By Yoke Har Lee
John Williams, who sold his Marton-based company, PEC New Zealand, because he wanted it to go global, is now looking to build an Innovation Directory that will help New Zealand get more value-added jobs.
Kiwi-based Innovation, merged with ideas developed elsewhere, could lead to a wave of products that would be hard to create separately, he said.
"We have to ensure New Zealand grabs more than its fair share of the higher-value added jobs that are going to be created in the world in the next three years. We can best do that by making the world and New Zealand aware of the innovation of New Zealanders.
"One of the direct ways that will happen is through overseas investment. Another direct way is to make New Zealanders aware of other global innovation that could be potentially useful in New Zealand. Through this, you can create a second wave of products that neither you or I, if involved in separate developments, are capable of developing."
Mr Williams last weekend roused Apec business symposium delegates to strong applause for his inspiring case story of how PEC grew from a small company to a regional company by building an alliance with a major company, Unisys. He has since sold PEC to allow the company to move to its next stage of growth and allow jobs to be kept in the company.
"To complete our product development and to take it into a global position by year 2000 would have cost us between $7 million and $10 million. I tried looking for investments, even with CS First Boston, but it was just impossible. But several companies said they would love to buy the company, so I sold it to keep the jobs for the staff," he said.
Mr Williams now spent his time pursuing social causes, including the Kiwi Can project to raise self-esteem for school children and Dick Hubbard's Business for Social Responsibility movement.
The Innovation Directory, he said, would need strategic planning and he anticipates hard work, given New Zealanders' reluctance to talk about their achievements.
Innovation is the key, says ex-PEC boss
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