There's not enough mid-sized growth companies in New Zealand, says Kiwibank chief Sam Knowles, who urged businesses at a conference in Auckland today to adopt a "challenger culture".
Knowles, speaking at the "ZED" innovation and new product development forum, said business needed a culture in which an organisationhit the ground running and "ready to reach the start line".
Too many organisations fall into the trap of having a "start-up" culture to risktaking, and jump out of the blocks not ready to meet coming challenges, he said.
Kiwibank, said Knowles, "must be a challenger in a mature market". This meant being ruthless with non-performers, managing stakeholder and governance expectations explicitly, and taking strategic risks in areas that matter.
It is six years since Kiwibank officially opened, and this year it hit the 600,000 customer mark. The state owned operation, part of NZ Post, expects to post a $30 million plus profit this year.
It now employs 300 staff and what began as a 'people's bank' has developed a strategy of a "head-on challenge" to the big Aussie banks, said Knowles.
Knowles puts part of Kiwibank's success to the very quick move it made from basic banking to incorporating credit cards and offering mortgages and business banking.
The nature of organisations need to be reinvented and must have "clarity of purpose", said Knowles, to remain viable.
Knowles said that innovation was important, but "it's the easy bit". Implementing the innovations adequately was the hard part.
He also acknowledged the importance of strategic partnerships, such as Kiwibank and Synergy's relationship in mobile banking technology. Working alongside a mid-size New Zealand company supported internal growth, said Knowles.
He said Kiwibank started as a small company with a value of $80 million. There were question marks over its viability, especially in the face of competition from the bigger Australian banks.
Knowles told the conference there wasn't much the company would do differently. They had "bit off more than they could chew" at times - but this was a necessary measure needed to "push the organisation forward".
