Merging cultures for success

Mitchell Pham. Photo / APN

Chinese immigrant Kenneth Wang's business, Brandworks, straddles Asian and European worlds.

He launched the mainstream advertising agency after completing a master's degree and Elam School of Fine Arts and working for Kiwi businesses.

When the numbers of Asian people started to swell in New Zealand in the 1990s, Wang moved into cross-cultural communications with another business, Bananaworks.

These days, much of the Bananaworks business involves communicating national campaigns such as road safety, cervical cancer screening and electoral enrolment to Asian audiences here.

That may include rewriting copy, advising on images, creating radio ads and much more.

Vietnamese refugee Mitchell Pham arrived alone in New Zealand aged 13 after a desperate escape in a boat and spending 18 months in Indonesian refugee camps.

Here he went to school and university, and set up Augen Software in 1993 with several Kiwi classmates.

Pham says there are advantages to being a refugee. "We bring resilience and determination to building a life in New Zealand and succeeding in business, along with lateral thinking and different problem-solving approaches."

The disadvantages mainly revolve around the level of understanding of the New Zealand market, having the right connections and being able to sell to local customers.

Like many migrant entrepreneurs, Pham has used his language skills and connections in his native country to expand beyond these shores.

AugenASIA launched a software service centre in 2005 to service New Zealand customers with medium to large and on-going projects.

Pham was recognised by the World Economic Forum as one of 190 Young Global Leaders.