Innovators aim to energise nation

Tenby Powell and his wife Sharon Hunter will chair the gathering of entrepreneurs. Photo / Martin Sykes

A who's who of Kiwi entrepreneurs are expected at a summit next week aimed at lifting the productivity of the nation.

Chaired by power couple Tenby Powell and Sharon Hunter, the event has called for 100 entrepreneurs to come up with 100 bright ideas for propelling New Zealand up the OECD rankings.

The May 21 summit is the brainchild of management consultant and internet businessman Chris Simmons. Just Water chief executive Tony Falkenstein has also picked up the ball.

Finance Minister Bill English is also attending.

Simmons said he felt the questions February's Jobs Summit addressed were too short term.

"It would be neat to see, if you put a group of smart folks in a room and challenge them with how to improve the productivity of the country, what would come out of it."

He said as an entrepreneur the obvious people to put into that room were his fellow innovators.

Media personality, former ad man and best-selling author Gordon Dryden "loves the concept".

"He's thrown in a couple of really neat ideas on web platforms and things like that."

Powell, executive director of NZ Rental Group which owns Hirepool, and his businesswoman wife Hunter, said about 150 ideas had come in.

Powell said they had to be of national benefit, and already team leaders had whittled them down to about 35 top prospects.

On the day, the entrepreneurs would be split into teams and would take responsibility for developing each others' ideas.

The plan was to implement the top ideas within 18 months.

"Then we have to rescope the leadership team and add to it with others who have various skill sets," said Powell. Discussions were under way with venture capitalists, he said.

Hunter said the day was not about working out the finer details of an idea, but considering whether it had merit.

She said while New Zealand celebrated the success of people like Peter Jackson it suffered from a lack of ambition as a nation.

"Out of the adversity of this financial crisis will, maybe, come the opportunity to think a bit more boldly for ourselves collectively as a country, rather than just relying on a few individuals."

Robbie Gimblett, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers which is one of the sponsors of the event, said the conclusions of the day were the start line.

"The real rubber hits the road from there," said Gimblett.

PricewaterhouseCoopers was on the leadership team and was committed to making the ideas a reality.

Although private capital would be needed, the input of central or local government or State Owned Enterprises might also be sought, Gimblett said.