Which brings us neatly to Fonterra, said to have paid McKinsey tens of millions of dollars in recent years. But no matter its much-criticised financial performance and crumbling shareholder confidence, it is New Zealand's biggest company and it would look very odd if it wasn't among the chosen.
That said, Fonterra's inclusion has been greeted with cynicism about the likely effectiveness of the council.
Transport, one of New Zealand's most confronting issues, is hardly represented - unless you count Rocket Lab and an Invercargill-based trucking company as flag-wavers for the sector.
Where is $2 billion Kiwi freight and logistics company Mainfreight? Where is the Port of Tauranga, which handles 41 per cent of all our exports, representing shipping?
One of the most glaring sector omissions is manufacturing - or did the selectors think Fonterra and Bluescope/NZ Steel would do for that?
Exporters reckon they've had a rough deal from the selectors too.
There are other burning questions.
While the Government/council say it's aimed for diversity, are the chosen going to represent real business concerns about Government policies? Like industrial relations reform and the tax and growing cost burden on SMEs which make up more than 90 per cent of NZ Inc? (It's been said the council is the 'big end of town'.)
has the Government simply created a taxpayer-funded echo chamber? Will we end up with all the same messages - just out of handpicked mouths?
The group will meet just three times a year. Sure, these folk are busy people, but what meaningful results can be achieved in three meetings, even with the PM's department and MBIE doing some of the heavy lifting for them?
How many have a track record of being outspoken?
There's some justification for businesspeople thinking this is just another Coalition Government advisory working group. And a political sop to business.
After all, there are plenty of well-regarded business groups and networks like the EMA already deeply engaged in, and deeply researching, the very same matters.
As one business leader says "what are they going to do that hasn't already been done?"
More to the point, has the Government simply created a taxpayer-funded echo chamber? Will we end up with all the same messages - just out of handpicked mouths?