Businesses going global

Sarah Smart

How are you involved in the tournament? I have been fortunate to attend some of the RWC23 games as part of the business leveraging program with NZ Trade and Enterprise. I have hosted a key strategic customer and supplier.

What is it about this event every four years that brings Kiwi all over the world together? As a Kiwi growing up in NZ most of us have memories of watching the All Blacks play all over the world at Rugby World Cups. It feels like a right of passage to get up early or stay up late with the family watching a game somewhere in the world. Nowadays there are messages flying around while we are all watching from different corners of the world, and in different time zones, bringing us all together.

How does the event work to raise New Zealand’s profile on the World Stage? It brings to life just how iconic the All Blacks and other talented kiwi sports people are on the world stage. It is a very proud moment to be a Kiwi.

All sport at a global level has the ability to surprise or create big upsets – how do you think the tournament to date has served up the surprises? What other ones do you see coming? Having all quarter final games being that close and tense was unexpected and made for an amazing weekend of rugby…and lots of nail biting! The hosts losing to South Africa on the Sunday evening was the biggest surprise, and having been at the opening game and seeing first-hand the passion from the home crowd in the stadium, the defeat will have hit hard. The level of rugby has been exceptional and is going to make for an incredible final! I can’t make any predictions but I will be supporting the ABs.

Kelvin Lynch

What is your interest in the RWC?/ How are you involved in the tournament? My interest is purely as a spectator. I love the event and it’s always an opportunity to catch up with friends that have travelled over from New Zealand. It’s not all about the rugby either. I enjoy the opportunities to explore the host countries as well. For example on this trip we have been wine tasting in Burgundy, following in the footsteps of my grandfather in World War 1, attended the opening of the New Zealand Liberation Museum (Te Arawhata) in Le Quesnoy, and taking in the sights of Brugge, Ghent, and Brussels as well as the rugby match cities of Paris, Toulouse, and Lyon.

What is it about this event every four years that brings Kiwi all over the world together? We’re a nation of travellers and we tend to value experiences over material possessions slightly more than some other countries in my opinion. We have also had a consistently brilliant team to support throughout the Rugby World Cup era. That helps.

How does the event work to raise New Zealand’s profile on the World Stage? Travelling New Zealanders become temporary ambassadors when it comes to Rugby World Cups, and in talking to people you realise just how much they love our country and our story. It’s a great opportunities for companies and our own government to leverage the tournament and the value in the All Black brand to further their objectives. And have a bit of fun with it as well.

All sport at a global level has the ability to surprise or create big upsets – how do you think the tournament to date has served up the surprises? What other ones do you see coming? The tournament hasn’t thrown up many upsets per se, but we’re not seeing as many blow-outs as some previous editions. The Pacific Island teams are strong again and some of the fans of the lesser known nations have been fantastic. Hats off to Portugal for example, and what a result their team provided them in beating Fiji. This weekend I just hope that the bounce of the ball goes our way.

Katie Sadleir

How are you involved in the tournament? I worked for World Rugby for 5 years based in Dublin as the GM Womens Rugby for the World and was in Japan during the last RWC. I have now moved into the position of CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation buy have been invited to the RWC as a guest of World Rugby for the Finals weekend.

What is it about this event every four years that brings Kiwi all over the world together? I like to think its not just this event, The Black Ferns win at the last RWC in New Zealand was pretty spectacular as has been the amazing results from the NZ Sevens teams at both the Sevens Series and the Sevens World Cup. NZ has had incredible success on a world stage with all its national rugby teams and these events happen every year.

How does the event work to raise New Zealand’s profile on the World Stage? The All Black Brand and now the Black Ferns brand are recognised in the elite of the elite sporting brands. I get the opportunity to attend many international sporting conferences and the brand is always present in promotional videos of international successful teams. The NZ Teams being the success that they are bring direct attention to NZ and all the other amazing things that NZ stands for in terms of culture, trade, tourism and foreign affairs.

All sport at a global level has the ability to surprise or create big upsets – how do you think the tournament to date has served up the surprises? What other ones do you see coming? Well the QFs showed the surprises to the max…the All Blacks win against Ireland, Argentina win against Wales and then there was the spectacular Fiji team….a country that plays so above its weight on a world stage in both men and women’s rugby. That was truly a nail-biting game…Fiji vs England. Sport is sport, and anything can happen in an All Blacks vs South Africa final

Mike Moeahu

How are you involved in the tournament? I’m very privileged to work for New Zealand Rugby and be a part of the ‘Teams in Black’ journey from a professional stand point – that being said, I am like many kiwi’s, a fervent, life long affinity to rugby, playing, watching and fan.

What is it about this event every four years that brings Kiwi all over the world together? The Black Jersey on any of the ‘Teams in Black’ is a binding agent for New Zealanders everywhere – we inherently have a sense of passionate ownership in supporting our people with immense pride – and when its on the world stage we want to be a part of that. 

How does the event work to raise New Zealand’s profile on the World Stage? Whenever New Zealand is front and centre on the world stage our profile is raised. The RWC is the third largest sporting event on the plant behind the Olympic and Football world cup. The All Blacks brand itself transcends borders and enables all forms of engagement, promotion and awareness to brand New Zealand. Culture, commerce, and people – it its truly brilliant.

All sport at a global level has the ability to surprise or create big upsets – how do you think the tournament to date has served up the surprises? What other ones do you see coming? I won’t talk about the sport results but more the fact of how a stage like this, provides and reaffirms happiness in peoples passion to support one another, be together, share in the success and pain of results in a wonderful way. The crowds have been amazing the instant friendships that rugby can enable in bringing people together from all walks of life is the constant surprise and delight. As for this weekend, no comment haha – rugby will be played.

Finian Scott

How are you involved in the tournament? A few friends and I were on the case early and booked ‘follow my team’ tickets two and half years ago in London. It’s fair to say after a few years of lockdowns and WFH, it has been epic to experience live sport again. I’ve been fortunate to experience this RWC alongside my brother and his fiancé at the tail end of their OE.

What is it about this event every four years that brings Kiwi all over the world together? 
For Kiwi’s rugby invokes unparalleled passion and gives us a sense of place on the world
stage. I managed to get along to some of the RWC 2011 games back home in NZ and the live
event is hard to beat. More recently, I tuned in from afar to watch the Kiwi wahine toa claim
their equivalent women’s world cup last year in that epic final against England. Each time we
all get behind NZ competing on the world stage it gives us a chance to reconnect, meet new
friends and share in something special. Over the past few weeks watching the ABs, while the rugby has been brilliant, what has been most memorable for me are the connections made and the strong sense of camaraderie amongst Kiwi fans.

How does the event work to raise New Zealand’s profile on the World Stage?  The RWC shines a spotlight on the game many of us in NZ grew up with and the tournament provides a global platform to celebrate NZ culture. You could hear a pin drop in Stade de France at that opening game as the haka took place. Spine tingling. Equally, at the same time the tournament itself breaks down language and cultural barriers as rival fans become mates over a beer or watching a match.

All sport at a global level has the ability to surprise or create big upsets – how do you think
the tournament to date has served up the surprises? What other ones do you see coming?  Undoubtedly the excitement this RWC has come from Fiji. Particularly in that game against
Aussie and also when they took it to the wire with the Welsh as well.  I always thought it NZ make it through the QF the cup could be anyones. Game on.

Richard and Nicky Morgan

How are you involved in the tournament? Nicky and I did the RWC when it was in France last in 2007, and loved the experience so much we always wanted to return when France hosted it next. We purchased the All Blacks Pool Game package – so have been following them around Paris, Toulouse and Lyon before heading to the semi-finals.

What is it about this event every four years that brings Kiwi all over the world together?  Rugby is such an iconic sport in NZ, and to have the opportunity to see the All Blacks play multiple international teams over a short duration, combined with an opportunity to see them crowned
World Champions, is hard to miss for any kiwi sporting fan. And to bring that all together in France, who also have such respect and passion for the game, and the immense respect that they have for the All Blacks, the haka and our combined rugby history, makes touring France in particular a “must do” for many Kiwi rugby fans.

All sport at a global level has the ability to surprise or create big upsets – how do you think
the tournament to date has served up the surprises? What other ones do you see coming?  Being able to attend the opening game was an outstanding experience, the level of energy and
enthusiasm in the stadium was electric, the French singing and the respect that they showed the
game was surprising and impressive; and it was a great game, and honestly I didn’t mind seeing the All Blacks lose, the French deserved the win and it got the tournament off to an awesome start. I have been pleasantly surprised by the immense respect the crowd at each game has shown the haka. You could almost hear a pin drop in a stadium of 60,000 to 80,000 people, as the French watch it being performed (with what looks like about half of them filming it at the same time) – talking to some French fans around us, it was almost the highlight of the game for them, seeing the haka live for the first time. Go the ABs.

Like many great companies Rugby Bricks started as a solution to a problem for founder Peter Breen. Pete was playing Rugby for Otago in the ITM cup and couldn’t find the right sort of tee to suit his kicking style, so set out to make his own. He soon realised that his solution could help others and so started his company ‘Rugby Bricks’ based on the idea that you build success brick by brick. 

As the company began to take off Pete realised he needed to bring in some help and so reached out to an old friend, Kale Panoho who was working in LA for a marketing agency he had co-founded. Kale says that initial meeting turned out to be the start of something bigger than he could have imagined.  

“Pete and I had gone to polytech together and played Rugby together so I was immediately interested in his company, not just the tees, but also the community he had built around the brand and the content he was producing helping teach players of all ages and stages the fundamentals of the game. I had some experience scaling e-commerce companies and so when he asked me to come on board in a co-founder role I said ‘sweet it can’t be that hard’ those turned out to be famous last words! It was really hard and it still is, but I am so privileged to be part of it and really stoked to see how we have grown over the past five years or so.”

Rugby Bricks has experienced year on year growth of around 80-100% and Kale says one of the proudest moments was seeing their product on show at this year’s Rugby World Cup in France with 24 international kickers using their tees. But he’s quick to stress that the success hasn’t been without hard work and a lot of challenges along the way. 

“I feel like no matter how many things we manage to achieve there is always a fire burning in the background somewhere. It’s been hard work, especially when you come up against an area you don’t have expertise in. Pete is a great product person and is great in front of the camera and our social media following is around 450,000 plus. I have a background in marketing and data so we tend to focus on those things, but when you are focused on that, then operations suffer, so it’s been a balancing act, trying to scale and grow and operate on a lean budget but still ensure parts of the company aren’t suffering because of it. We have focused on our strengths which is great, but because of that we have also uncovered some big weaknesses.”

One of the biggest challenges the company has faced is around their determination to keep their product manufactured in Dunedin while also meeting time constraints and demands of international buyers. 

“Our turnaround time in our supply chain is almost 20 weeks, to get the product made, manufactured and shipped, and that can be hard. We have been lucky to have high customer demand but when people have ordered a product from your website and then three months later they still don’t have the product you have a big problem. It also makes it quite hard to predict cash flow and manage orders.”

Despite the challenges Kale says moving the manufacturing to somewhere like China, which would be cheaper and faster to ship internationally is not an option. 

“We’re big on where we grew up and on representing Otago where we both played Rugby. Saying we love and care about our home is pretty important to us. I’m Maori and we’re a Kiwi company, we want to hire locally and create opportunities for rangatahi. We want to be able to manufacture our products here and give back to our economy, even though we have to take the hit on some things because of it. I don’t ever see that changing – if we had other smaller product lines in the future we may look at offshore manufacturing options but our primary product that generates the bulk of our revenue will always be New Zealand made. That’s something that’s really important to us.”

Kale says one of the best parts of the startup journey has been realising how many people are willing to support the Rugby Bricks vision and are prepared to share their advice and learnings in areas where himself and Pete have needed support. 

“Networks like Kea Connect and NZTE have been amazing, Kea connected us to Sean Fitzpatrick in the UK and Sean texted me when I was on a train in LA. I wanted to stand up and scream guess who just got in touch with me – an absolute legend of New Zealand Rugby, the only thing that stopped me was that no one on the train in LA would understand the significance of it. But that one connection from Kea literally opened five doors for me. Sean was amazing, he phoned me and then we were able to meet in London and his ideas and advice were so valuable. We were also connected to a number of other amazing Kiwi who have all been really helpful and have provided incredible advice for no other reason than their desire to support a Kiwi start up. It’s true what they say it’s not what you know it’s who you know and as a Kiwi startup your network really is your net worth.”

Rugby Bricks have a target of 150% growth year on year and Kale says the current focus of the company is looking at the role technology can play in their products. Despite the ups and downs he has no regrets about the journey and says his best advice to other founders is to expect problems from the very beginning. 

“When I started out I had this idea that things would go as planned, I don’t know why I just didn’t expect the constant challenges but actually it’s those challenges that create growth for you as a company, so my advice would be to expect problems and then surround yourself with good people who can help you solve those problems. To be able to reach out to people and say ‘Hey I can’t work this out can you help me’, is one of the best things you can do, and if you know things are going to be a bit crazy from the start then I think you are better prepared to tackle each challenge as it comes along.”

Tell us a bit about your career journey

My work has been spread across the financial services and technology sectors, with my focus over the last decade predominantly in the confluence of the two. My capabilities span a number of disciplines including stakeholder management at C- and senior levels, bridging the gap between industry and regulation, product/solution ideation, execution of go-to market commercialisation strategies as well as strategy execution and governance. I also gained a broad set of general management, business development and operational skills in my time as chief executive of a research and asset consulting business and steering its successful exit to a national stock exchange. I have excelled at influencing business and community wide changes working with all levels of stakeholders – one example being the successful setup of a cross-governmental service to help support the fintech community in New Zealand. Having worked in India, New Zealand and in the UK I have been fortunate to see first hand the merits of adopting a diversity and inclusion lens when standing up and managing teams.

You’ve been based in London for sometime now – what changes will newly arrived Kiwi face when landing?  

Kiwis moving to the UK in the past 9 to 12 months have faced quite a different experience to those landing here pre-pandemic and pre-Brexit. For recent arrivals and prospects soon-to-arrive, there is value in keeping track of the changing ground realities. Building on top of post-Brexit and post-pandemic market dynamics, a consistent hike in headline borrowing rates has had a direct impact on the job market as well as on the cost of living. Starting in Dec 2021 the official interest rate has been raised 14 times to stand at 5.25% today. Loosely in track with that, mortgage rates have risen from about 1.5% to about 6% over the same time – a significant jump for landlords re-fixing their mortgages this year and over the next few months. This is continuing to feed into rental prices. I can’t speak for the rest of the UK, but relative to just 3-5 years ago, London today is a very expensive city to live in. Period. Average rental prices are up 5.3% in the year to June 2023 – that’s the official stats. In reality, not only is finding a suitable rental becoming more challenging but rent increases from the past few years can be multiples of the official figures. On the bright side, over the past few weeks rates appear to have plateaued. 

Have these changes also affected businesses? 

Sustained increases in borrowing costs has impacted businesses, to varying degrees and in particular have had a direct impact on financial services and consulting firms. With a cost of living crisis in full swing businesses are at best consolidating or looking to shave items off their books – whether that be talent or otherwise. Private equity models have been stressed given that many portfolios are made up of businesses bought at historically low borrowing rates just a few years back and now facing much higher interest costs. Venture capital has become more discerning when committing funds, preferring cost cutting as a first step. Large, established financial institutions such as banks have also tightened their belts. This has also seen a marked drop in demand for consulting services. One of the big four consulting firms are laying off 3% of their workforce (about 800 staff), which follows on from another firm which shaved off 5% of their staff in August. 

What’s your advice for those looking to explore the UK? 

It’s not all doom and gloom, however those heading this way should be prepared. Factor housing and rental trends into your budget and make sure you have the funds you need. If you are planning on looking for a job upon landing you may have to wait a bit longer than you had originally planned to land a suitable role so prepare for the eventuality as well. 

If you’re looking to expand your business into the UK market in the coming months make sure you do plenty of research and spend some time on the ground talking to others before you make a final commitment. Right now there are opportunities for NZ-based tech businesses to scale successfully into the UK using a targeted approach, the UK is a stable, high-opportunity environment with an aligned business landscape to Australia and New Zealand, especially after the recently agreed FTA’s.

There is much debate over where the UK is headed economically, but remember individual experiences will vary. As someone once quoted, when your neighbour loses their job, it’s a recession. When you lose yours, it’s a depression.

David started his career as a creative in advertising, he specialised in telling brand stories to customers and connecting people to brands, but what always had him puzzled was the fact that most brands didn’t actually understand who it was they were talking to.

“I have always had a real curiosity as to who people were and what drove them. During the beginning of the dotcom era I joined a startup business in San Francisco which was based on industrial psychology and what we were doing was using deep psychology to matchmake candidates to jobs and also jobs to employees. What I found really interesting is that we were using psychology to understand exactly how a human would behave in certain situations. That was super powerful, and I thought wow if you could apply this to marketing and communications
it would be quite extraordinary.”

After spending some time working for various companies in the US and the UK David returned
to Wellington, and started to think more seriously about this idea of how human behaviour could
better help businesses understand their customers. Despite not intending to start a company he found himself hiring developers and psychologists to work with him on a methodology called Hardwired which formed the basis for his first company Eleven.

“I started Eleven on the 11th of the 11th 2011, to help me explore this idea which had been
building in my brain for some time. Eleven was doing strategic brand and marketing work and
some transformation organisational and culture work with government agencies such as NZTE
and the Ministry of Social Development. Over time it became clear that I needed to focus on one
or the other and so I wound up 11 and launched Hardwired in Feb 2023 which is entirely
focused on building a human connection between business and customers through brand.”

David says like many things, the understanding of the importance of value systems from a business and consumer point of view has been ramped up thanks to the global pandemic.

“Covid just flipped everything on its head, it opened up a huge amount of opportunities for businesses because now you have consumers who are actively seeking businesses and brands that are values based. We call this values based brand to customer connection a ‘we together’ connection. And what that means in very simple terms is what consumers are now looking for, is a business and a brand that they can belong to and with that, with that belonging comes advocacy and shared values and shared beliefs and with that comes enormous growth and revenue.”

But he says some businesses are still struggling to connect to customers because the rise of digital sales means the connection between a business and a consumer is often transactional.

“There’s some great New Zealand businesses but sometimes they struggle to understand their value. There are many businesses who are very functionally oriented. But in most cases human beings don’t buy function, they are buying a solution to an emotional want and need. So New Zealand businesses are hammering away at a functional proposition and customers aren’t interested, that’s the really simple core problem.”

Behavioural psychology being used in marketing is not a new phenomenon, but David says Hardwired uses a three pronged approach to solve this problem for businesses, which is quite unique.

“To begin, we do what we term ‘uncovery work’ the reason we call it uncovery is because it’s about discovering the things you can’t see, the human problems that may not be in plain sight. This leads to the strategy work, what does it mean for business? How does that impact business? How does it shape business? How can it drive business growth? And finally we work on how to connect the brand to customers by using precise emotionally-based communication. I think it’s a combination of the three that makes us different and makes what we do so effective. If a business and its brand can’t apply behavioural psychology then it is waste of opportunity for everyone”

The process can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months and David says far from just working with big companies, Hardwired does a lot of work with smaller businesses looking to find their feet in today’s very competitive market.

“We are all well aware of the power of human connection between people and we know how powerful that connection is, it can be lifelong, it’s about shared values and shared beliefs. So when we work with businesses we say what if you could take that same connection and apply it
to customers? With that comes a complete paradigm shift in how a business works with its customers and how customers work with businesses.”

The process is extremely collaborative and David says he realises not every business is willing
to shift their traditional paradigm of customer marketing. However for those that are open to the process there are huge rewards to be had, especially for Kiwi export businesses looking to gain footholds in offshore markets.

“When you enter a different market it has a different culture, but fundamentally human beings are human beings, we’re hardwired in very similar ways, societal elements around us may change but they don’t have as much impact as you might think. Exporting from New Zealand can be hard, we are a long way from the rest of the world and our providence story doesn’t hold the sway it used to, at least not in the way it did 10-15 years ago. You have to look at things differently to understand how you can make that connection with your customers on a much deeper level, and that is something I would like to see Kiwi businesses get a lot more support with.”

A social campaign titled ‘This Election We’re Letting Australia Decide’, has been launched today, to coincide with the opening of offshore voting and draw attention to the size and impact of the overseas vote this October in the hopes of encouraging offshore Kiwi to do their part.

Of the estimated one million New Zealanders living overseas, almost 70% of them reside in Australia, which could mean up to half a million votes in the New Zealand election. If every one of them voted, their contribution would surpass votes which are currently being indicated for the minor parties including Act, Greens, New Zealand First and Te Pāti Māori.

Every Kiwi Vote Counts Director Tracey Lee spent 15 years of her life voting overseas, and says democracy only works if we are all part of it.

“This campaign is not about orchestrating turn-out in favour of one party or another, it is simply championing the rights of all New Zealanders to vote and ensuring that we have robust and healthy participation in our government elections.”

In the past, elections have seen around 1-in-10 overseas New Zealanders vote, which represents a mere 2% of the offshore population, This means there are an additional 750,000 offshore Kiwi who aren’t exercising their democratic right to vote, something Tracey says needs attention.

“Overseas voters are especially important this year, it’s going to be a tighter election than we saw in 2020. Both major political parties have new leaders and minor parties are set to play a big role. This means every Kiwi vote really does count. Especially in Australia where our New Zealand population is eight times the size of any one electorate.”

The rules around overseas voting have changed this year, to acknowledge the impact of the pandemic, so overseas voters have ‘double the chances’ in 2023: With New Zealand citizen eligibility extended from three years to six years that they have to have been in New Zealand, and from 12 months to four years for permanent residents.

This campaign follows on from their successful 2020 campaign which used the (then) playful hook of Russian Meddling in overseas elections as a proxy for participation. The campaign reached 1-in-2.5 Kiwi, with 80M global impressions.

Every Kiwi Vote Counts has also successfully made submissions to the Justice Committee and Independent Electoral Review and presented to the Electoral Review board to make a case for increasing eligibility (from 3 years to 6 years for citizens) to account for disrupted travel during the global pandemic.

For more information and to watch the video head to everykiwivotecounts.nz

Craig Fenton describes his career as “what mathematicians would call a stochastic walk” meaning he has embraced different roles and career paths rather hap-hazzardly and opportunistically through luck, timing and hard work. Craig originally trained as a lawyer and worked in the field for six years before realising it wasn’t where his passion truly lay. 

“Although I loved my time in the law, I was much more interested in business and in particular, technology, and its application to business. I had always had a curiosity and an interest in how stuff worked. That interest was first piqued in me by my grandfather and then by my father who had a toy company which adapted to the world of electronic toys and games which sort of morphed into computing. My dad actually had the exclusive licence for the Amstrad computer in New Zealand so as a family, we were probably one of the earliest adopters.”

Unsure of how to move from law into business Craig decided to move to London to pursue an MBA at the London Business School.

“I found law to be intellectually challenging but I didn’t find it very creatively challenging and I think that’s where business draws my interest. You know, it’s sort of a canvas on which we can paint. However I couldn’t simply take off my lawyer’s wig and black robe and wander into Liverpool Street in the middle of London and declare myself to be ‘in business’. There needed to be some sort of objective reference point that people could grip onto and say okay, this person at least sort of passes muster at the subsistence level of credibility.”

Since making that move 25 years ago Craig has worked across the technology industry for 20 years, most recently as Google’s Managing Director of Strategy and Operations for UK and Ireland. He’s also an author, angel investor and advisor to several start-ups, and has founded his own record label and film production company to give creatives from less privileged backgrounds their start in music and film. In 2023 he was recognised as “UK New Zealander of the Year”

As a mentor Criag says he’s always encouraging people to discover what it is that really matters to them personally, because if you follow your passion that’s half the battle. 

“I think the idea of change starts with an intention and the intention begins with a sort of deeper understanding of yourself. You’ve got to understand what excites you, what’s the thing that makes you lean forward and talk a bit quicker? What do you consume when you’ve got some spare time? These are all markers of something you’re really passionate about. You have to ask yourself why, not what? Why do I want to do that? Not what do I want to do? I think it’s easy to be distracted and sometimes, derailed by a company name, a job title, a function, an industry or even a country. These are all examples of ‘what’, but the deeper question is, why. And the why is the thing that feeds your passion. Never do something because you think you should or somebody’s telling you to do it.”

“I am most comfortable when I’m uncomfortable. A degree of stretch in what you’re doing, I think is important and necessary. When that starts to fade and perhaps, when your excitement starts to fade, or you notice yourself increasingly surrounded by people who are not giving you energy, you need to be prepared to move on.”

Craig says for him, working with up and coming businesses and Kiwi looking to expand into other markets is about giving back and acknowledging that his success is in part due to those who helped him along the way. But there is also a more personal reason.

“There’s also a selfish element to it which is that I get so much energy from it. I love working with entrepreneurs from New Zealand, Kiwi businesses and individuals who have just landed here in the way that I did 25 years ago. I think it’s important for us to think not of the brain drain, as it used to be called in my day, but frame it more as a neural expansion that makes us all stronger, and I think that’s a purpose worth fighting for and investing in, and that’s what drives me to help out wherever I can. 

When Craig set out to do his MBA at the London Business School 25 years ago he never imagined living offshore for so long. He’s always maintained a strong connection back to Aotearoa and this year was named UK New Zealander of the Year and separately received an Special Recognition Award from the University of Auckland. He was also part of the New Zealand contingent which attended the coronation of King Charles. 

“It’s been a very humbling experience to receive the two awards and to be part of the fantastic Kiwi community in the UK. I think we all sort of stagger through life, with a sense of imposter syndrome thinking ‘why me? I’m in the company of such remarkable New Zealanders and Kiwi really do punch above our weight. I am constantly stunned, amazed and proud of my fellow country people and the achievements that they have attained.”

After a quarter of a century offshore Craig says the family are excited to move back to New Zealand and start the next chapter in their lives. The move will allow the family to enjoy the Kiwi summer and Craig says he’s looking forward to the challenge a new role brings. 

“I am deeply honoured to join the NZ Rugby whānau. The Teams in Black represent the top of our professional sport, of any team in any sport, and elite performance like this is sustained by the foundations on which it is built. I look forward to working with stakeholders across all levels of the game, honouring our legacy, whilst moving the game forward in a modern digital world.”