I had the pleasure of a conversation with Tony Falkenstein  – a World Class New Zealander and inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in 2008.  Tony is an innovator, an entrepreneur and incredibly generous and philanthropic.  In January 2019, Tony personally gifted half a million dollars to enable students at the University of Waikato Management School to travel overseas and gain hands on exposure to global business innovation!  When I asked Tony Falkenstein what personal quality he attributes to his success, Tony said ‘I’ve always been a good listener.  And, I think that’s been a key to my success.  I do listen and I do hear, not listen to what I am going to say next’  So true Tony - Active listening helps you understand other people, their opinions and ideas. The bottom line, active listeners are better communicators, problem solvers, team players, and leaders. Tune in to our latest podcast in the 'There's no silver bullet' series with Tony Falkenstein – executive director and CEO of Just Life Group.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Cameron Ross - Director of Sales, Ross Roof Group. Cameron opened up about the realities of growing a business internationally from NZ. Ross Roof Group is a 5th generation family business employing 80 staff locally and 20 internationally, and exporting to 40 countries. So much practical advice, particularly around business model selection and distributor management . Best advice 'talk with people and network. Get to know people in the market and they can soon give you some really good advice about what to do, what not to do, where to save money, how to make money. Importantly, immerse yourself in the market'

5 of NZ's top entrepreneurs were recently awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards.  Vista Group co-founder and chief product officer Murray Holdaway won the Master category. I had the pleasure of interviewing Murray on his journey leading the world's leading software company serving the film industry. 40% of the world's cinemas choose Vista. We covered a lot of ground - scaling internationally from 5 staff to 800 staff, from $10million to $100million to a market capitalization hitting $1b, the IPO process, whether leaders can be made, people strategy, keeping a global team connected, pace of change, cutting your teeth in Argentina. Murray capped off the podcast relating his experience to top export tips shared by Dr John Chang – founder of Auckland Biosciences, Michele Lam – Export Market Manager, Villa Maria Estate, Derek Bartosh – Director, Canary Enterprises, Jon Clausen – Regional Manager Asia, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Mike Riley – Managing Director, Cress Limited.  

The love of sailing and the sea is ingrained in the DNA of New Zealander’s but none more so than Clint Jones – President of Sales, at Oceanmax International Ltd. PropSpeed has become a worldwide phenomenon throughout the marine industry with distribution channels in more than 30 countries. Exports account for 90% of Oceanmax's total revenue with exports having increased 75% over the last 3 years. Clint shares what he attributes their success to whilst also relating his experience to export advice shared by Barry Woolcott - Jacobsen Holdings, Samuel Watson - Southern Spars, Michele Lam - Villa Maria Estate, Michael Whitehead - WhereScape.   Makes Great Listening!

On the podcast this week we take part in a captivating interview to probe into the mind-set of leading entrepreneur Dr. John Chang, Founder and Managing Director of Auckland Biosciences. John founded Auckland Biosciences in 2014 to convert what was a commonly discarded by-product of the meat industry, bovine blood, into a high value pharmaceutical grade serum. The business now manufactures serum and plasma from a variety of different animal blood and sells it to veterinary vaccine manufacturers and research institutions. Over the last five years, the start-up has gone from being an industry nobody to an industry leader with customers in 14 export markets. Tune in to Catherine Lye’s insightful conversation with Dr. Chang.

Hosted by Catherine Lye, “There's No Silver Bullet” explores the challenges and complexities of growing a business internationally from New Zealand through the lens of Kiwi business leaders who have been there, done that and still doing it.