Business Is Boring

Louise Aitken is the CEO of the Ākina Foundation, which for the last three years has been delivering a programme in partnership with the government, called The Impact Initiative, focussed on the future of New Zealand’s social enterprises. Ākina runs a range of programmes to help more businesses make money and positive change, to help grow companies’ capability, support them in things like finance and other nuts and bolts of doing business well, and create and demonstrate impact in what they do.

Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.

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Women make up about 10% of all tradespeople in New Zealand, and only about 4% of “on the tools” workers. That's a wild statistic, and part of why this week's guest Emma Kaniuk started Tradespeople – a directory that lists companies owned and run by women and gender diverse tradies around the country. Emma joined Business is Boring this week to talk about the idea behind the directory and the need it serves.

Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.

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From humble hole-in-the-wall beginnings, Wellington-based Fix & Fogg is now one of the hottest nut butter companies in the world. Founder and CEO Roman Jewell tells Business is Boring how it all happened.

Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.

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Take2 CEO and founder Cam Smith tells Simon Pound about the life-changing work his company does helping ex-prisoners reenter the job market.

The job market is tough at the best of times – but for an ex-prisoner without any recognised skills, it can be pretty much impossible. One ground-breaking new non-profit is out to help change that by helping incarcerated people learn how to code.

The goal of equipping prisoners with highly sought-after skills led this week’s guest Cam Smith from an exciting career in impact investment into the world of non-profits, dealing with big government departments and multi-generational societal challenges.

To discuss all these big problems and the big ideas needed to help solve them, the Take2 CEO and founder joined Business is Boring this week.

Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.

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Mutu founder Toby Skilton joins Business is Boring to talk about his vision for a service where people could rent out and borrow things from each other – and how he made it a reality.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a service where you could either make money by lending out the stuff you own and hardly use, or save money by borrowing things from people near you instead of buying them?

That’s the thought today’s guest had a few years ago, and he decided to turn it into a business. Mutu began in Christchurch, and has grown to now help users counter waste and create new income and connections nationwide.

Mutu founder and CEO Toby Skilton joined us by Zoom from Christchurch this week to talk about the journey so far, and where he wants to take the business next.

Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.

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This week on Business is Boring, Bex Rempel tells Simon Pound about the need to replace petrol motors on boats.

Did you know that an hour out on a little dinghy with a petrol powered outboard motor is as damaging to the environment as having 38 new cars running the same time? This is the fact that led New Zealand business ZeroJet to change tack and use their tech to try and replace some of the hundreds of thousands of petrol powered motors on small craft. 

Even if they only fit 10,000 of their electric motors, it would have the same impact as removing 1.5 million cars from the road. The company’s co-founder and CEO Bex Rempel joined Business is Boring to talk about the environmental impact, being better to our oceans and what they plan to do next.

Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.

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This week on Business is Boring, Billie Jo Hohepa-Ropiha tells Simon Pound about inventing the sewer-safe wet wipe alternative BDÉT.

There is a big problem lurking in our sewer pipes. Flushed wet wipes, even the supposedly flushable ones, are major contributors to ‘fatbergs’ – huge clumps of wipes and other stuff flushed down toilets that are blocking sewers and generally grossing people out everywhere.

What if you were able to put something onto regular toilet paper that would make it function like a wet wipe, but without all the problems? That was the brainwave Billie Jo Hohepa-Ropiha had nearly 20 years ago. After building a successful journalism career, she studied for an MBA, studying around work and family commitments, then launched not one but two bathroom products – BDÉT, the flushable toilet paper wet wipe alternative foam, as well as Kiwee, a toilet lid lifting device.

To talk entrepreneurship and finding opportunity in places not everyone wants to talk about, Bille Jo Hohepa-Ropiha joined Business is Boring for a chat.

Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.

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Nearly every morning, thousands of people around New Zealand and the world start their day with a workout led by a mum of four boys from her Christchurch lounge. Lisa Fong leads these short, sharp 20 minute workouts over Facebook Live on her iPhone. 

The friendly, inclusive approach to accessible workouts at only $10 a month has seen business boom. Lisa Fong’s Move it Mama is now a worldwide success, with a great community behind it – just the kind of positive realness we could all do with a bit more of.

Lisa joined Business is Boring over Zoom from Christchurch this week to talk fitness, the journey, lifting people up and the importance of keeping it real.

Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.

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Duane Mutu is the founder and CEO of LetsPlay.Live. Esports are big business, with the number of people playing competitively and the number of spectators watching them play on a wild growth curve. With admission to big events, national sports associations and scholarships available for esporting phenoms to universities and colleges, esports are now recognised as sports.

The money involved is massive – with billion dollar companies being built on the periphery, the industry is already way bigger than Hollywood. One part of that industry is LetsPlay.Live (LPL). It’s the biggest esports competition and broadcast platform in Australasia, with more than 400,000 members in its community, and it’s all run production studio in the base of the Sky Tower. 

Business is Boring is presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation.

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Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he’s joined by Blair Turnbull, CEO of Tower Insurance.

One of the things we get asked for on this podcast is to hear from people involved in business who aren’t necessarily all-or-nothing entrepreneurs. So this year we’re sharing a few more stories of people doing interesting, big and different things in business. This week's guest is one such example – someone who recently returned home to New Zealand to take on the CEO role at one of our big listed insurance companies.

Blair Turnbull had a big role at ASB before heading overseas and working with Aviva – an insurer out of London with 30 million-plus customers. Blair led digital, retail and innovation functions, rising to be looking after 15 million customers before being shoulder-tapped to come back home to run Tower.

To learn a bit about how the insurance game works, what it takes to grow into a CEO role, and what innovation is coming our way in insurance, Blair Turnbull joined Business is Boring for a chat.

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