The Live Ocean NZ SailGP team are in with a chance of victory in San Francisco this weekend. Photo / Photosport
The Live Ocean NZ SailGP team are in with a chance of victory in San Francisco this weekend. Photo / Photosport
Government agency InvestNZ is hoping to tap into a pool of international investors by showcasing New Zealand businesses at this weekend’s SailGP finals in San Francisco.
The event is an opportunity for New Zealand to shine on the world stage with America’s Cup winners Peter Burling and Blair Tuke inwith a decent chance of victory.
The regatta is also being used as an opportunity to showcase NZ as a place to invest in forward-looking sustainable business with the sailors’ charity Live Ocean Foundation represented by chief executive Sally Paterson and SailGP founder and chief executive Sir Russell Coutts involved in a presentation to 150 investors.
The Live Ocean team represent the sustainable future for New Zealand. Photo / Photosport
Paterson and Coutts fronted the “Do Good Do Well” panel debate, alongside Newfish co-founder Alex Worker, where they discussed whether modern businesses have a responsibility to protect our oceans and the planet.
The event is part of a global strategy from the government agency InvestNZ to foster a sustainable, inclusive, and innovative business culture that delivers both societal and financial benefits. The aim is to attract a new generation of investors and investment in New Zealand, underpinned by the ethos that businesses can both create commercial returns and do good for the world.
Sir Russell Coutts, SailGP chief executive. Photo / Photosport
The government agency staged the event to bring together prospective investor migrants with some of New Zealand’s leading companies, managed funds and charities
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise general manager Dylan Lawrence explained that teaming up with SailGP is to highlight the many opportunities to invest in New Zealand’s sustainability-minded businesses, especially in relation to the ocean.
“We’re a nation founded by the great Polynesian voyagers,” Lawrence said. “We have the fourth largest ocean space on the planet and a love of sailing. This heritage means New Zealand produces many innovative businesses focused on helping the ocean. Our future wellbeing and prosperity lie in growing such businesses, which is why NZTE is seeking investment from people who want to do well by doing good.”
Sally Paterson chief executive Live Ocean Foundation. Photo / Supplied
Live Ocean’s Paterson said it was vitally important to invest in knowledge to inform good decisions for the future. She said New Zealanders, as guardians to one of the largest and most significant ocean spaces on the planet, could play an outsized role.
“A healthy ocean is our greatest ally in the fight for a healthy planet,” Paterson said. “The ocean is the life-support system of the planet, it produces more than half the world’s oxygen and is a powerful carbon sink.”
Newfish is the archetypal sustainable business that is solving the two-pronged problems of producing protein for a hungry world and reducing climate-warming emissions. The company creates non-GMO (genetically modified organism) microalgae proteins and other specialised food ingredients that offer a sustainable alternative to traditional animal proteins.
Alex Worker is a co-founder of Newfish. Photo / Supplied
Alex Worker, Newfish co-founder, believes abundant protein production from microalgae technology is not only good for the environment but also good for business.
“Consumers are seeking delicious nutrition choices that do not cost our Earth nor marine life, and we saw an opportunity to meet that demand while protecting our waters and ocean,” he said.
The San Francisco debate is the first major piece of international marketing by InvestNZ under the Active Investor Migrant Programme and is designed to attract active investment to deliver more significant economic impact for the good of New Zealand - offering investors options in direct investments, managed funds, listed equities or philanthropy.
