Kiwi firms urged to take a global focus

Phil Veal, the chairman of Kea, says New Zealand companies must be as competitive as our leading sports teams.

New Zealand businesses need to be globally focused and prepared to compete, according to global chair of Kea New Zealand Phil Veal.

Veal, who is a panellist for the PwC Herald Talks second event on August 26, is a strong advocate of Kiwis networking around the world, but says New Zealand businesses need to be prepared to fight.

"The most important thing [I've learned] is business is a very competitive sport and we need to be prepared to compete," Veal said. "It's extremely cut-throat in a lot of these markets that we are operating in and we need to take that competitive spirit that we have on the netball court and on the rugby field and take that into business," he said.

"You can create a comfortable living in New Zealand and when you go offshore things can get a hell of a lot harder but that's where we need that competitive spirit to come to the fore."

International New Zealand Trade and Enterprise general manager Tim Green said that to succeed, most businesses now needed to be focusing globally to achieve scale.

"To grow, most New Zealand businesses have to seek a customer base beyond the New Zealand market, and typically do so very early in their life cycle," Green said. "And that's tough - there are no easy markets around the world, only "hard" and "very hard" markets - particularly when growing internationally from a small base."

Green said events such as the Herald Talks were vital for companies to be able to learn from.

PwC Herald Talks

Going Global
Keynote speaker - Fady Mishriki, co-founder of PowerbyProxi.
Other speakers include Erica Crawford, CEO of Loveblock Wine Group, and Phil Veal, Rangatira Fund and global chair of Kea New Zealand.
SkyCity Theatre, 7am, Wednesday, August 26.
Tickets $89 from iTicket.co.nz

About Herald Talks
PwC Herald Talks has been launched by NZME to encourage business leaders to share knowledge, insight and strategies, and grow and diversify business in New Zealand. This is the second event in a series of four running from July 1 through to December.