The Bachelor's Art Green must be keen to move on from reality-show days (and makeup-related media controversies) to focus on his food business. He was spotted in the aspirational crowd at EY's Entrepreneur of the Year finalist announcement evening at ASB on North Wharf last week.
Green's business, CleanPaleo, whichhe owns with friends Mitchell McClenaghan and Ryan Kamins, has tapped into the Paleo diet trend and makes protein powders, breakfast blends, biltong and other grain-, dairy-, gluten- and preservative- free snacks. Sources say Art was not entered as a contender for the award this year, but he may have been there to scope out the competition and build up his business contacts. And perhaps he is keen on being in the mix for next year. The EY event at the flash open-plan ASB head office went off without a hitch as business leaders and budding entrepreneurs networked over drinks.
Legends in Black
ASB's Christian May and Georgina Bond cosy up with World Cup hero Stephen Donald, centre. Photo / Nick Reed
Business and sporting stars mixed and mingled at Eden Park on Thursday night for the Legends in Black evening with sporting greats Sir Brian Lochore, Sir Graham Henry, Stephen Donald and Jonah Lomu the guests of honour. ASB's corporate team were there in force as one of the principal sponsors along with NZME. Other business faces at the event included head of Jetstar NZ Grant Kerr, KPMG executive chairman Ross Buckley and Spark Digital's David Tse. All Black great Lomu spoke of his two sons and the difficulty of explaining to them why people always wanted his autograph. He said MasterCard's latest ad featuring the catch phrase "Lomu Lomu Lomu" had been interesting when his son pointed out that Jonah's last name was also Lomu.
Diane Foreman hopes her book will help aspiring entrepreneurs.
Diane Foreman says her new book will be a guide for entrepreneurs at any stage of their development, with information on business issues and advice, based on her almost 30 years experience. The former Entrepreneur of the Year winner turned her attention to writing following the sale of Emerald Foods last month. Her book In the Arena will be launched next month. Foreman says it will be a semi-autobiographical but "not warts and all" account of her business life. She compares doing business to tennis and says you can only get better by playing someone better than yourself. Foreman has also hinted that her business days are not over, saying she has energy for at least one more business venture.
Labour again
Labour leader Andrew Little is planning to host more business soirees this year after the success of Labour's first event this month. Little emailed guests to thank them for attending and to let them know the party would be hosting further events in Christchurch and Wellington in the coming months. It seems Labour is angling for some of National's business voters with this latest PR push. The corporate crowd might not be core supporters but they are nothing if not pragmatic.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare have won over the nurses at Middlemore's ICU department, providing lunch for the nursing staff every Tuesday as well as chocolate for filling out its questionnaires. F&P's share price has jumped from $3.51 to $7.59 in the last two years and with the sliding dollar a boost for exports, it seems a safe bet that CEO Mike Daniell can afford to fund a few free lunches.
Let us know ...
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