Connecting Young Professionals To New Opportunities
Eastern China: Where NZ Businesses Are Winning, And Where They’re Not In mid-May 2020, YA’s second session of Zoom into China: YA Virtual Series took a closer look at where NZ businesses are winning and where they’re not in the Eastern China market! A lot of insightful information was shared by our speaker, Richard Dunsheath, NZTE’s Shanghai Trade Commissioner! Read all about the session here!
Breaking New Zealand into West China At end of April 2020, the YA launched our Zoom into China: YA Virtual Series with a session all about Western China and how NZ businesses broke into this market. Find out what we learn’t from our speakers, Alistair Crozier (New Zealand’s former Consulate General in Chengdu, 2014-2018) and Dr Parley Reynolds (Senior Lecturer in Business Management at Chengdu University) here!
In December 2019, the YA held our annual Christmas Party to celebrate our wins from the year with all our friends and fam of YA! Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us at Havana Nights: The YA Xmas Party! (We wish we had some pictures to show you but we were too poor to afford a photographer 😭 please sponsor us!) We had palms leaves (heaps), fairy lights, colourful floral shirts and Cuban hats – we did Camila and Thugger proud! And what a fun night it was chatting up a storm with old and new friends oh na na! We look forward to bringing you more opportunities to network, socialise and mingle with other like-minded individuals next year! So, stay connected with us through our social media channels to get the latest updates of our events to come. We have some very exciting events in store for you that you really don’t want to miss out on in 2020!
Māori Fashion: Taking on Asia (Tirohanga Māori. Te ara ki Āhia) was one of our favorite events of 2019! The topic of fashion was different and refreshing, and we had three amazing speakers, Kiri Nathan (centre), Nichola Te Kiri (left) and Astley Nathan (right), sharing valuable insights from their journeys exploring market entry and trade in China from three very different perspectives. Find out what we learned here.
To celebrate the conclusion of the 2019 NZ China Year of Tourism, we held a jam-packed NZ China Tourism event. A total of 8 speakers from both the public and private sectors discussed the similarities between Chinese and Maori culture, how we can keep our tourism sustainable, and the changing demographics and desires of Chinese tourists. Thanks again to Christchurch Airport, Explore Group and Simpson Grierson for your generous support. Read the full event review here.
With our Brews and Hey You’s event in August, the YA wanted to try something different. We wanted to create and share an experience with our friends, “frien-members” and other like-minded individuals (who we were super excited to meet), plus get everyone out from hibernation in the middle of winter. This experience came in the form of mingling inside a beer brewery over craft beer tasting and hot bowls of delicious ramen. And to our delight, we had a great turn out of awesome human beings and a sold-out event to boot, woohoo! Find out what we got up to here.
NZCTA Young Associates hosted a charity event with academic Dr Hilary Chung at the University of Auckland. A crowd of around 50 heard about a very relevant and important topic: identity! The night kicked off with an unusual twist with Hilary asking the audience to stand up and get into random groups of 3. We were then prompted to discuss the meaning and story behind our names. Through this exercise, Hilary highlighted Auckland’s melting pot of culture, evidenced just by the people in the room. Our name is our story, and there were a lot of different stories around how each person got their name. The multiculturalism on show was the starting point of Hilary’s research. Hilary shared other thought provoking topics with us, which you can read about here.
NZCTA YA turned five years old and we thought we’d celebrate with a good ol’ Anniversary Networking Event! It was lovely to see both new and familiar faces at Dr Rudi’s mowing down some fries and pizza, and having some good yarns. NZCTA Chairman Martin Thomson and our very own YA Chairperson Han Li spoke at the event. Martin talked about the importance of the next generation engaging with China, as our links constantly grow closer. Han paid homage to the past YA executive members (a few of whom were in the crowd) for the work they did building up the YA. What a five years it’s been for us. We’re a long way away from our early years when we had single digit attendees. In the past year, we’ve held political symposiums, heard from amazing Kiwi-Asian female leaders and the run remote internships in China! The YA are confident we’ll keep growing stronger, and keep volunteering our time to strengthen New Zealand’s connection with the Chinese culture, trade and language (with the support of our parents organisation NZCTA of course!). See you in 5 more years!
We recently held our very first breakfast event titled “Working in China: Breakfast Event” in collaboration with CPA Australia. Despite the event being held in the early morning, we were delighted by the turn out of over 30 people. Held at the HSBC building with a beautiful morning view complemented by amazing breakfast, we had two speakers talk about relevant experiences and perceptions related to working in China. Having extensive experience working in China, Ella talked about the difference in work ethic between Kiwis and Chinese. Rebecca Smith shared some interesting insights about the recent China Perceptions Report by NZ Story. She explored how more young Chinese are becoming confident because of China’s economic market and rate of technological advancement. As Chinese consumers have access to more exports from a variety of countries, New Zealand businesses need a real brand story. In addressing these gaps of knowledge, she encouraged more youth to equip themselves with the knowledge and language skills to help New Zealand businesses succeed in China. Thanks to all who attended our event on Wednesday, we hope waking up so early was worth it. Special thanks to CPA Australia for cooperating and hosting such a great event.
We recently held our launch event, the “NZ China Politics Symposium”. Seven speakers with backgrounds ranging from academia, government and industry all gave their take of what the current relationship is like. Highlights included Dr Stephen Noakes asking us to consider how much we focus on China in the NZ-China relationship, John McKinnon giving us a run-down of the three periods of NZ-China relations and MFAT’s Arun Jain updating us on the current status of the FTA upgrade negotiations. Thank you to all those who attended our first event of the year! Special thanks to North Asia CAPE for their collaboration.
Still haven’t heard of “Christmas in White”? You must have been naughty 🤥, because Christmas came early for the NZCTA YA and Future Dragonz. Think of it as ‘Le Dîner en Blanc’ with a Christmas party twist. Guests were asked to dress up in white and assemble at a chosen location marked by white balloons, to be escorted to an exclusive location! The guests were ushered into a beautifully decorated white room with a photo studio set (our gram feeds were lit), a rocking DJ and the dance floor to dance the night away. The guests had ample opportunities to network, dance, take pics and get generally “lit”. 🥂🍻💃🏻🤳🏻✨Thank you to all who turned up to celebrate. Special thanks to Future Dragonz for co-hosting the event with us.
We recently held “Being Chinese in New Zealand” featuring Helene Wong, a book reading and open discussion evening about what it means to be Chinese in New Zealand. The night kicked off with Helene giving a run-through of Chinese New Zealand history, from the poll-tax to the multicultural New Zealand of today. The book reading was followed by an interactive discussion on the complexity of identity: how to embrace and use identity in today’s New Zealand. Thank you to everyone who attended what was a heartwarming night! Special thanks to the New Zealand China Council for making this wonderful event happen and to Unity Books for the bookstall on the night.
We recently held “Lights, Camera, Asians!” with Future Dragonz, a film screening and panel discussion about Asian representation in New Zealand. The evening started with screenings of “The Han Chronicles” and “Asian Men Talk About Sex”, two short films that predominantly feature Kiwi Asians. After the screenings, we were honoured to be joined by four creatives who were involved in the films: Chye-Ling Huang, Calvin Sang, Nathan Joe and Mayen Mehta. With discussion led by Nathan Joe, the panellists spent an hour talking about a wide range of topics, from how the films were funded and the technical aspects of the production, to how Asian creatives can get into the industry and overcome the racial barriers in place. Thanks heaps to all who turned up on the night! Special thanks to the New Zealand Asia Institute for their kind sponsorship of the venue, and to the speakers for giving up their time to provide us with their insight.
The NZ China Innovation Forum was our fourth event of the year and explored what it takes for Kiwi businesses to succeed in China through innovation. We were grateful to have another sold-out audience and inspirational presentations by our high profile guest speakers. Andrew Grant, leader of McKinsey’s Global Public Sector Practice, talked about the myths and realities of the NZ – China relationship. Kenneth Leong, co-founder of Healthy Breath, encouraged the audience to act fast and diligently on their innovative ideas to beat the giants. Lastly, Angus Brown, CEO of AlphaGen NZ, discussed the support networks and opportunities for Kiwi businesses going into China. The presentations were preceded and followed by networking over nibbles and drinks.
Hosted at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, we were grateful to have a sold-out audience and engaging guest speaker presentations at our third event of 2018. Olivia Shen, Head of International Marketing at Vodafone, outlined differences between Chinese consumers in China versus New Zealand and gave interesting case studies of previously-used strategies. Mike Arand, a NZTE Business Development Advisor for the China region, spoke about the success and failure of different SME-level businesses breaking into this market, and gave useful tips for how Kiwi brands can also start approaching China. A big takeaway from the two speakers was the complexity of consumer tastes and saturation of competition currently active within the Chinese market. The evening finished with networking over food, continuing conversations from the guest speaker presentations and forming new connections.
A stellar sold-out event full of unique persepctives and new connections! This event was about female leadership and cultural diversity across a wide range of New Zealand industries. The panel session was moderated by award-winning theatre artist Alice Canton, and discussion topics included: the value of cultural and gender diversity, dealing with unfamiliar situations, and how to break through a “double glass ceiling”. The speaker panel was followed by networking over food, continuing conversations from the panel session and creating new relationships. We would like to thank our phenomenal speaker panel showcasing Kiwi-Asian leaders in their different fields: Evelyn Jones, Xana Tang, Deanna Yang, Sheila Ye and Franky Wang.
Our 2018 launch event was about how to expand a startup from a one small good idea to global status. We were lucky to have inspiring entrepreneurs such as John Chow, John Holt and Iyia Liu share their personal experiences starting up their businesses and providing advice to our audience. Some key points included how to break into the startup scene, successfully grow an early-stage startup and establish yourself in the market. We also had speakers from DLA Piper and Zino Ventures provide business skills and advertise exciting entrepreneurial opportunities they have available. Overall the event was a great start to the year for the NZCTA YA and we look forwards to seeing you at our future events still to come.
This event was all about exploring a career with China and working with China from New Zealand. Speakers at the event included Jamie Omer, who told stories from working at the frontline in Changsha, and Patrick English who gave a focused presentation of his experiences with the country. It also saw the launch of our QLC Remote Internship programme, which is now successfully underway with 15 people working remotely for a variety of startups. Thanks to the New Zealand China Council for their sponsorship of this.
Our recent investment forum held in collaboration with the New Zealand Shareholder’s Association has been one of our biggest events. Held at Grid AKL, a panel of high profile experts including Mark Lister from Craigs Investment, Leighton Roberts from Sharesies and Daniel Kieser from Shareclarity were invited to discuss investment with varying perspectives. Topics covered ranged from the breakdown of different types of investment, unpacking common misconceptions and mistakes as well as a introduction to building an investment portfolio. Top tips included starting investment as early as you can, the importance of diversification, not spending what you don’t have and using Sharesies!