The facilitators of the ICE Bridge Agribusiness Programme provide a good mix of academic and practical expertise. Their common sense and business acumen is supported by expert agribusiness practitioners who share their real life experiences in a flexible learning environment. You also get the opportunity to learn first-hand about different agri sectors and to hear from guest speakers who are successful agribusiness operators.
Chris Woods
Kiwi born and bred, Chris's interests in entrepreneurship and the small to medium business sector were sparked after working in Malawi as a small business advisor. Instead of catching malaria she caught the entrepreneur bug, becoming "hooked" on the passion and energy that entrepreneurs bring to what they do. She currently teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Faculty of Business & Economics at the University of Auckland. In 2003, she was instrumental, with the Post Graduate Students' Association, in establishing the Spark Entrepreneurship Challenge. She has been involved with The ICEHOUSE Business Growth Programmes since their inception in 2001. Her consultancy work is with SMEs and Family Businesses in strategy development, learning and business growth. She is also a member of the Family Firm Institute.
Nicola Shadbolt
Nicola Shadbolt practices what she preaches. Over the last 20 years she and her husband have been involved in a variety of agribusiness ventures, including share farming on the Port Hills in Canterbury until the mid-1980s, farm ownership (with equity partners) in the Pohangina Valley in the Manawatu, two equity partnerships in forestry, one in dairy and another in a 1200 hectare farm producing milk, beef, sheep meat, wood, venison, velvet and timber. Her agribusiness research specialties include Strategic Management and Performance Measures and Supply Chain Management. Her work in Strategic Management led to an invitation to join the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN) to research the cost of production of milk in 26 countries worldwide.
Nicola is deeply committed to the success of New Zealand agribusinesses and has held key positions in a number of major bodies, including the NZ Society of Farm Management (subsequently Institute of Primary Industry Management), the Manawatu Wanganui Regional Council, and Standards NZ for the development of national Organic Production Standards. She has also been a judge in 13 Farmer of the Year competitions!
Bill Malcolm
Bill has studied, taught and written about the management of agricultural and rural-related businesses for over 20 years at the University of Melbourne. The author of numerous books and articles about the management of agribusinesses, he spends a lot of time working with farmers, for farmers.
Bill’s approach to business analysis is rigorous yet practical, and best encapsulated as ‘sophisticated thinking, simple sums’. One of Bill’s particular business management passions is getting agribusinesses and agriculture-related businesses to survive and grow in the face of the risks they have to manage.