Connecting Young Professionals To New Opportunities
Comvita has been a New Zealand – China success story. Since entering in 2004, they have grown their China business into over 400 stores; Asia now makes up over 30% of its revenue. At the spotlight event, Comvita addressed the strategy they took to enter into China’s fast moving consumer goods market and detailed the challenges they faced and are facing. The event attracted key people within the industry and sparked some interesting discussions. Meanwhile, those not as embedded in the industry received complimentary Comvita lozenges to help out with the flu season! Julie Chadwick shared her vast experience with investors and media relations in a presentation delivered with great humour. Following her, Ronnie Butt gave a sincere presentation about his knowledge of the Chinese market and shared some lessons from his decade in the country.
NZCTA YA recently held the Chinese Millennial Generation talk. The talk addressed the largest growing consumer group in New Zealand tourism: the Chinese millennials. Industry speakers engaged with a bunch of attendees on various topics, discussing the preconceived notions of our tourism industry and how to remain relevant to changing tourist demographics. Notable moments included Paul Yeo’s energetic presentation about the methods Tourism New Zealand use to target millennials, Mark Frood’s talk about his experience in China, Chris Ryan’s exploration of modern China’s culture and free lollies for all from Air New Zealand’s Chris Hughes.
A stella event with over 90 people attending. The Forum encompassed all parts of the start-up continuum from idea validation to growing the business. Connect and Engage How to break into the start-up scene as a young entrepreneur Empower by Experience Experience sharing from successful entrepreneurs with China / Asia experience Develop in China If you have a China or Asia-savvy start-up business, how to you approach Angel Investors or VCs to fast-track growth? Notable key speakers included Natalie Robinson from Mum’s Garage, Latipay’s CEO Leigh Flounders, Zino Ventures’ Fund Manager Jason Wang, The Agency 88’s Nick Siu, GRC Sino Green’s Fund Partner Tony Bishop, Texus Fibres’ CEO Nick Davenport and Uniservices’ China Manager Song Gao.
NZCTA YA, in conjunction with NZ Shareholders Association, held a 4 Week Seminar on “How to Invest” with John Hawkins. These seminars have been a great, practical way to learn about investing in bonds, equities, and the property market whilst networking with others who are also interested in this. Some insights we have gleaned are: – Importance of understanding the company – Cash is King – Laddering is useful for fixed interest investing