Summit urges Kiwis to 'give it a go'

The Entrepreneurial Summit spurred ideas that now have New Zealanders talking about how they can inject some enthusiasm into the economy. And that, said Tenby Powell who co-chaired the event with his wife Sharon Hunter, was its over-riding intention.

"It got people to recognise the need for New Zealand to change and get from the bottom quartile to the top quartile of the OECD," he said. The next step is to help entrepreneurs turn the ideas generated into reality within the stipulated 12 to 18 months.

Mr Powell said the summit on May 21 was just the first step to creating change. A gathering of around 140 entrepreneurs refined 30 of their best economy-boosting ideas and presented the top five the to Minister of Commerce Simon Power.

These were the Kiwitravel Card, a special edition Visa debit card loaded with $10,000 which could only be spent in New Zealand; the Flying Kiwi Fund, which would help fund the growth phase of New Zealand business opportunities; Possum Economics, which would harvest or poison the 70 million possums living in New Zealand; growing Research and Development from 0.8 per cent of the GDP to 3 per cent and the attitude campaign"Give it a go, bro!".

Mr Powell said entrepreneurs naturally saw the world through different eyes: "It's a 'glass half-full' from the outset. We see opportunities where others don't and we go for them in an unencumbered way without the surrounding red tape," he said. Those who attended the summit are now being encouraged to form working groups to scope out the ideas and meet with interested parties.