Not many cities have endured what Christchurch has over the past decade. But as Steven Moe writes, the tragic legacy has inspired a new, impact-minded business community to emerge from the rubble. It’s quite difficult to put in words just how difficult the earthquakes were for the people of Ōtautahi Christchurch. Alongside the tragic loss … Read more
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love. New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so many factors that can … Read more
With New Zealand tourism in a lull – and backpackers in the firing line – Queenstown-based start-up Kiwi Welcome is creating a new model of sustainable travel where visitors add value to the land. For the past few years – up until Covid-19 began hoarding the headlines – one of New Zealand’s most pressing public … Read more
After 27 years, Unitec is vacating the iconic Auckland building previously known as Carrington Psychiatric Hospital. Now a local social enterprise trust wants to give it a new life as a hub of education, art and community. The door to the basement was locked. For nearly two hours we’d been guided through the countless halls … Read more
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The Mind Lab’s new leadership course is designed to replace those aspirations with action. One of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman’s best-known quotes is “the only business of business is business”. For him and many others who believed that the market should decide, doing good was … Read more
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 Pranav Chopra, founder and CEO of Nemi Teas. On Business is Boring this week, Simon Pound speaks with … Read more
Michael Fuyala helps run his family’s wildly popular Misa Christmas Tree Farm in Auckland. But in recent months, he’s decided to venture into something a little bit different, setting up not just one but two startups: an online fundraising platform for charities, schools and clubs called Rewardhub, and an affiliate marketing network called Linkshop. Jihee … Read more
Backed by tech giants Google and Atlassian, not-for-profit Humanitix redirects thousands in booking fees to charitable causes while at the same time disrupting the highly competitive ticketing industry. Jihee Junn talks to the CEO of its New Zealand operations to learn more about how the platform works. Founded in Australia in 2016, Sydneysiders Adam McCurdie … Read more
Sustainability is no longer just a ‘nice to have’ for businesses – it’s as pivotal as profit to their long term survival. For as long as any of us can remember, sustainability and profit have been at odds with one another. Profit means efficiencies and efficiencies mean doing whatever it takes to do things faster, … Read more
Nisa founder Elisha Watson’s step-by-step guide on the most important things to think of when trying to build an ethical brand. Two years ago, I quit my job as a lawyer to start Nisa, an underwear brand that employs former refugees. I set up a garment manufacturing workshop with zero fashion or manufacturing experience and … Read more
Named Angel of the Year by Enterprise Angels, investor Alan Dick talks about the importance of making resources available to a wider group of people. Alan Dick knows a thing or two about investing. Experienced in everything from IT and tech, to manufacturing and kiwifruit, Dick became an angel investor six years ago. Since then … Read more
In our Q&A series, The Lightbulb, we ask innovators and entrepreneurs to tell us about how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Fraser McConnell, co-founder of alternative payments app Choice which is currently running a two-week pilot phase with Wellington bars, restaurants and cafes. First of all, give us your elevator pitch … Read more
In our Q&A series, The Lightbulb, we ask innovators and entrepreneurs to tell us about how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Little Yellow Bird founder Samantha Jones whose social enterprise makes sustainably and ethically-made uniforms and basics. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Little Yellow Bird. We’re … Read more
In our Q&A series, The Lightbulb, we ask innovators and entrepreneurs to tell us about how they turned their ideas into reality. This week, we talk to Collaborate co-founder Poppy Norton who’s helped create an app matching charitable organisations with volunteers. Nominated for a Hi-Tech Award for the second year in a row, Collaborate is the brainchild … Read more
Social enterprises don’t get tax advantages and can’t get the same kind of funding as businesses. This needs to change, says the co-author of a new report. Current company law is hampering the development of New Zealand’s social enterprise sector. This is the bottom line finding of a new report on whether existing regulatory frameworks … Read more
Business editor Maria Slade reflects on lessons learned from her truncated career in corporate PR and the enduring importance of journalism. Not so long ago I did a stint in the communications department of a large organisation which shall remain nameless… Oh bugger it, it was Fonterra. The corporate world was new to me. The … Read more
Small business owner Heather Claycomb learned the hard way that donating till it hurts is not how to change the world. She offers some tips for making an impact. How many emails have you opened in recent weeks from companies telling you they donated to charity for the holidays? Corporate charitable giving at Christmas is … Read more
If you want to do gift-giving without hurting the world this Christmas, Sarah Paterson-Hamlin has the guide for you. This might be controversial, but I just don’t like getting or giving goats for Christmas. Not actual goats suffocating in Whitcoulls 3-for-1 wrapping paper in suburban Dunedin, but those cards that say ‘I bought a goat … Read more
Big businesses such as New Zealand’s largest ever transport infrastructure project are tackling “real” sustainability issues instead of the greenwashing of the past, organisers of the NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards say. “We’re all desperately looking for ‘how do you do this stuff’ now. I don’t think businesses would be deliberately doing things that would … Read more
All Heart NZ proves the proverb that one man’s waste is another’s treasure. Nominated for an NZI Sustainable Business Network Award, it’s one of the social enterprises listed on a new platform encouraging corporates to help the world while making money. A hundred metres of unwanted car yard fencing that was destined for the scrap … Read more
From businesses doing good to charities running businesses and everything in between, social enterprise as an industry is growing up and holding its first national conference. In 1942 the New Zealand poet Allen Curnow wrote: “Simply by sailing in a new direction, you could enlarge the world.” He was talking about the first European explorers … Read more
A year on since launching Nisa – an ethical underwear company that employs former refugees – founder Elisha Watson reflects on all the things she’s learnt about running a business with a social cause. Quitting your job to pursue your dream is one of life’s great cliches. You’re probably working a desk job – stable, lucrative, maybe … Read more
Every week on The Primer we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to Joe Harawira, founder of clothing company Flo, which donates a free school lunch to a child in need for every product sold. ONE: How did Flo start and what was the inspiration behind it? I … Read more
Social enterprise is a global phenomenon but, write Steven Moe and Wayne Tukiri (Tainui, Ngāti Whaawhaakia), New Zealand should be using Māori cultural practices to better understand what social enterprise is – and what it could be. Until recently, not many people knew what a social enterprise even was. But in the last few years there’s … Read more
Crave café has been serving locals in Morningside, Auckland for almost a decade, and is spearheading plans for a major regeneration of the suburb over the coming year. Alice Webb-Liddall talks to Crave manager and co-founder Nigel Cottle about the neighbourhood-orientated social enterprise. In 2009, Morningside existed as an in-between suburb. A train station was the landmark that kept … Read more
What’s the best way for under-privileged kids to get the nutritious school lunches they need? This post was originally published on 26 July 2018 Yesterday, Eat My Lunch, the social enterprise which provides a lunch for a hungry school kid for every lunch it sells to the public, came under fire for claiming that 290,000 … Read more
Every week on The Primer we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to sibling entrepreneurs Brittany and Johanna Cosgrove of Nopesisters, the social enterprise championing ‘fashion for a cause’. ONE: How did Nopesisters start and what was the inspiration behind it? Nopesisters started in October 2016 during Breast … Read more
After an impressive Kickstarter campaign last year, makeup brand and social enterprise Indigo & Iris have returned with the launch of its much anticipated online store last week. Jihee Junn talks to Indigo & Iris CEO Hannah Duder about its Levitate mascara, how it’s helping to end avoidable blindness in the Pacific, and the challenges of being a … Read more
Every week we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves through eight simple questions. This week we talk to Elisha Watson, who quit her full-time job as a lawyer to start Nisa – an organic cotton underwear company that employs women from refugee backgrounds. ONE: How did Nisa start and what was the inspiration behind it? Before … Read more