Kiwi businesses need to get better at selling NZ on world stage, says Mavis Mullins

Mavis Mullins is one of the speakers at this year's Nurture Change event in Hawaii. Photo / Supplied

Kiwi businesses need to do a better job of selling themselves on the world stage, says chairwoman and director Mavis Mullins.

Mullins, who chairs farming and forestry group Atihau Whanganui Incorporation, is one of the speakers at this year's Nurture Change Business Retreat in Hawaii, along with Dame Julie Christie, Eat My Lunch's Lisa King and Rodd and Gunn chief executive Mike Beagle

More than 200 business owners, entrepreneurs and managers are expected to attend the summit in September which mixes sand, sun and corporate success.

The event was started in 2015 by business adviser Zac de Silva and travel entrepreneur Steve Pirie to help Kiwi business owners find ways to run their firms more successfully.

Mullins, a fourth-generation sheep farmer, has more than 20 years experience in governance in public and private enterprises and has sat on the boards of Landcorp, the MidCentral and Wairarapa District Health Boards, Massey University's Council and 2degrees Mobile.

Speaking to the Herald from a business trip in San Francisco, Mullins said that New Zealand stories have an innovative spirit and counted the likes of shoe company Allbirds as a Kiwi success story in the United States.

But she said that Kiwis weren't the greatest at selling themselves on the world stage.

"We often have that quality of humility about us which doesn't always work – particularly in the American market where you have to sell and believe in yourself and back yourself 1000 per cent," Mullins said.

Nurture Change runs from the 14-19 September and de Silva said the time away from the office gave owners the chance to reflect on their business "in a tropical setting".

- Staff reporter

The Herald and Nurture Change are giving two small business owners the chance to win an expenses-paid trip to this year's event. To enter and see Terms & Conditions, please visit tinyurl.com/HeraldHawaii.