Businesses going global

• CASE STUDY – FEEDING THE FUTURE
• INSIGHTS FROM OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY
• THIS MONTH IN NUMBERS
• GROWTH THROUGH KEA CONNECT
• NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
• TRENDING AT KEA
• UPCOMING EVENTS
• HOW KEA CAN HELP

FEEDING THE FUTURE

Last year $4.9 Billion dollars was invested in the alternate proteins industry, that’s 3x the total amount of the three previous years combined. What opportunities does this create for a food producing country like New Zealand and how are Kiwi businesses getting on board? As the global discussion at Expo 2020 turns to the future of food, we talk to Kea members leading the charge. READ MORE

CHINA

While our borders may be reopening China’s remain very firmly shut with experts predicting they may remain that way for much of the year. We look at what this could mean for foreign brands and offer advice on how to navigate this hurdle as markets around the world reopen. READ MORE

UK & EUROPE

Across Europe many of our Kea community are being both professionally and personally affected by the conflict in Ukraine. Our UK and Europe Regional Director Sara Fogarty looks at what the flow on effect could mean for those wanting to do business in the region. READ MORE

NORTH AMERICA

The conflict between Ukraine and Russia is dominating much of the landscape in the US and adding further stress to supply chains already under pressure from the pandemic. Our North America Director Gary Fortune has advice for Kiwi export businesses affected by the upheaval. READ MORE

NEW ZEALAND

Welcome news with the announcement of the reopening of New Zealand borders to tourists. Our Government Relations Director Saya Wahrlich explains the Government’s key strategies for reconnection. READ MORE

BUSINESS CONNECTIONS MADE IN MARKET THIS MONTH**

SECTORS KEA CONNECT SUPPORTED THIS MONTH

*Year to date reflects financial year commencing 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022
**Some businesses were provided with connections in more than one market

LOCKDOWN LEADS TO SUCCESSFUL ONLINE BUSINESS

The Kiwi Artisan Co. is a success story of the pandemic. The business originally started as a market stall in Central Otago supporting local producers. However, as lockdowns hit and local markets and events were cancelled across the country operations ground to a standstill. Determined to not give up the company launched an online platform as a way to support the small-batch artisan community and offer broaden artisan platter options for both Kiwi and global customers. Goods are delivered direct to the buyers door and the business hopes to grow the artisan presence not only within New Zealand but also in the rest of the world.

The Kiwi Artisan Co. approached Kea Connect looking for help to grow in the US market, Kea was able to introduce them to three CEOs of New Zealand brands who have extensive experience in this market. Their insights and on-the-ground knowledge have since helped The Kiwi Artisan co. to explore options outside of New Zealand.

SOCIAL ACTION THROUGH CREATIVITY

Bead & Proceed is a social enterprise that exists to educate people about the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and inspire action towards them through creativity. The company offers tailored SDG workshops and ongoing SDG consulting for businesses interested in growing their impact. To date, they have worked with a range of corporates and organisations including councils, universities, professional service firms, schools, and other leading businesses in the agriculture and tourism sectors. 

The founder has been training more facilitators to run workshops throughout New Zealand and is seeing growing interest from overseas to facilitate virtual workshops. She approached Kea Connect to gain more knowledge of business strategy advice, mentoring, and connections to build her networks. Kea facilitated connection to help her grow her networks in the UK and Europe.

MARKET YOUR BUSINESS ON WECHAT

With over 1.2 billion monthly active users, WeChat has been described as China’s “super app” NZTE is offering a webinar on the effective use of the platform for businesses. It will cover how WeChat is positioned in China’s digital landscape, how to integrate WeChat into your marketing strategy and how to build traffic to your account. Sign up here

RAISING THE BAR RETURNS FOR 2022

Raising The Bar Home Edition is back, the event features Six fascinating talks from University of Auckland researchers on topics from democracy to wine to genetics. All the talks can be enjoyed from the comfort of your own home. To register and find out more visit their website

REIMAGINING TāMAKI MAKAURAU

Auckland Unlimited’s report Reimagining Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland: harnessing the region’s potential explores the changes needed for Auckland to reach its potential and become a truly global, liveable and sustainable city that is fit for the future.

CREATING CHANGE ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

“The generation before me paved the way, they fought very hard for me to be where I am and I do not take that for granted.” To celebrate International Women’s Day this March we spoke to five inspiring Kiwi women including World Class New Zealander Chelsea Winstanley, about the biases they have faced and how they are working hard to create change for the next generation. READ MORE

A DOCUMENTARY OF DISCOVERY

“You hope that you are not failing the team, by being out here and doing the work you are doing. You hope you are lifting the game and in turn lifting New Zealand.” This month China based Kiwi Documentary maker Vicki Lin tells us about the responsibility she feels to uphold New Zealand’s creative reputation in China and explains why her Kiwi upbringing has given her a unique edge in the ultra competitive market. READ MORE

RETURNED KIWI SETS SIGHT ON BREWING REBELLION

Grant Caunter has recently returned to New Zealand after working for one of the world’s biggest beer companies. Despite a career in beer, Grant decided to give up drinking during one particularly long European lockdown, now he’s putting his brewing knowledge to good use starting New Zealand’s first zero alcohol brewery that’s focused on full flavour. READ MORE

WORLD CLASS SPEAKER SERIES: Our next World Class Speaker Series features Ronnie Peters. Ronnie is one of the internet’s original designers. The New York based World Class New Zealander is the Founder and CEO of 360 Design and was working in UX before the job title even existed. Join us to hear Ronnie discuss the value of good design and why it’s so important to businesses big and small. Plus hear about the future of the industry and how virtual worlds and the metaverse are helping brands connect with customers like never before. SIGN UP

VIRTUAL RETURNER MEETUPS: Every month Kea holds returner meetups to build our community of recently returned Kiwi. It’s an important way for Kea members to build their personal and professional networks and share their experiences with others. The next event will take place on Wednesday the 6th of April. If you know someone who has recently returned to Aotearoa please encourage them to come along. ATTEND

China

There’s little-to-no-likelihood of China opening up in this half of 2022, and just a slim chance we may start to see signs of a gradual opening later in the year. For foreign brands with stakeholders based outside the mainland, it is a challenging time. Closed borders make it much more difficult to build and maintain relationships with team members and key partners, but also difficult to keep abreast of the market, and ensure that things are tracking as they should be.

With the inability to travel to China, many foreign brands have increased their reliance on distributors. While some brands have flourished through great relationships, many haven’t been quite as lucky. This article entitled Losing control of your brand has some great advice for those working with distributors.

The inability to travel has seen many stakeholders become more reliant on teams on the ground in China. This isn’t always a bad thing, but it can be if stakeholders are flying blind. Foreign brands working with localised teams know that it is a balancing act: it’s important to ensure on-the-ground staff have autonomy to localise for the unique China market and make decisions swiftly. But at the same time you’re ultimately responsible for ensuring your brand stays true to its roots and doesn’t stray too far from the very DNA that makes it successful and appealing to Chinese consumers. Once borders open again, the lines between products sold in China and those outside will blur again, so it’s will be critical for businesses to ensure that things haven’t strayed too much.

This update was written with the help of the team at China Skinny

UK & Europe

 Across the region many of our community are feeling the impact of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and are having to navigate developments day by day. Many people are working to assist and support colleagues, partners and friends on the ground in the two countries as best they are physically able.

One Kea member shared with me that “from London to Ukraine is about 1100 miles, about the same length as New Zealand”.  This really brings home how close this conflict is to us.

Businesses throughout Europe and and the UK are bracing for even higher inflation and disruption to their supply chains. Experts say the conflict will amplify the economic impact of the pandemic and reverberate through an increase in the cost of energy, shipping and commodities.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is warning the conflict will cause significant anxiety for many key trading partners in Europe, and that an extended invasion will weigh on global economic growth, and could potentially affect the medium term prospects for New Zealand. The price of a wide range of globally traded commodities, particularly oil and wheat, have already risen and are likely to increase further. The flow on financial effects could also affect the value of the New Zealand dollar.

For now Kiwi businesses are being urged to stay across the situation and examine not only their direct exposure to the conflict, but also the exposure of their suppliers. Many are warning that the ongoing events shouldn’t just be treated as a regional conflict but rather as a global one.

Sara Fogarty, Kea UK/Europe Regional Director

North America

It has been an eventful month in New York with the Russia-Ukraine conflict dominating headlines. President Joe Biden is using strong words to denounce the situation and the US has imposed a number of sanctions on Russia. Recent modelling suggests that States with greater exposure to the financial markets, like New York and Connecticut, would be under pressure as extended hostilities after a Russian occupation of Ukraine heighten uncertainty and put a further big dent in stock prices. For businesses there isn’t much to be done except to stay across developments and be aware of increasing supply chain disruptions and possible rising costs of things like fuel. Unfortunately it’s another potential blow after several years of hardship caused by the pandemic.

Looking at the pandemic the US reached a milestone this month as the country acknowledged the second anniversary of the arrival of Covid-19. Today, omicron infections are at an all-time low, and the vast majority of pandemic restrictions have been lifted throughout the US. New York has seen an end in vaccine mandates for gyms, restaurants, and theatres here in New York; however public transport and air travel will still require masks for the time being. Many employees are now starting to return to offices but won’t be required to work in person for the entire week. NZ companies need to be aware of this when seeking new hires. In a recent Pew survey, 60% of US workers able to do their jobs from home say that, given a choice, they’d prefer to work from home all or most of the time.

And finally a bipartisan bill, called the Sunshine Protection Act, was passed unanimously by the Senate this week to make daylight saving time permanent across the United States next year. The bill still needs approval from the House and then President Biden to sign into law, but everything points to this becoming a reality again here in the USA. They were here before in 1973 when they passed a similar law only to be reversed the following year. Watch this space.

Gary Fortune, Kea North America Regional Director

New Zealand

The big news this month is the announcement that New Zealand is ready to reconnect to the world with the country’s border reopening to non citizens from next month, much earlier than originally indicated.

Fully vaccinated Australian citizens and permanent residents will be able to enter the country without self-isolation or managed isolation and quarantine [MIQ] from 11:59pm 12 April 2022, in time for the Australian school holidays and well in advance of the ski season. Fully vaccinated visitors from visa waiver countries, and visitors from other countries who already hold a valid visitor visa will be less than three weeks later, from 11:59pm 1 May 2022.

Travellers will still need proof of a recent negative Covid test result from pre-departure and proof of vaccination.

Fully vaccinated people including New Zealand citizens and residents, some skilled workers and travellers on working holiday schemes can already enter New Zealand now from anywhere in the world without the need to self-isolate or enter MIQ.  

Tourism New Zealand is poised to launch a new global campaign to let the world know Aotearoa is open for business. However domestic tourism would continue to be a focus as rebuilding the tourism sector is expected to take some time.

Prior to COVID-19, tourism contributed 5.5 per cent to GDP, bringing in about $41 billion altogether, international making up $17 billion of that. It was also responsible for 8 per cent of our national workforce.

The Unite Against Covid 19 website has up-to-date information for all people planning travel to New Zealand, including those leaving and returning for holiday or business trips. The site includes details on pre-departure tests, vaccination requirements and testing requirements on return. 

Saya Wahrlich, Global Director, Government & Industry

China

Kiwi businesses exporting to China will watch with interest the upgrade to the NZ-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which enters into force on April 7, 2022. The upgrade to the agreement with our largest trading partner will modernise it, further reduce barriers for exporters, and boost trade. It was a world-first for any developed country when New Zealand entered into the original free trade agreement with China in 2008, giving us a unique competitive advantage at the time. Two-way trade (exports and imports of goods and services) has more than tripled from $9 billion to over $32 billion since the free trade agreement was signed. To learn about the areas covered by the negotiations and detailed objectives of the negotiations, read MFAT’s update.

China has been getting a lot of attention lately with the Winter Olympics in Beijing. With any international event comes branding opportunities and at these Games, all eyes have been on China lately with the Winter Olympics in full swing. 18 year old Chinese American ‘snow princess’ Eileen Gu is arguably the biggest brand ambassador in China right now. 

Born in America to a Chinese mum and American dad, and raised by her mum and Chinese grandma in San Francisco, Eileen switched allegiances to compete for China after just two competitions for the US. Her polished conversations with Media and her polite refusal to be pulled into political tensions has made her popular with both Chinese and Western brands. She has worked with some big names including Mengniu, Luckin Coffee and Bank of China. You’ll also see her face all over Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co, Victoria’s Secret. Last year, she earned at least ¥200 million ($31.4m) in brand ambassadorships alone. Her appeal with a wide range of brands and markets should be a reminder to Kiwi businesses that trusted Brand ambassadors still have huge sway with Chinese consumers. While the impact of social influencers may have swayed recently there is still a lot to be gained from getting the right person to market your brand. 

UK & Europe

The feeling that travel home is now a reality has brought many emotions to our offshore community and we are starting to see an increase in people looking to explore offshore opportunities and Kea community members reaching out with requests to navigate restrictions and protocols in the market. Working from home is still commonplace in London but in person events are back on the calendar, although these require some more planning with lateral flow tests, numbers and air flow.

Kiwi export businesses will benefit from the signing of the historic free-trade agreement with the United Kingdom, sealing a deal agreed in principle last year. The deal will see the UK eliminate all tariffs on New Zealand exports, with duties removed on 99.5 percent of current trade from entry into force. It’s expected to save Kiwi exporters roughly $37m each year on tariffs. The FTA should come into force by the end of 2022.

The big winners for New Zealand will be the wine, honey dairy and red meat sectors and it’s estimated New Zealand goods exports to the UK will increase by over 50 percent. The deal will also create opportunities for New Zealand businesses to grow and diversify their trade when it comes into force and is the first FTA to include specific climate change and indigenous provisions.

Continuing with the theme of climate change, we are seeing a real focus on sustainability coming from Germany. The country has a new centre-left three party coalition with an ambitious agenda. Led by the Social Democrats and joined by the Greens and liberal FDP, their Coalition Agreement sets out their agenda for the next four years and has signalled continuing support for free trade agreements, provided they include strong sustainable provisions. This is likely to affect our agricultural and tourism exports.

The German Government wants to promote more sustainable farming practises and animal welfare and has signalled it intends to introduce mandatory animal welfare labelling and comprehensive country-of-origin labelling, beyond what EU law currently requires. The scope of this is unclear at this stage but it’s good for Kiwi exporters to keep an eye on the changes. 

The Health sector is also under review with coalition parties agreeing to legalise recreational cannabis, which could impact on the German market for medical cannabis. The Government will also support the proposed EU ban on microplastics in cosmetics, which could affect some exporters. 

Other initiatives in the Coalition Agreement worth mentioning include the intention to make German Customs faster and more digitalised, and to make it easier to set up a business in Germany (including through digitalised procedures). This is good news for New Zealand exporters looking to expand into EU operations and reducing costs associated with customs. 

For more on what the new German Government means for New Zealand exporters see the full MFAT report here

Kea community member John Bache has worked with AUDI, BMW, Porsche, and Volkswagen. He explains how the new German Government policies are affecting the automotive industry. Read more

Sara Fogarty, Kea UK/Europe Regional Director

North America

The peak of the omicron wave seems to be in the rear-view mirror in the United States, with new Covid cases falling to half those seen during January. The tension between Russia and Ukraine dominates news over here, alongside the protests at the Canada border and rising inflation. As Covid cases fall, we see some states starting to ease mask mandates, and more and more offices are reopening. Events like the Super Bowl and the upcoming Coachella concert are again drawing huge crowds.

As restrictions relax and with the recent news of the New Zealand border reopening, Kiwi businesses will undoubtedly be eyeing an entry into the U.S. market this year. I caught up with several US-based Kea members who have well-established companies here to ask them what sort of advice they would offer those starting business stateside.

Chris Perfect is the owner of Concept and Perspective, a business advisory firm that helps organizations grow and navigate complexity, change, and risk. His most important advice is to do your research.

“The American market is vast. Unless your business model is to sell (online) and ship, choose a narrow piece of the market to focus on. Remember that America is an incredibly diverse country. Demographics, culture, political affiliation, buying habits vary significantly between states (and often within states)! Don’t make assumptions, with borders reopening, take the time to visit, listen, learn, ask questions and test assumptions.”

This statement echoes Six Barrel Soda founder Joe Slater who says it’s crucial businesses treat each state as a separate entity with its own set of procedures, laws, and tax requirements. Make sure you work with a partner who understands your brand, services the proper channels, and is willing to work together for long-term success.

While the vastness of the American market may be one of the biggest hurdles for Kiwi businesses to get their heads around, the American legal system is also another challenge.

Novelli CEO. Craig Pinker urges businesses entering the U.S. to engage a good lawyer. “In smaller markets like New Zealand and Australia, we tend to operate a lot more on handshake/informal agreements, whereas here in the U.S.A., most things are done via written agreements. Boilerplate agreements, redlining, and negotiation via a war of Word documents were new to me and not something I expected. With the litigious nature of the U.S.A., there are a lot of mediocre lawyers around who do not always have their client’s best interests at heart. It’s worth paying for good advice on structuring your entity as while it’s expensive; it’s money well spent.”

With the ability to visit key markets on the not too distant horizon, this is an excellent time to start looking to the U.S. for the opportunities it brings. There are plenty of Kiwi businesses that have seen success in the U.S., and I hope many others will join them this year.

Gary Fortune, Kea North America Regional Director

New Zealand

DIGITAL ITP REACHES NEW MILESTONE

It has been a busy start to 2022 for the Digital Technologies Industry Transformation Plan (Digital ITP) with two milestones being reached. The publication of the Draft Digital ITP for the period 2022 – 2032 proposes the detailed sector transformation steps needed to move toward a future state defined by a tech sector with high-quality jobs, productive businesses, weightless exports, low emissions, and regional job growth. MBIE is seeking feedback on the draft, with submissions due by 5pm 31 March 2022.

We have also seen the launch of the New Zealand Tech and Innovation Story. One of the workstreams of the Digital ITP, the Tech Story was created in collaboration with industry and government and delivers a compelling, consistent way of promoting our tech capabilities to the world. It aims to help our tech businesses grow by attracting investment, talent and global sales and also helps share what we stand for as a country and our values when it comes to creating tech.

With the evolving COVID-19 situation playing out in NZ and globally, technology and digital tools have become a lifeline for businesses during the pandemic and they are making a real difference to business productivity and performance. Since starting in 2021 MBIE’s Digital Boost Educate platform now has over 44,000 Kiwi business owners, business starters and employees engaging. The team runs daily 10am Digital Boost Q&A sessions on Facebook and anyone in business can sign up for the free skills training. MBIE’s Better for Business team recently released two new reports on the health of New Zealand businesses and the New Zealand business digital landscape taking a closer look at the impacts being felt by different industry sectors.

Saya Wahrlich, Global Director, Government & Industry