The ICEHOUSE Network Event 2012
The Future of Busines
Wired for Success! Network Event Inspires Action
At today’s ICEHOUSE Network Event in Auckland, we had the pleasure of hearing from an impressive line-up of speakers about their own journey to success and their different approaches to improving New Zealand’s economic growth.
Speakers included Tim Longhurst, Business Futurist; Chris Quin, CEO Gen i; Rob Adams, Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist and Author; Sarah Gibbs, Co-Founder of Trilogy; Vinny Lohan, Founder and CEO, OneBeep.
As a business futurist, Tim framed up our afternoon with some insight into business trends, talking about harnessing the power of small, collapsing barriers and relying on the wisdom in the group. He talked of the 10c campaign and multinationals acting small with campaigns that break down barriers between them and their customers. We work-shopped current trends; defined our own ways to take action on our most important priority and threw darts.
Wired for success, Sarah Gibbs shared her own extraordinary story of entrepreneurial success in the very tough and competitive world of skincare. It takes on average 15 -18 years to build a company in New Zealand and take it global. It took Sarah and her sister just 10 years to set up their company for $20K and sell it for $20m. Her advice could be best summed up – use a little common sense, connectivity is key, hire givers not takers, culture rules, future is in the hands of the customer, focus on digital, future success will be rewarded on social and economic responsibility. Truly inspiring!
Fresh off a flight from India where he now lives, Vinny Lohan captivated us with his realistic view of doing business in India. Recognised by General Electric’s Alva Emerging Fellowship, Vinny’s company OneBeep is harnessing technology to provide a simple, effective and low-cost way to share daily lessons to millions of Indian children without access to the internet. Vinny is determined to make a difference. It is an enormous task, requiring incredible vision and the smarts to overcome many obstacles. Interestingly, I was let into a little secret with OneBeep while Vinny was here in NZ – at the world-wide finals for the Microsoft Imagine Cup in Sydney Vinny will detail how he is going to make OneBeep open source to get the technology into developing countries – very cool.
As part of a panel discussion, Rob Adams urged all early stage businesses to go through a process of market validation. It may sound like a simple idea, but if you can prove the validity of a market opportunity then the odds for success are far greater. Rob is visiting from the U.S and is leading a series of market validation workshops throughout the country. If interested, register from The ICEHOUSE website – this is part of Rob’s annual visit to NZ hosted by us.
The ICEHOUSE Network event was not only an opportunity to hear the trials, tribulations and triumphs of the speakers, but a valuable opportunity for over 300 entrepreneurs and business owners to spend time connecting with other great talent across different industry sectors.
Last year we launched our ambitious 3000.org.nz target with a view to accelerating New Zealand’s economic growth by radically increasing internationally capable and competitive businesses by 2020. MSI’s internship programme, BNZ and NZTE co funding of small businesses, a focus on improved board appointments, Movac Fund 4 and the Global from Day One seed funds are all steps toward inspiring and supporting our entrepreneurs and business owners so that that they have the tools and network to grow into an economic success story.
Lets get it on. There is so much to do if we are going to achieve our potential.
Andy Hamilton
Bill Payne
Dr. Leith Oliver
Josh Rea
Comments
Great messages about connecting and collaborating. As Rob Adams pointed out, to get 2 000 new companies to succeed, we may need 10 000 to have a go — fail fast, learn, and get back at it for another go.