Turning tragedy and trash into business triumph: The Saia Latu story

Summer reissue: Saia Latu has experienced enough ups and downs for several lifetimes. The man behind one of New Zealand’s most successful recycling companies – and the recently named Pacific business entrepreneur of the year – tells Justin Latif how he made it to the top. First published December 5 2020 Saia Latu’s life reads … Read more

The whānau-owned business exporting some of Aotearoa’s best produce

Summer reissue: Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Rachel Taulelei, CEO of Kono. First published June 4, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help … Read more

Turning tragedy and trash into business triumph: The Saia Latu story

Saia Latu has experienced enough ups and downs for several lifetimes. The man behind one of New Zealand’s most successful recycling companies – and the recently named Pacific business entrepreneur of the year – tells Justin Latif how he made it to the top. Saia Latu’s life reads like a movie script. Aged eight, his … Read more

Humour over rumour: How South Auckland is pushing back against 5G conspiracy theories

A new series of videos uses comedy to debunk misinformation that’s proved to be particularly visible in South Auckland. Justin Latif spoke with local community leaders about why these theories find South Auckland such fertile ground, and what can be done to curtail their spread.  “I have family who believes in all sorts of conspiracies … Read more

The New Zealand designer behind Rihanna’s lingerie has gone solo

Chloé Julian’s been supporting boobs for years under big names like Stella McCartney and Agent Provocateur. Now, home in New Zealand, she’s launched Videris, a lingerie line that focuses on comfort over everything. After 15 years working in the lingerie industry, Hamilton-raised Chloé Julian knows the ins and outs of bras and knickers more than … Read more

How we can right the waka for the stormy economic seas ahead

Auckland Council has relaunched its supplier diversity intermediary service with a new name and national focus. Community and social innovation manager Tania Pouwhare explains how this service could play a crucial role in New Zealand’s economic recovery. One of the rallying slogans of Covid has been that famous whakataukī “he waka eke noa” – the … Read more

How learning te reo Māori is giving a young businesswoman greater purpose

Jacinta Gulasekharam is a socially driven entrepreneur and co-founder of period poverty start-up Dignity. We spoke to her about how that work feeds her drive to learn and honour te reo. Growing up in Feilding, Jacinta Gulasekharam felt both safe and strange. She was the only person of South Asian descent at her primary school … Read more

Locals quiz South Auckland charity over its $1.5 million cash reserve

The charity running the Māngere Markets makes close to half a million a year from a business centred on a publicly owned carpark, but distributes less than a third of its income in grants. That’s left some locals wondering whether the trust could be doing more to support the community, writes Justin Latif. Nothing quite … Read more

Business Is Boring: The Dunedin company growing NZ’s high-tech manufacturing sector

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Sarah Ramsay, CEO of United Machinists. Not that long ago in the scheme of things New Zealand did … Read more

Tech entrepreneur Mitchell Pham’s amazing journey from Vietnam to NZ and back again

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Mitchell Pham, founder of Augen Software Group. If the last century was the American century, so far this … Read more

How Preno is reimagining the future of hotel bookings

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Amelia Gain from hotel booking software company Preno. Covid-19 has changed the world for a lot of businesses, … Read more

The tech legend who launched Windows 95 in NZ is now making digital humans

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Greg Cross from AI company Soul Machines. Earlier this year, news came out that local company Soul Machines … Read more

The start-up boosting New Zealand’s craft beer culture with locally-grown yeast

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Simon Cooke and Ryan Carville, founders of yeast company Froth Technologies. A lot goes into making good beer. … Read more

The New Zealand skincare company diverting plastic from landfill

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Emma Lewisham, founder of a skincare line of the same name. From the outside, the cosmetics industry can … Read more

Business is Boring with Dr Gaetano Dedual and Jacob Kohn from Futurity

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Dr Gaetano Dedual and Jacob Kohn, co-founders of Futurity. It’s possible that in the future, we might just … Read more

The New Zealand company starting a biorefinery to make materials out of pine

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Dr Gaetano Dedual and Jacob Kohn, co-founders of Futurity. It’s possible that in the future, we might just … Read more

The whānau-owned business exporting some of Aotearoa’s best produce

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Rachel Taulelei, CEO of Kono. Demand for New Zealand produce overseas is currently up. Our country’s careful and … Read more

Sold for a buck: Why Stuff and other huge businesses change hands for $1

When Stuff’s parent company Nine sold up in a management buyout, the sale price for the whole business was $1. So what does it actually mean when businesses are sold for a buck? When local media giant Stuff was sold earlier this week to CEO Sinead Boucher, one of the biggest talking points was the … Read more

The next normal: How business responded when everything changed

With little warning, Covid-19 has meant many New Zealand businesses can no longer operate in the way they previously knew. Charles Anderson spoke to some of these businesses about rapidly adapting to a new normal. Recently on a Tuesday afternoon, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stood in a room full of socially distanced journalists and name-dropped … Read more

How a local fashion label has used lockdown to give back to its customers

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Emily Miller-Sharma, general manager at Ruby. One of the nicest things to come out of lockdown is a … Read more

The Spinoff level two poll: How employees feel about going back to work

After nearly two months of working from home, many people will relish the change of scene when they return to their actual work places on Thursday. But how has this bizarre period influenced employees’ perception of work? Sent out through our daily live blog, social media, and our daily Bulletin, a new Stickybeak survey asked … Read more

Why PaySauce is offering a free payroll solution for businesses disrupted by Covid-19

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Asantha Wijeyeratne from PaySauce. Recently, local employment solutions provider PaySauce announced it had raised more than $5 million … Read more

How magazines can still survive and thrive after Bauer

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to the editor of Homestyle magazine Alice Lines and chairman of the Magazine Publishers Association (MPA) Nicholas Burrowes. With … Read more

Coffee and community: Golden Bay businesses on the year ahead

Tucked away in a remote corner of the South Island, Golden Bay businesses are confident that community support and resourcefulness can see them through these tough times. One of the most striking features of Golden Bay – other than its beautiful beaches, rivers and forests – is its coffee. For a sparsely populated rural region … Read more

Covid-19 can help us think differently about exponential growth

As the countless graphs of Covid-19 cases have shown us, what comes up must invariably come down. Justin Connolly asks if we need to think that way about the economy. There have been many funny posts circulating on social media about life in Covid-19 lockdown. One in particular caught my eye because it was funny, … Read more

What Christchurch’s recovery has to teach us about post-lockdown NZ

Business after Covid: In the second of a series featuring business leaders assessing the world that will rise after Covid-19, consultant Roger Dennis looks at the lessons that can be learned from the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake. Never waste a crisis.  This should be the mantra that guides political decisions for the foreseeable future. … Read more

The new locally made natural deodorant that launched the day before lockdown

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Mel Lewis from Ultrella. Every day a lot of people get up and apply a layer of aluminium … Read more

The Bulletin: Contact tracing the key to leaving level four

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Contact tracing in focus as NZ prepares to leave lockdown, how businesses should manage level three, and Winston Peters fails in bid to sue National MPs. The decision is in, and we will be leaving level four – just not until next Monday night. PM Jacinda … Read more