Chocks away: the barriers that keep Kiwis from takeoff

By ELLEN READ

It says a lot about his success that the man suggested as one of the best examples of a New Zealand entrepreneur for this article was overseas at the time of writing.

It also says a lot about his style that this was just a temporary absence and his feet will soon be firmly back on New Zealand soil.

Gary Paykel's company Fisher and Paykel is a national icon. A true Kiwi firm which is embracing change by embarking on a move into the bigger world - part of its Healthcare division is to be floated on the NASDAQ exchange - while retaining its New Zealand base and ideals.

"It's a great example of a home-grown entrepreneurial company. It's got a health side to it so it's a new economy and an old economy business, and it's grown very successfully as a New Zealand-owned business," says David Irving, adjunct professor in enterprise and management at the University of Auckland.

If you think about it for a moment, New Zealand does have a proud history of entrepreneurship.

Our international presence and achievement far outweighs that warranted by our size. For example, former Prime Minister Mike Moore is Director-General of the World Trade Organisation; Sir Edmund Hillary conquered Mt Everest and led the first expedition to drive to the South Pole; Team New Zealand was the first syndicate to take the Americas Cup from the Americans then successfully defend it.

These are worthy achievements but the challenge now, if we are to embrace the knowledge wave, is to ensure that Kiwi businesses and businesspeople have similar success.

"The problem is that our old-style schools and universities sometimes do not serve the complex needs of the new economy. Fortunately, new quicker, progressive institutions alert to these new needs are delivering these skills," says Professor Howard Frederick, director of Unitec's New Zealand Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

These include Unitec's Master of Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship programme, offering around 25 places to budding entrepreneurs, and the University of Auckland Business School's MBA programme, which also offers tuition in innovation and entrepreneurship.

The Government is also getting in on the act. Jim Anderton's Industry New Zealand "jobs machine" was launched this parliamentary term and the Budget provided some funding for venture capital and incubators.

Last year, the Government was also behind the Great New Zealand Business Venture competition which appealed for innovative business ideas and offered cash for the best of them.

The 1450 entries ranged from a bobsled ride to a tool for teaching mathematics, an advanced car alarm, an electronic shopping cart for children, and an automatic bait dispenser for introduced predators.

Despite all this good news, there are serious barriers to entrepreneurship in New Zealand.

Those barriers include:

* A low survival rate among small businesses.

* Disadvantages of scale and scope.

* Limited entrepreneurial networks.

* A stand-alone approach to business.

* Limited supply and quality of talent.

* Fragmented, sub-scale enabling mechanisms.

* A lack of consistency between legislative and economic imperatives.

* Societal attitudes to failure.

The Catching the Knowledge Wave conference will face the challenge of tackling these issues.

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