Emerging leader: Caron Taurima

Age: 35

Occupation: Businesswoman, education provider.

Leadership snapshot:

When people talk about the Knowledge Wave Quest for Growth they should look to the intensely practical Caron Taurima. In 15 years she and husband Richard have gone from being unemployed to employing 470 people at one of the country's biggest private-education providers. Taurima's recipe for success is surprisingly simple: keep it small. That is especially surprising since she has just returned from opening the 11th branch in Pretoria, South Africa, and is planning more expansion overseas. But as their company has grown, she says, they have kept treating it as a small business ... "that way we can't get in any trouble".

What should the Leadership Forum achieve for New Zealand?

A lot of people will come to the conference with broadly similar ideas and it is about pooling of resources. It is a great opportunity to make the best-informed decisions.

And for you?

Meeting people, broadening networks, finding out what is happening that I can apply in my own business.

The most important issue facing New Zealand?

Unemployment, because it has a lot of flow-on effects. That leads on to another issue, which is education.

What would you do?

Make sure education is accessible to everybody and ensure key areas such as teacher shortages are resolved. It also comes down to strategically aligning schools so that children know the opportunities.

What will you be doing in 2020?

By then hopefully I will be retired, but if I were working I would be looking at consulting or mentoring.

Herald Special Report - February 18, 2003:
Knowledge Wave 2003 - the leadership forum

Herald feature: