Businesses going global

For the past 20 years, Kea has worked to nurture a vibrant and diverse community of offshore Kiwi who share a passion for New Zealand and the success of its people and businesses. Ensuring these internationally talented Kiwi remain part of Aotearoa no matter where they are based, is a key driver of Kea’s work.

Kea CEO Toni Truslove says being able to draw on Topham Guerin’s impressive track record of engaging communities will substantially elevate and increase the reach of Kea’s storytelling. 

“Being able to share the inspiring, world leading stories of our offshore Kiwi with the wider New Zealand community is crucial in ensuring the next generation of Kiwi entrepreneurs understand the opportunities and possibilities available to them. Partnering with Topham Guerin allows us to combine these incredible stories with world class digital creative to truly showcase and engage our community.”

Every month, Kea supports on average more than 40 Kiwi companies to tap into the knowledge and networks of Kiwi offshore. They also work to help land Kiwi returners back into New Zealand, supporting them to thrive and to help ensure our nation benefits from their offshore experience – whether that be as employees or business owners. 

Toni says as a Kiwi startup themselves, Topham Guerin will also be uniquely positioned to understand the stories of Kea’s business community. 

“While Topham Guerin now has offices in both the UK and Australia the agency began in much the same way as many Kiwi startups. A group of hardworking Kiwi with a desire to make a difference. This shared experience of success on the world stage puts Topham Guerin in a unique position to really connect with our community.”

Topham Guerin Founding Partner, Ben Guerin says the chance to work with individuals and businesses within the Kea network provides an opportunity to create real change for New Zealand. 

“As a creative and digital agency, our core business is developing innovative solutions for our clients to achieve meaningful change. Here, we have the opportunity to align this purpose not just with achieving client goals, but also towards the advancement of Aotearoa.”

The deal, agreed to in principle (with the hope of concluding final negotiations by next year) will give New Zealand exporters unprecedented access to the UK market. For key products where tariffs will be removed over time (such as meat) sizable duty-free quotas have been secured which will cover current exports and allow for significant growth in trade. The FTA also includes provisions covering environmental concerns, animal welfare, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, telecommunications and digital trade, investment, intellectual property, and efforts to combat gender inequality and modern slavery.

The agreement is extensive and covers a number of areas, but here are five key areas that will provide a big boost for Kiwi export businesses.

1. The UK’s market access commitments for services exporters and investors are among the best it has agreed with any FTA partner. The UK has also committed to extend any future market opening agreed in future FTAs to New Zealand.
2. The UK has agreed to extend visa commitments for business people, adding more sectors and categories to the existing access under the WTO.
3. Modest improvements have also been made in government procurement, with the UK expanding the types of service contracts New Zealand providers can bid for.
4. Non-tariff barriers have also been tackled. For example, the FTA will recognise a number of New Zealand wine-making practices and address burdensome labelling and certification requirements faced by New Zealand’s wine makers.
5. Many other outcomes will make trade with the UK easier, less costly, and more accessible for small businesses. This includes streamlined customs procedures and provisions that will facilitate digital trade and promote connectivity between New Zealand and the UK.

The agreement is also breaking new ground in a number of other areas that will boost Aotearoa’s productivity, including

• Reflecting New Zealand’s Trade for All agenda, we have achieved leading edge commitments on trade that are sustainable, inclusive and reach many New Zealand communities. This includes outcomes in areas such as trade and labour, as well as a chapter on trade and development, and new chapters on trade and gender equality to support women’s economic empowerment, and consumer protection. A chapter on digital trade will support the growth of New Zealand’s tech exports and promote cooperation in regard to new technologies.
• The environment chapter includes ground-breaking commitments for both countries. The agreement is New Zealand’s first bilateral trade deal to include specific commitments on climate change and will contain provisions eliminating environmentally harmful subsidies. This includes commitments to take steps to eliminate harmful fossil fuel subsidies, and to prohibit fisheries subsidies which lead to overfishing. The environment chapter will also prioritise the elimination of tariffs on at least 268 environmentally beneficial products – the largest environment goods list ever agreed in an FTA.
• The agreement recognises the unique and historical relationship that exists between Māori and the British Crown – as original signatories of Te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi. In addition to the inclusion of New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi exception, Māori economic and trade interests were prioritised in negotiations and are reflected across the agreement. This includes a dedicated chapter that will create a future platform for cooperation on a range of issues important to Māori.  

Thank you to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for their help with this article. For more information, please visit their website

The company’s rise to success has been phenomenal but behind the premium brand lies a uniquely Kiwi story. Wai Mānuka is the brainchild of three lifelong friends Lance Paora, Wayne Atkins and Joe Harawira, and Joe says the idea started over a few drinks. 

“We were at a New Year’s Eve BBQ together and I was drinking pineapple kombucha and I said to the boys, this is not a good option for a social event. We started discussing other possibilities and by the end of that night we had decided that we were going to take honey from Gisborne and mix it with spring water from the Bay of Plenty. Early on we were going to call it ‘The healing water of Aotearoa’ but we soon met with a compliance expert who was like “no you can’t call it that!’ so Wai Mānuka was born.”

The company’s first big break came when a mentor sent through an expression of interest form to be part of the America’s Cup. Joe says the mentor told them it was probably too early for something this big but he wanted them to understand the opportunities that could be available to them in the future.

“We thought oh well why not, let’s just give it a crack, and then a few months down the track the America’s Cup took us on board as one of the non-alcoholic beverage suppliers, alongside Coca-Cola. In terms of launching a startup we couldn’t have asked for a better platform to generate the exposure and awareness we experienced. Off the back of that opportunity we were able to secure a number of high-end partnerships.”

From there the company has continued to grow. They have just appointed an advisory board and are looking to grow their presence in Aotearoa, whilst being a focus customer of NZTE and validating global markets in Asia and the UAE. With the help of Callaghan Innovation they have also recently proven some health benefits surrounding Wai Mānuka and are looking at how to best maximize those results. 

Joe says they want to leverage the global reputation of Mānuka honey and Aotearoa whilst celebrating the Māori provenance story. 

“Every day we aim to live by the values of Kaitiakitanga, Hauoratanga, Manaakitanga and Whanaungatanga, these values help guide decision making and are inherent to Wai Mānuka. This is also acknowledged in our brand identity through a Māori motif that speaks to the integral role that nature plays in the process of creating Wai Mānuka. There’s an evocative story behind the product that offers people a deeper insight and connection to Aotearoa. This is what led us to establish our vision He taonga no Aotearoa – A precious gift from New Zealand.”   

That feeling of connection is one which Joe says he hopes Wai Mānuka will inspire not just here, but for Kiwi all over the world.

“When Wai Mānuka is available around the world we want people who enjoy it to feel like they have their own little slice of Aotearoa. At the same time if you’re a Kiwi offshore we would love for you to be proud of Wai Mānuka when you see it in a restaurant or a cafe or a bar, we want you to think, wow that comes from home, that’s where I’m from.”

“You know when it was just an idea on New Year’s eve it was about the three of us boys doing something to stay more connected. As time has gone on, we feel the support we are getting from our hometown and all around the country, and it’s been massive and we now realise and appreciate the fact that this is bigger than us, and if we are talking about celebrating the finest of Aotearoa on the world stage then that comes with a greater sense of responsibility. Nevertheless we feel very privileged to be in this position and if we stay grounded and true to our values then hopefully, we can do it justice”

It’s been hard mahi for the three ‘Māori boys’ from the Bay of Plenty. Wai Mānuka was funded by their savings and bank loans, and money borrowed from family members and Joe says there have been some expensive lessons learned along the way. 

“We had a number of bottles explode on the production line earlier this year. We found out the hard way that one of the reasons companies don’t make carbonated honey drinks is because the honey is extremely volatile during the carbonation process. If your measurements aren’t exact or your glass bottle is slightly too thin the drink will explode. It’s a mistake you only make once.”

All three of the guys kept their day jobs while running Wai Mānuka on the side, and Joe says it’s now got to the point where their biggest challenge is time, so he has made the decision to resign from his current role with New Zealand Rugby and go full time to focus on growing the business.

Future plans include producing a 750ml sparkling version to position Wai Mānuka as the beverage of special occasions and a non-alcoholic alternative to drinking prosecco and champagne, an idea that was suggested by Government House. The boys are also keen on creating a still version to compliment the sparkling and broaden its range. The online store opens on Labour weekend and a documentary on their story is due for release on NZ screens in February. 

Joe says he wants their story to be proof that anyone, especially young Māori, can achieve their dream if they want it badly enough.

“If 3 Māori boys from Whakatāne can make a premium non-alcoholic beverage throughout a global pandemic and partner with the likes of America’s Cup, then you can do anything! We started this journey to stay more connected as mates, and honestly now it feels like we’re married! But it’s great because we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, we’re straight up with each other and we lean on each other during tough times. We don’t agree on everything but by working through those issues and upholding each other’s mana, we come out better for it. Our advice to anyone thinking of starting a business. Do one thing everyday that brings you closer to achieving your vision. It doesn’t matter how small. Mauri ora’

Wai Mānuka were passed on to Kea Connect by our Global partner BNZ. Kea Connect was able to introduce them to Kiwi experts in the Hong Kong and China F&B channels. The company recently reached out a second time asking for connections to high end restaurants, cafes and hotels as part of their NZ growth strategy.

Kea World Class New Zealander Delwyn Moller, a trained engineer, has worked in the space industry for a number of years. She was part of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California where she worked on radar technology, primarily with a focus toward Earth science, before arriving back in New Zealand three years ago.

She’s an adjunct Professor at the University of Auckland and right now is working on a collaboration project between the University of Auckland and NASA which will see a Global Navigation Satellite System Receiver (GNSS-R) fitted onto an Air New Zealand Q300 plane. Delwyn says the GNSS-R will act as a scientific “black box” gathering data as the plane flies around Aotearoa on its scheduled passenger flights. 

“We will be looking at the difference between the direct signal from the satellite and what’s being reflected off the earth’s surface. The GNSS-R will allow us to collect data on changes in soil moisture, wetland monitoring, flooding, and susceptibility of drought to name a few. We will get these continual records over months to years, which will allow us to see short term dynamics and also long term changes to our environment.”

The project is a first of its kind collaboration in terms of a commercial airline partnering to gather data from space. Delwyn says the focus on collecting information to help us be better custodians of this planet is something New Zealand is uniquely positioned for. 

“We have a long, skinny country covering a large range of latitudes, lots of ocean, close to Antarctica and we have strong relationships with the Pacific. We also experience a range of natural disasters. In terms of being able to carry out research into different climate issues, we are a perfect proving ground.”

The use of our unique climate to help collect satellite data is also a focus for the New Zealand Space Agency. Paul Stocks, head of the agency at MBIE, says beyond rocket launches, New Zealand has strengths in applying space-based data in areas such as agri-technology, hazard management, natural resource management, oceanography and meteorology.

“The positive impact of space-based data and services for understanding climate change and mitigating or reducing environmental harm is immense. A good example of this is MethaneSAT, which is New Zealand’s first government funded space mission which uses state-of-the-art satellites designed to detect global methane emissions. In partnership with US environmental NGO the Environmental Defense Fund, it is focused on rapidly reducing oil and gas industry emissions but can be used for measuring methane from other sources such as agriculture.”

These collaborations are just some of many projects happening right now across New Zealand’s space industry. Spacebase NZ founders Eric Dahlstrom and his partner Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom emigrated to New Zealand four years ago because they recognised the huge potential of the Kiwi space industry. Emeline says our increasing expertise in this area has really made the world sit up and take notice. 

“New Zealand has an excellent reputation in the space industry right now, a couple of years ago an Australian company built a satellite and they wanted to launch it. Normally this process takes around two years, however Rocket Lab and others behind the scenes worked really hard and launched the satellite in just two months. The speed at which this was done made the whole world sort of wake up and take notice, no one ever thought something like this could be done so quickly.”

She says New Zealand is also leading the way when it comes to the sustainability of the sector.  

“Clean space is an area we are already leading the world in, other countries are talking about five and ten year plans to make their space programmes more sustainable and environmentally friendly and all the things on these plans are things New Zealand is already doing, it would be great to see us take advantage of that and continue to be a leader in this area.” 

The global space economy has grown significantly over the past decade and is currently valued at around $350 billion US dollars. Investment company Morgan Stanley has forecast it to grow to more than one trillion US dollars by 2040. In New Zealand alone the economic contribution of the space economy was $1.69 billion in 2018-19.

So how do we continue to grow benefits here? Offshore Kiwi Lau Saili leads the development of the Space sector for the Queensland State Government in Australia and says there are opportunities for New Zealand and Australia to further cement their position in this global industry through collaboration. 

“For most of history the space industry has been predominantly government-led, in the last decade there has been a transfer of risk and opportunities to the private sector. Companies like Rocket Lab have shown the way for what’s possible in safe developed countries which are strategically placed. Currently the majority of space launch activity is in the Northern hemisphere, we have a real opportunity, I think, to bring a lot more of it down our way especially if New Zealand and Australia work together to cement our place in the future of this industry.”

Eric Dahlstrom says Spacebase is helping Kiwi startups create success in the industry and people should know that the future for New Zealand’s industry is bright. 

“There are all these little pockets of activity for building satellites and sensors and getting them ready to fly but the biggest opportunities are around what to do with all this satellite data. There are a lot of companies in New Zealand that are focused on interpreting this data in clever ways with machine learning and AI. There are some great opportunities in New Zealand to work in the space industry and we need to make sure people know that.”

Starship’s adoption of cutting-edge technology dates back to the hospital’s creation in the early 1990’s. The hospital was an early adopter of Telepaeds, a medical video conferencing service which allowed doctors to meet with family and other professionals from around the country. 

These days the Telepaeds service has been more or less replaced by more widely used forms of video conferencing, but General Paediatric Clinical Director Dr Greg Williams says the early adoption of the concept means Starship has always been well positioned to offer a range of telehealth services.

“Being able to speak to people online, or to observe a child via a video call in their home environment is hugely valuable. Telehealth services allow us to deliver high-quality care to as many children as possible. It’s a really valuable tool.” 

The early adoption of telehealth also meant that when the pandemic hit, the team at Starship were able to continue care almost seamlessly. 

“There is always the mandate to keep improving our services for whānau and patients. During the pandemic it was difficult to meet in person for obvious reasons, but regardless of Covid, telehealth provides significant benefits to patients and whānau. When we listen to our families we find many prefer telehealth. This is particularly true if we are talking about a child with a chronic long term condition who requires multiple appointments each year. An appointment with our team in Auckland can take out half a day or more if the family lives further away. The time, energy and stress we can save people by conducting some of these appointments online is immense, and can determine whether some patients can access care.”

Improving quality patient care for children is also the main driver behind the Douglas Starship Simulation Programme. The programme educates clinicians, staff and families by providing training for different scenarios in a variety of hospital settings. Operations Manager Trish Wood says Starship first got involved in the mid 00’s, but it wasn’t until about 10 years ago that things really scaled up. 

“The evolution of technology has really allowed us to take the programme to the next level. One of the best examples are our mannequins. These play the role of patients and can speak, blink, breathe and have a heartbeat. They can also react to different situations, for example they can start to turn blue for lack of oxygen. We attach monitors to feedback vital signs, and put all this together in a real environment. As a clinician the most stressful situations are those which don’t happen very often but when they do it’s critical to get it right. Our simulation programme allows us to test and practice these situations and get them right before game time.” 

The simulation programme also helps families like Larissa, whose son Lennox was born with significant lung and heart problems. Lennox was discharged from hospital with a ventilator and the programme helped his family practice the care they learnt in the PICU and apply this in a non clinical environment. It’s training that mum Larissa says is invaluable.

“When we initially were given a date to be discharged everything was scary. We didn’t know what to expect. The Douglas simulation team supported us to care for Lennox and showed us how we could tackle different situations in the home and in different locations such as in the car or at the park. This made my husband and I feel a lot more at ease, it was a safe space to freely learn and grow in confidence.”

Trish says the programme is about empowering families to be independent of the hospital and be able to return home to a ‘new normal.”

One of the most important parts of simulation based education is the debriefing. Starship has made huge advancements in this area and are now using their expertise to help other hospitals across New Zealand and Australia. 

To stay at the forefront of technology Starship has also partnered with Kiwi tech innovators and leaders. Last year the Starship Foundation partnered with a Kiwi app developer to run a clinical trial of the app ‘Village’ designed to help teens dealing with self-harm and suicide. 

‘Village’ empowers young people, aged 13 to 25, who suffer from low moods to mental distress; to obtain regular and real-time support from a network of trusted individuals called “buddies”. Those buddies are, in turn, educated and supported to respond appropriately. 

Starship’s Child Psychiatrist and Paediatrician Dr Hiran Thabrew says the app has been co-designed with families and young people in mind and takes a whānau approach.

“It’s important for us to work smarter to improve health outcomes for patients and using e-health to support our current services is one way we can do this. When we look at the future of the system we have to look at collaborative care and how we can support patients and their whānau to care for and learn about their own health and build health literacy. ‘Village’ lets us do this.”

Starship has also partnered with Kea World Class New Zealanders Greg Cross and Dr Mark Sagar founders of Kiwi tech company Soul Machines to work on creating an AI driven world first digital person named Maia. ‘Maia’ will support children who need to have an intravenous cannulation (a procedure that enables children to receive medication directly into their bloodstream via a needle inserted in the arm.)

Director of the Douglas Starship Simulation Programme Jo Hegarty, says children who require this procedure are currently supported by play specialists who work in the hospital, but after hours these specialists aren’t always available and Starship recognised an opportunity where technology could help out. 

“Maia will be a digital person who will be able to provide interactive conversation with a child and help them to feel less anxious and practise mindfulness techniques before and during the procedure. This is an exciting world first innovation and gives us the opportunity to work with an amazing Kiwi business. Maia is still in development but already people are seeing all sorts of applications for her. It’s really exciting!”

Philanthropy has been at the very heart of technological innovation at Starship since the Starship Foundation was established in 1992. Since then, the charity has invested over $150 million in child health. Thanks to the generosity of New Zealanders, Starship is enabled to provide patients and their whānau with world class care. The Foundation has a continued urgency to keep innovating and delivering impact, with a target to generate $20 million a year for Starship and the children of Aotearoa.