legend, in fact a lot of a legend. I just wanted to meet him and learn from a guy who had been in the category for a long time. I had no expectations and was honoured that the bloke would have lunch with me. That meeting through Kea Connect was the initial connection but it was a long time until we really started to think about working together. Zion introduced me to some other people at adidas and we hosted some people, and slowly things started to form. I think in this age of LinkedIn it’s easy to add a contact but it’s much harder to build a relationship. I like to take the time to get to know people deeply, there is no fast track in this sort of work.”

Over time the Allbirds team forged a relationship with the team at adidas and together they started thinking about how the two brands could go further, together. Tim says it was around this time that the concept of creating a shoe with no carbon footprint was born. 

“This idea that a big company that has been around for 70 years or more with all this market experience felt they could work with and in turn learn something from Allbirds, a business which was only five years old, was a huge compliment. I think all of us realised that we could achieve more if we worked together. We focused on this idea of the world’s lowest carbon running shoe and set ourselves the timeline of a year. We wanted to make the idea of reducing carbon emissions tangible for our consumers and give them something they could do right now. To be able to create a shoe using just 2.94kgs of carbon in a little over a year, was an extraordinary achievement.”

It’s hard to attach a carbon footprint to shoes as it’s not something that is traditionally measured and there is a lot of variation within the footwear category. However, early research by both companies suggests the average carbon footprint is somewhere in the low teens, therefore a shoe using less than 3kgs is a groundbreaking achievement. 

So groundbreaking in fact that Time magazine has just given the adidas x Allbirds ‘cleaner sneakers’ a special mention on their list of the ‘Best Inventions of 2021’. But for Tim and Zion the shoe is just the start of what can be achieved. 

Zion says if brands are serious about sustainability then the biggest learning is how to make a lower carbon shoe but how to move forward together for a better outcome for all. 

“Traditionally in the footwear space companies don’t work with competitors, but from the beginning there was a higher challenge in play. Addressing climate change requires a major shift in thinking. Sustainability can’t just be the things we need to stop doing, it must be about the things we need to start doing as well.”

Find our how Kea Connect can help your business grow here

Anton has always been an entrepreneur. His first business venture focused on teaching English to children in Hong Kong and not long after that he moved back to Australia and discovered another opportunity. 

“I was living in Brisbane and my dad got sick, and because of that he had to change his diet. At the time he was really struggling to find foods that didn’t contain some of the ingredients he was trying to avoid so my brother and I started going to the supermarket and recording ingredients off the labels of different products and storing that in a database to help him out. We got asked to leave the supermarket a few times as the staff didn’t understand what we were doing. When we were finally able to explain the supermarket asked if they could buy our data, it was then that we realised that this information wasn’t being collected anywhere.”

Anton and his brother realised at this point that they had found a gap in the market and Label Insight was born. After refining their platform they wanted to collect the data on a larger scale and so took the concept to the US where it proved to be a huge success. 

“On one side we were able to bring on board all the food manufacturers and show them how to use our platform to manage their data, something which has been quite challenging in the past, and then on the other side we had all the US retailers accessing this information to engage customers.”

The final piece of the puzzle for the brothers was to bring on board the US Food and Drug Administration, the governing body of the sector. 

“The FDA wanted to monitor when a new product went live or when a manufacturer changed their ingredients information on the packet and our platform allowed them to do this, it allowed them to monitor the industry in real time. Previously they had sent someone out to physically look at new products or check label changes.”

Label Insight became a fundamental part of the food industry and brought a lot of transparency to the market and Anton says it also made it easier for manufacturers to deliver the information that consumers had started to demand.

“People want to know what’s in their food, they care what they are eating. It’s changed the products that go through the system. We have a load of data that shows over time, how food is changing, how there are less chemical elements and more natural ingredients.”

Along with the success of the data another cornerstone of Label Insight’s success was its company culture. Something Anton says comes directly from his Kiwi roots. 

“I was born in Temuka, so small town New Zealand. My brother and I leant on our Māori roots a lot when it came to the culture of the company. We would have a lot of Americans say to us ‘Wow this is a really innovative culture’ and we were like no it’s not it’s just Kiwi culture. I think because New Zealand is a smaller country and we still live in communities, this gives a lot of our businesses a real edge when it comes to building a strong work culture. It was certainly a really important part of the competitive advantage of Label Insight.”

After successfully embedding Label Insight in the US, the brothers sold the business to global data analytics company Nielsen IQ and Anton decided it was time for his next challenge. He moved to France with his wife and started working with NGOs. It was through this work that his idea for his next business came up. 

“I realised there was a lot of work that NGO’s have to do in order to fundraise and distribute money. This takes time away from the work they want to be doing with their communities. Right now I am working on a  block chain solution that will hopefully help these organisations raise and distribute money more easily and allow them more time to focus on the community aspect of their work.”

Anton describes himself as a start up man, and says his expertise lies in working with companies who are in the 1-200 employee stage. Along with his NGO work in France he is keen to help Kiwi companies looking to scale their business and structure their strategy. 

“The growth period of a business between 1-200 employees is a very specific time, there are specific challenges for the company to navigate and getting it right is the key to long term success. A lot of the time I see companies that are trying to be perfect in that early stage and I don’t believe in perfection. I think you need to be scrappy and you need to be out there engaging with customers and selling the value you are trying to produce from day one. But you also need a strong strategy, because that long term strategy is the backbone of your proposition and your success.”

Anton’s various businesses have all been built on technology and while he says businesses should always be investigating new technology to improve their offerings they shouldn’t be distracted by it. 

“I consider myself technology agnostic. Emerging technologies are amazing and fantastic and they will create huge change, but there will always be the next technology. Business must stay focused on the key fundamentals of providing true value and finding out where that value is and how to distribute it. This will always be important no matter the technology. 

Anton is one of our Kea Connect Solvers, Kiwi living offshore who are keen to help our export businesses grow. If you would like to connect with Anton or any of our other solvers today please get in touch.  

Last month APEC leaders endorsed the Aotearoa Plan of Action, which brings to life the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 that was adopted in 2020. You could think of the Putrajaya Vision as the destination and the Aotearoa Plan of Action as the waka to get us there.

This is a bold new approach for APEC, first established 32 years ago to promote cooperation in trade and investment, the group is now broadening into new areas.

Over the year, while New Zealand has been Chair, APEC economies have worked together and agreed to cooperate on digital technology and innovation, environmental sustainability and climate change, and inclusion, particularly of women and indigenous peoples.

The plan sets out a range of clear actions to build prosperity, well-being and resilience. Some are for economies to achieve individually, while others will require multilateral collaboration.

To provide a few examples, there are actions for economies to develop tools to help businesses scale up and operate internationally and cost effectively, to encourage a full embrace of digital technologies to maximise connections with global markets, adopt policies that drive economic productivity and innovation, generate momentum through free trade agreements and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to open more export markets, and to take forward initiatives to enable international travel.

Collective tasks include consideration of climate change when making decisions, and to recommit economies to double their renewable energy use by 2030.

This content was supplied thanks to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. To read the Aotearoa Plan of Action in full, visit: http://aotearoaplanofaction.apec.org

China

This month in China consumer prices have risen modestly, in sharp contrast to the high global inflation, and employment has generally remained stable. The country celebrated Golden Week during the first week of this month – which generates a huge holiday economy brought about by the 7-day consecutive holiday. This year 422 million domestic tourism trips were made nationwide, a decrease of 18.2% year-on-year due to the pandemic.

Local tours and trips around the area have become the first choice for the majority of residents to travel and the urban outdoor industry is growing rapidly. Camping, cycling, frisbee and trekking are moving from niche to mass consumption. This growing trend may give hints to some of the New Zealand companies in similar industries as business development targets. 

With increased movement taking place during the Golden Week, the number of positive cases has risen across China and the outbreak control policy has been tightened again with stricter travel restrictions and more frequent PCR tests to curb the outbreak from deteriorating further. President Xi declared in the keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 20th CPC National Congress that there would be no immediate loosening of the “Zero Covid” strategy. The current practices remain. All residents in China need to carry out a PCR test every 72 hours to ensure a normal daily routine. 

October also saw the much anticipated 20th CPC National Congress where the 20th Central Committee and the 20th Central Disciplinary Committee were elected on the closing day. With an upgraded FTA between China and New Zealand, new tariff reductions, customs clearance facilitation measures and greater area opening will bring more convenience and benefits to trade between the two countries. Following the congress, New Zealand companies may see more favourable policies and opportunities to invest in more sectors in the China Market. 

Rebecca Bao, China Regional Director

UK & Europe

This month the big news in the UK is the stepping down of Prime Minister Liz Truss after just 45 days on the job, with her replacement yet to be announced. We also have a new Chancellor, Rt. Hon Jeremy Hunt, who has announced a reversing of most of his predecessors ‘mini budget’ announcements from three weeks ago as the Government looks to stabilise financial markets, reduce borrowing costs and address fiscal policies. Some of the highlights include;

• The basic rate of income will remain at 20p indefinitely instead of being reduced to 19p.
• Axed proposals around cutting dividends tax including scrapping the new VAT-free shopping scheme
• The cap on energy prices charged to households is now only guaranteed until April 2023 and then will be reviewed.
• The freeze on alcohol duty has been scrapped which will see prices increase – This will affect the price of NZ wine, beer and spirits in the market.
• Cuts to stamp duty and National Insurance remain in place.

The pound is gaining against the dollar but still has a long way to go in stabilising confidence in the market. This uncertainty and constant change is an upheaval for UK businesses, consumers and businesses exporting to the market, things are moving fast and it’s hard to predict what will happen throughout the rest of October.

In other updates, we were thrilled to join Zak Cole, Head of Services for Europe and Beachhead network to welcome new Beachheads to the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) UK & Europe
network, including fellow World Class New Zealander, Sarah Smart, and Kea member Matt Cummings. Sarah offers insights and support from FMCG and dairy industry perspective and Matt is an e-commerce specialist. We also attended the NZTE roundtable session with NZTE CEO Pete Chrisp, Nick Swallow, Trade Commissioner UK & Ireland, and Commercial Advisor Joel Simms. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet with fellow NZ exporters that have teams and operations in and across the UK & Europe and provided an opportunity to share general sentiment including the challenges and opportunities currently faced by businesses as a result of the pandemic, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the effects of Brexit.

Sara Fogarty, Kea UK/Europe Regional Director

North America

This month Kea was pleased to support a visit led by Air New Zealand which included the Minister of Finance Hon Grant Robertson, the shadow Minister of Finance and CEO’s and Chairs of some of New Zealand’s largest businesses as well as Air New Zealand’s Executive and Board.

The two and a half day programme saw the delegation interact with business and thought leaders in New York and strengthen connections with a vibrant New Zealand community. The purpose of the delegation was to promote New Zealand and learn more about the economic environment, trading conditions, and the latest global trends and innovations. Kea World Class New Zealander Kirsty Graham, the Global President of Edelman’s Practices and Sectors, was one of those who spoke to the group and offered thoughts and insights on trends in corporate governance, and Sean Marks, General Manager of the Brooklyn Nets, hosted the group at a special team practice session in Brooklyn.

Kea identified and invited a diverse range of people from Kea’s community to be part of a networking event allowing the delegation to meet some of the inspiring New York-based Kiwi. A number of our Kea community discussed their journeys to New York, giving a glimpse into the challenges and rewards of living and doing business in this market. While the rewards can be significant in this market, so are the challenges of doing business in the USA. A slow and calculated approach is the most prudent in this economic environment.

Fun fact: If New York State were an independent nation, it would rank as the 10th largest economy in the world.

Gary Fortune, Kea North America Regional Director

New Zealand

This month Education Minister Chris Hipkins will lead a delegation to The Republic of Korea, Indonesia, and Singapore to encourage people to study in New Zealand and promote the fact our country is welcoming international students back.

Korea is our 4th largest source of international students – and education links were hit hard by the pandemic. The Minister will speak at Korea’s largest student expo, the International Education and Career Fair, and at the same time mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Korea. In Indonesia, which is a strategic and growing market, he will be promoting New Zealand’s commitment to education cooperation and in Singapore, where he will sign a refreshed Education Cooperation Arrangement. He will also cover innovative practices and discuss the potential for greater exchange in education and public service training with his ministerial counterpart.

October also saw the Independent Electoral Review, established by the Minister of Justice, began its first stage of engagement on the future of New Zealand’s electoral system. Elections are a critical part of our democracy, and the Review is seeking a range of views and perspectives before deciding what changes they think may be needed.

This is a broad review of New Zealand’s electoral laws. It covers almost everything to do with how elections work, including voting rights for overseas-based New Zealanders, voting methods, the length of the Parliamentary term, political donations, election campaigns, and the thresholds for parties to enter Parliament under MMP. Written submissions from Kiwi anywhere are invited until 14 November. You are encouraged to share what matters most to you within the Terms of Reference and the full consultation document is available here.

Finally, the hotly contested Forest and Bird annual Bird of the Year competition is on! The competition aims to raise awareness of New Zealand’s endangered bird species, and every year Kiwi flock to the polls to decide who will take out the top honour. Right now, 80% of our birds are in trouble. Climate change and habitat destruction are big threats to all our native species. If we protect and restore our rivers, forests, oceans, and climate, we can bring our native wildlife back from the brink. Listen to some contenders here and vote for your top 5 choices before 30 October!

Saya Wahrlich, Global Director, Government & Industry