2012-02-07 09:33:52 // Idealog
Tauranga-based Heilala Vanilla has its eye on stepping up exporting efforts after signing an investment deal with the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund and Enterprise Angels BOP.
2012-02-03 09:49:28 // Esther Goh
| 1 comment
Exports are the key to building national wealth, the Ministry of Economic Development has told incoming minister Steven Joyce.
2012-02-02 10:42:41 // Idealog
Christchurch's Fabrum Solutions has scored a three-month, $350,000 contract to supply parts to US-based machinery manufacturer Vermeer for a drilling product designed in Timaru.
2012-01-25 09:30:16 // Idealog
There are two weeks left for exporters to get in on the action and register for a trade mission to southeast Asia this March.
2012-01-24 16:30:35 // Idealog
After a decade of attempts to break into the US acne medication market, Douglas Pharmaceuticals has gained Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to sell its New Zealand-developed acne drug, isotretinoin.
2011-12-19 10:02:44 // Kate Beecroft
Manuka Health has announced its arrival as a serious biotech player with the potential for multi-million dollar exports.
2011-11-30 18:22:03 // Idealog
The designers behind Kiwi fashion label Nyne have been bestowed with the DHL Express Fashion Export Scholarship for 2011, after making an unsuccessful bid last year.
2011-11-30 16:20:58 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Nine months after its inception, a joint venture between five New Zealand wineries has established its own US importing business and secured distribution into 14 states from New York to California.
2011-11-25 10:17:55 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
At last, what you've been waiting for: how to sell your ideas to the world without packing them up and shipping them off.
2011-11-11 09:29:19 // Idealog
The Chamber of Commerce is calling for the incoming government to rethink its approach to exports, joining forces with the private sector to campaign to sell more to the rest of the world.
2011-10-31 11:12:00 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #35: features
Deirdre Robert takes a sneak peek inside Avanti’s techy hub and finds the brand on track for success.
2011-10-31 09:15:23 // Idealog
New Zealand's biggest tech exporters racked up more than $7 billion in revenue this year, despite a glum performance in 2010 and a gloomy worldwide economic outlook.
2011-10-26 20:02:28 // Idealog
| 1 comment
Orion Health, New Zealand’s largest privately-owned software exporter, has scored two business wins in China less than a year after entering the market.
2011-10-26 17:04:28 // Esther Goh
Kiwi food and beverage exporters need to focus on adding value if the sector is to live up to its full growth potential, an industry report released today shows.
2011-10-25 12:49:08 // Idealog
Getting Kiwi apples onto Australian shelves was quite a coup, but so too is avocado grower Fressure Foods' deal with Aussie supermarket Coles, which will place its fresh guacamole products on more than 800 extra chilled store shelves.
2011-10-21 11:45:09 // Idealog
New Zealand tech company Augen Software Group has been named one of the most innovative companies in the Asia-Pacific region, receiving a prestigious Red Herring Top 100 Asia Award this week.
2011-10-19 10:42:59 // Sam Eichblatt
// Idealog #35: features
| 1 comment
Expat Andrew Meo is selling espresso to Italians after taking over Rocket’s coffee machines.
2011-09-27 09:58:57 // Peter Kerr
// The Idealog Blog
The main message from the Rutherford Innovation Showcase Digital Content Forum was that some weightless exports have a fair bit of profit margin attached.
2011-09-26 16:17:36 // Esther Goh
Well-loved Kiwi toy Buzzy Bee is soon to be brought to screens around the world, while ushering in a new concept in children’s interactive entertainment at the same time.
2011-09-26 11:01:29 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
After spending 35 years building a world-beating business, 67-year-old Bill Buckley is "still in his overalls" and loving every moment on the shop floor, as evidenced by his win at the Ernst & Young New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year awards last week.
2011-09-08 14:16:24 // Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog #35: features
| 1 comment
Vincent Heeringa eats ... and eats ... and eats, all in search of design-led food and beverages
2011-09-01 10:37:25 // Idealog
Kiwi exporters are positive about the year ahead, and believe the Rugby World Cup is set to give a much-needed boost to the industry.
2011-08-15 10:27:02 // Idealog
| 1 comment
New Zealand beverage company Ti Tonics is proving a hit across the Tasman, recording higher sales in Australia than at home – and is on the verge of expanding into Asia and the Americas.
2011-08-11 09:48:51 // Idealog
| 2 comments
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade wants to hear from businesses that export services to India as progress is made toward a free trade agreement.
2011-08-10 09:37:40 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Massey University business incubator ecentre celebrated its 10th anniversary last week, with chief executive Steve Corbett setting an ambitious five-year goal of tripling its revenue from alumni companies to $100 million.
2011-08-01 12:06:13 // Andy Kenworthy
// Idealog #34: features
A combination of Kiwi practices, verdant land and cash from clued-up investors like Sam Morgan yields Leitíssimo three times the production it would generate in New Zealand. Is this the end of our dairy industry - or the next step for IP?
2011-07-29 09:52:05 // Esther Goh
Farmers are welcoming news that the European Union has agreed to accept an annual quota of New Zealand grain-fed beef, which will quadruple our beef exports to the continent.
2011-07-27 09:50:19 // Esther Goh
A Masterton man’s plan to sell his patented steel-mesh safety goggles worldwide has been awarded a $60,000 prize package to further expand his business.
2011-07-27 08:44:50 // Idealog
A new method of producing wood-plastic pellets has been licensed by Crown research institute Scion to a company that will see it commercialised in Europe to the tune of $10 million in royalties.
2011-07-21 10:01:23 // Idealog
Hawkeye UAV Limited, a Palmerston North aviation company, has been awarded $30,000 as the first successful applicant in a new government programme dedicated to the Manawatu.
2011-07-20 09:53:18 // Idealog
A Kiwi communications company has opened a new facility in Beijing to serve as a base for clients in China and the Asia-Pacific region.
2011-07-13 16:51:10 // Esther Goh
The Productivity Commission is calling for public submissions as it launches an inquiry into the international freight transport sector.
2011-07-13 11:15:28 // Vanessa Ellingham
The Kiwi Innovation Network will help homegrown projects "excite and harness investor appetite", according to one of its founding members.
2011-07-12 14:52:57 // Vanessa Ellingham
There's money to be made in trees, with forestry exports for the year up a respectable $0.8 billion to $4.4 billion in total.
2011-07-04 15:01:00 // Vanessa Ellingham & Vincent Heeringa
| 1 comment
Kiwi juice company Charlie's says accepting a foreign takeover was “inevitable”, but there won't be any redundancies or closures. And for shareholders who bought into the company in 2005, this week's deal with Japanese drink giant Asahi represents a 340 percent total return. Good - but is it good enough?
2011-07-04 09:07:11 // Esther Goh
Times are tough for Christchurch businesses. But digital agency Vizualise is pushing through, opening a second office in Melbourne this month and forecasting export revenue to double on the back of lucrative international custom, including A-list types looking to cash in on celebrity.
2011-06-24 09:25:00 // Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog #33: features
Everything is wrong with this business: wrong place, wrong product, wrong people. So what makes an entrepreneur, a chef, Jim Bolger and 31 of their friends think that Mt Cook Alpine Salmon will become a $60 million export success in the next five years? Vincent Heeringa investigates.
2011-02-24 12:16:55 // Duncan Greive
// Idealog #31: features
Campbell Hooper and Joel Kefali’s design
house Special Problems became a music
video powerhouse quite by accident.
But as they tell Duncan Greive, they’re
counterintuitively resisting expanding their
business
2011-02-24 09:23:36 // Florence Noble
// Idealog #32: features
| 2 comments
Illicit can’t seem to catch a break: from
the suicide of brilliant co-founder Martin
Emond, the pillaging of its work by pop stars
and rip-off artists, to the failure of its US
partners. So the 15-year-old fashion label
and K’ Road institution found a new voice
and a new hip-hop market, though the joke,
says Steve Hodge, remains the same. Now
the US is calling again. By Florence Noble
2011-02-16 08:57:42 // Cassie Doherty
// Idealog #31: now
From kitchen stove to the world:
Bernadette Soares takes on the waxing
industry with an old family recipe
2011-02-10 08:22:54 // Stephen Jewell
// Idealog #31: now
Filmmaker David Blyth completes his
cult-horror trilogy after a 30-year hiatus in
the Hollywood “sausage factory”
2011-01-19 11:35:47 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
Thinking outside the box, or rather outside the country, has seen Christchurch design company Redesign catapult itself onto the global stage. And global expansion seems to have treated the company well, with business opportunities opening up in South East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Australasia.
2011-01-06 12:53:29 // Stephen Jewell
// Idealog #31: now
| 2 comments
Peter Gordon and partner Michael McGrath have embarked on their most ambitious venture yet: teaming up with fellow expats Brandon Allen and Adam Wills, founders of UK-wide Gourmet Burger Kitchen, to open Kiwi-themed restaurant Kopapa in the heart of London’s ultra-competitive West End. How will they sell that? And didn’t Gordon get the memo about food miles?
2010-12-01 10:35:17
// Idealog #30: now
While Pumpkin Patch
won Supreme Award
for International
Business at the New
Zealand International
Business Awards
2010, it wasn’t
the only Kiwi
company feted on
Oct 13. The awards
celebrate New
Zealand business
success worldwide
and recognise
professional
excellence and
innovative practice,
so here are the
winners in each of
the categories
2010-11-18 16:10:52 // Keith Newman
// Idealog #30: features
A new twist on fire pumps could see a tiny Hawke's Bay workshop booming in a new niche market. Keith Newman visits the innovators of Tikokino.
2010-11-03 11:05:58 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #30: workshop
A good Central Otago pinot is imbued with the dust and the scrub of its provenance. Alan Brady, like his fruit, turned out to be the right grape in the right place.
2010-10-21 11:04:38 // Martyn Pepperell
// Idealog #30: features
Travelling the world, combining exotic cultures with classic Kiwi tunes—it's Nick Dwyer's dream job, and National Geographic is among his many fans. By Martyn Pepperell.
2010-10-15 10:42:43 // Mitchell Hall
// Idealog #29: features
Derek and Geoff Handley created The Hyperfactory, a high-tech Kiwi business that competes with the world’s best, and in July they sold it for megamillions. Mitchell Hall asks what they’ve learned about entrepreneurship and dreaming big—and why New Zealand needs more like them. Plus: An investor speaks.
2010-10-14 14:11:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Strong and effective design was a prominent theme at last night’s NZ International Business Awards, which recognise new approaches that businesses are taking to achieve international success. And it was smart design that resulted in Pumpkin Patch collecting the Judges' Supreme Award.
2010-09-27 15:57:36 // Esther Goh
// Idealog #29: now
White double-weave cotton has had a chokehold on martial arts wear for more than a century, but a pair of Kiwi entrepreneurs are planning to shake up the ring.
2010-09-03 15:05:26 // Dwight Whitney
// Idealog #29: export
A short, sharp injection of knowledge is perhaps better than none but if you are really serious about growing your exports and developing your own knowledge and skills, you need to invest some time.
2010-09-03 15:05:26
// Idealog #29: export
It was the similarity between the DNA of dogs and wolves that inspired Geoff Bowers to create a new kind of dog food.
2010-09-03 15:05:26 // Dwight Whitney
// Idealog #29: export
If your enterprise is up and running and you haven’t yet cast your eyes offshore, it’s time to get with the programme..
2010-09-03 15:05:26 // Dwight Whitney
// Idealog #29: export
Think of your exporting journey decisionmaking as something akin to investment portfolio theory. Your goal is to balance risk and reward— or more specifically, opportunity and your chance of success. Make exports a part of your business plan and identify key target markets before jumping in.
2010-09-03 15:05:26 // Dwight Whitney
// Idealog #29: export
Generally country of origin is just one of a number of factors people take into account when electing to buy or not to buy—but, okay, a ‘Made in North Korea’ tag may be an instant turnoff unless you love the Dear Leader.
2010-09-03 15:05:26 // Dwight Whitney
// Idealog #29: export
Trouble at the mill with your licensee partner? If your intellectual property (IP) and other crucial elements to your business weren’t properly protected at the front end of the process, you may well be up the proverbial creek without any recourse.
2010-09-03 15:05:26 // Dwight Whitney
// Idealog #29: export
Exporting has its attractions but if your finances aren’t in place or properly structured you’ll feel the thorns.
2010-09-03 15:05:26
// Idealog #29: export
In walks a bureaucrat telling you that you are in violation of Section 1059 of the close to 2,000-page import compliance guide that you’ve heard legends about but never seen. What are you going to do?
2010-09-03 15:05:26
// Idealog #29: export
Seneca Textiles managing director Dennis Bygrave calls them ‘mother-in-law calls’. As in, when your mother-in-law is on the phone it generally isn’t a social call—something is up and you’d best be paying attention.
2010-09-03 15:05:26
// Idealog #29: export
Discover the success of Future Products Group (FPG), a Napier-based, $30- million, design-led manufacturer of food display units—you know, the cabinets you probably never noticed because you’re too busy looking at the sandwiches and pies inside.
2010-09-03 15:05:26 // Dwight Whitney
// Idealog #29: export
It’s marvellous that Harvey Keitel likes our beer and the world is gaga over Middle Earth, but are such accolades enough to shore up your particular exporting reputation?
2010-09-03 15:05:26
// Idealog #29: export
| 1 comment
Any company with a healthy balance sheet in such sickly economic times must have a secret tonic.
2010-07-22 14:55:19 // Amanda Cropp
// Idealog #28: features
When Keith Alexander realised a childhood dream and reinvented the trampoline, he also created a global business and relaxed thousands of nervous parents. By Amanda Cropp
2010-07-01 17:30:32 // Hadyn Green
// Idealog #28: features
| 4 comments
The sneaker. It’s a cheap canvas shoe with a cheap rubber sole—or at least it used to be.
2010-07-01 12:55:23 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
New Zealand is becoming known as much for its Hobbits and hairy directors as it is for post-production work. And it's not all from Weta either
2010-06-22 11:45:40 // Jason Smith
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
All our eggs (and milk, meat and timber) are in one basket. Let’s mix it up a little
2010-05-20 10:39:00 // Denis Welch
// Idealog #27: features
Fresh off the festival success of its short film, production company Sticky Pictures works the room at Sundance. Denis Welch asks about Robert Redford, raising cash and working with kids and animals
2010-03-26 09:16:56 // Bette Flagler
// Idealog #26: features
There’s something odd about the very small: weird physics and some very big money. Bette Flagler meets the New Zealanders making giant strides at a nano scale.
2010-03-23 12:00:49 // Tony Laloli
// Idealog #26: workshop
| 2 comments
The World Expo should showcase Kiwi ideas—but Shanghai 2010 is a missed opportunity.
2010-03-04 14:10:33 // Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog #26: features
| 3 comments
Catch those upstart Aussies by 2025. That’s the aim of John Key and his young Turks. Dream on, John. Government inaction and the biggest recession in 70 years are conspiring to bring us level with the home of Borat by 2025. Vincent Heeringa reckons we need a better plan to avoid becoming New Zealistan.
2009-11-27 09:36:46 // Amanda Cropp
// Idealog #24: features
| 1 comment
Reality TV is old-school: Natural History New Zealand has been doing it for decades, bringing the weird, wild and wonderful into our living rooms. They’ve learned what viewers like, how to build happy relationships with US media monoliths and proved there’s more to New Zealand than birds. Amanda Cropp meets NHNZ’s wild things. Plus upping the wow factor and an outsider’s view.
2009-11-20 11:42:50 // Stephen Jewell
// Idealog #24: features
When Bruce Ferguson took his big-splash events business to the UK, he arrived alongside a less welcome visitor: the recession. A year later, the recession is still there—but so is Ferguson, and he’s finding a ready audience for his outrageous stunts and extravaganzas. By Stephen Jewell.
2009-11-13 09:57:54 // Matt Cooney
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Well, this was only a matter of time: Guardian columnist takes a quick look at our green credentials and doesn’t like what he sees. “My prize for the most shameless two fingers to the global community goes to New Zealand, a country that sells itself round the world as ‘clean and green’.”
2009-10-22 11:13:36 // Jason Smith
// Idealog #23: workshop
Making music is back in fashion. We import most of our kit, but the islands still strum Kiwi.
2009-09-25 08:57:33 // Mike Booker
// Idealog #23: celsias
| 1 comment
Johnny Rotten once mocked the Queen; today he saves his sneer for New Zealand butter. Our key export markets are increasingly in the grip of environmental and social activism, led by a virtuous circle of consumers and supermarkets. Some Kiwi exporters are on to this rapidly growing and mutating phenomenon. Others, Mike Booker discovers, haven’t a clue.
2009-09-04 13:28:52 // Felicity Monk
// Idealog #23: celsias
| 2 comments
He took Bendon from a knickerwear manufacturer to a global lingerie brand; she holed up in a Wellington yoga studio before deciding it was time to join the ‘real world’. Felicity Monk asks how Stefan Preston made the leap from Stella McCartney to Jyoti Morningstar, and how Morningstar moved from teaching yoga to launching an ambitious fashion eco-label.
2009-07-31 09:49:03 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #22: features
| 2 comments
When guitarist Ben Fulton went electric, he found the only way to get the right sound was to make his own gadgets—and other guitarists agreed. But how do you turn a garage business into an international boutique brand? First, you find someone to share your dream—like Geoff Matthews.
2009-07-17 10:04:05 // Anya Kussler
// Idealog #22: features
| 1 comment
A dry, stony bit of Hawke’s Bay, once a speedway and a quarry, now produces full-bodied red wines the equal of thousand-bucks-a-bottle Bordeaux. What’s the secret? Anya Kussler discovers what lurks in the once-unwanted soils of Gimblett Gravels. Plus beau Bordeaux and the top six.
2008-02-08 11:09:32 // Gena Tuffery
// Idealog #13: features
Like it or not, the landfill economy is coming to an end—and New Zealand needs to get real. Gena Tuffery uncovers the Kiwis who are doing us all a favour and living up to our undeserved reputation. Just don’t use that ‘G’ word. Plus: follow these leaders, the view from London and the life in post-peak oil times
2007-09-14 06:00:04 // Bette Flagler
// Idealog #11: features
Hospitals aren’t just fun and games, and medical professionals are very particular about the equipment they use. Bette Flagler discovers why more and more of their gear is designed and built in New Zealand
2006-12-14 01:00:00 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #7: features
| 3 comments
Josef Roberts turned Red Bull, a little-known energy drink with legal problems, into a pop phenomenon in New Zealand and Australia—and made millions in the process. He talks exclusively to Idealog about guerilla marketing, taking on the big boys, life after the Big Deal, and the down-home Kiwi company he plans to build into a global superbrand. By Matt Cooney
