Photograph by Kathleen Collins

TODAY, Lech Walesa runs the Lech Walesa Institute, founded in 1995, whose mission is to support democracy and local governments in Poland and throughout the world. The institute is committed to solidarity with pro-democracy movements worldwide. Walesa recently led a delegation to assist with transition of power following the revolution in Tunisia. He plans to visit New Zealand for the first time within the next 12 months.

Walesa’s current offices on the top floor of Gdansk’s historic Green Gate residence are far removed from the docks where he rose to fame. But his commitment to peaceful democratic change is as strong as ever.

He met with IN-Business publisher Tim Collins in Gdansk, Poland, to discuss globalisation, China and New Zealand vodka.

“WE SHOOK GOD ALMIGHTY.
We are not afraid of our neighbours any more. We had to rearrange life and so it happened . Sometimes I’m afraid I awoke the demons, the demons of freedom. Where is the responsibility? So, it’s a huge chance and we have many things to discuss, but also there are threats.

WE STARTED AS THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
with workers against the system, and suddenly it’s turned out that we have the whole of Europe, and now we have the whole world. It is a global world. So here are new programmes, new democracies.

If somebody told me that I would live to see such changes in Poland, I wouldn’t believe it. But now when I think how after all those years, how much better things could have been done, I am not satisfied.

I CHOSE ANOTHER WAY, NOT LIKE LENIN OR CASTRO.
The problem is whether I won or lost. Many say I lost. I’m saying I won. New processes started. Because the revolution was not for me; the revolution was for democracy, freedom.

My fight and the fight of Poland opened the subject of globalisation. I would like to focus on building the programme and structures of globalisation. Everybody sees that. There are a lot of ideas – and everybody sees that in a different way.

The present programmes, political and economical, do not fit globalisation. We have been competing within the countries – continents even – and globalisation does not allow that anymore. It’s a different philosophy.

We have to take a system for globalisation from the “law of the road”. Anybody – the Arab, the black, the white, whoever, can drive on the road, and it is okay. We would like to make such regulations for other subjects and other ways of living so that we can drive like that. Economics, politics, science, healthcare . . .

NOT TOO FAR HOWEVER.
I will never agree that my wife will be globalised! So there are some subjects that we don’t want globalised. That is why we have to choose, definitely, those things that everyone will agree. Everybody has different values… so there is a lot to talk about, to speak about, and to quarrel about too, and this generation will have to do it. I am discussing this during my visits to every continent.

I KNOW NEW ZEALAND ONLY FROM THE MAP.
I would like to see it by being there. Maybe I will find something important which will be good for my fight.

I have been invited as a revolutionary to help transition power in Tunisia, to share my point of view. I have been talking about how technology will focus people on the changes, and force people to change their point of view and way of living. I have spoken to the elites of the nations to get prepared so that there will be no fighting, no shooting, and no aiming at one another – so that the solutions will be less painful. When I go there I will see how possible it is.

I AM TRYING TO HELP CUBA BECAUSE IT IS A WONDERFUL COUNTRY.
We are trying to change so much in Cuba, as much as possible, so that other people can go and cherish what Cuba has to give. It is very dangerous there and too near the United States. Those who are most active are emigrating and therefore they are weakening the fight.

Sooner or later Cuba is going to be free, finally, because mankind is focusing on Cuba. And there are huge businesses that can be done there. At the same time those businesses are giving a lot of health for the people.

WE ARE ALSO TRYING TO FOCUS ON WHAT IS HAPPENING IN CHINA –
but from the other perspective. As I said before, the world has to become globalised and there is no globalisation without China. They have a different way, different road to the future, different structures.

I am for globalisation but I don’t like the Chinese solutions. It should be that all of Europe, together with the United States, should press on China to change. If not, China will press on us. This is the choice we have.

I have connections with revolutionaries in China but have to be very careful because I know what pressures they are under. I don’t want to endanger them. They cannot change so fast in China. Because it is like I always give the example of Poland and the road system – we can drive 200 kilometres per hour. China, on the other hand, is like a huge truck so he can’t do 200 km per hour because there would be accidents. Maybe we should speed that truck up more but maybe not too much… I like them very much, their culture is splendid, and I am thinking of them the best I can but it has to be done slowly.

THE PROBLEM IS THAT WE DON’T SPEAK SERIOUSLY ABOUT GLOBALISATION.
My suggestion is that within the United Nations there could be a very small office established with a small sign: ‘Here we are seeking ideas for globalisation’. Three rooms: in one room, we seek the global parliament; the second room, we seek global ruling; and the third – defence, global defence against terrorism for example. And a few people – not many – should sit, think, and propose.

[PRESENTED WITH A BOTTLE OF 42 BELOW VODKA AS A GIFT FROM NEW ZEALAND] DO YOU THINK THAT IT WILL HELP THINKING?
If it will be good, and I will like it, I will tell you when I come to New Zealand.”

Photograph by flickr user backpackphotography

RUSSIA is a country where money talks louder than words. What could this mean for the New Zealand-Russia Free Trade Agreement currently being negotiated?

In 2010, Russia ranked near bottom in the “Corruption Perceptions Index” compiled annually by Transparency International, coming 154th out of 178. At the honest end of the scale, New Zealand ranked second, pipped only by Denmark for the top spot.

Corruption is a part of everyday life for Russians, says Andrey Rozanov, general director of Fonterra Russia. Rozanov was born in St Petersburg but is now based in Moscow, heading up the Kiwi dairy giant’s Russian trade operations. “Corruption is a fundamental part of Russia and will not change in the short or medium term. To change it needs to be from the very top, to the very down below.”

In terms of the FTA, Rozanov is sceptical about the likelihood of it being signed at all. “There is no economic benefit for Russia whatsoever,” he says. “Russia does not export anything – except oil and gas – it doesn’t need international markets.”

He doubts the political will exists in Russia to complete an FTA with New Zealand. With a national population of 143 million and capital city population of over 14 million, it’s hard to dispute the insignificance to Russians of our small and far-removed market.

New Zealand, of course, has more to gain from an agreement. Exports to Russia last year were worth less than $200 million. I can see an agreement being a case of history repeating – within two years of signing the Chinese Free Trade Agreement, our exports to China increased by $70m.

But if the FTA does go ahead, according to Rozanov, Fonterra doesn’t have plans to leverage it. He says they are focused on growing premium Asian markets expected to generate a greater return to New Zealand farmers.

Russia houses the third highest number of billionaires in the world, alongside a growing middle class prepared to pay top dollar for quality. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Doing Business in Russia report published in April 2011, strong growth in Russians’ consumption is expected to increase in coming years.

PwC partner Michael Hurle explains that following mass privatisation after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the large majority of Russians now own their own homes. “Seventy-five per cent of them [are] without mortgages and as a result they have high disposable incomes, which is driving demand across sectors such as retail, fast moving consumer goods and automotive,” he says.

Photograph by Kathleen Collins

NEW Zealand’s ambassador to Russia, Ian Hill, is upbeat about the FTA’s prospects, insisting not only that negotiations are well underway, but that both governments are equally keen. “It’s under way now. Both governments have said that they would like to get the negotiations done as expeditiously as possible.”

New Zealand may have to wait longer than expected for signatures on paper, however. “We are hoping that it can be done over the course of the next year or so, but sometimes issues come up and it can take a little bit longer,” Hill says. “But at the moment it’s going as well as can be expected.”

While optimistic about the FTA, Hill is also realistic about the potential drawbacks to increased trade with Russia. “Corruption is a problem here. I think Russian authorities would admit that.

“I’d say Russia is similar to other developing nations. Yes, it needs to continue to tackle corruption, but the same is true in countries like Brazil and China,” he says.

This comparison may be a little tough on Brazil and China, ranking 69th and 76th respectively in the Corruption Perceptions Index, well above Russia.

Ambassador Hill hopes the FTA will help improve the situation. “It seems to me that as Russian companies become globalised and international, if they are going to secure outside investment, which is what they really need – they desperately need foreign investment – people are only going to put their money in if they’re satisfied it’s going to be put into a safe depository, so to speak.”

Former Wellingtonian Simon Liddell believes you have to take Russia as it comes. A geologist and engineer with international consulting company AECOM, Liddell has moved away from wanting to change this aspect of his adopted home. “I learnt to simply let Russia be Russia. It will deal with this in its own time.”

When we later mentioned the number of corruption-related stories we had heard to Andrey Ivanov, a lecturer at Moscow State University, he was not surprised, saying there’s little political incentive to change the status quo. “It is here to stay, for years and years, for good. “Police are particularly prone to bribery. The corruption is 100 per cent there. It’s the road police, the police, the court system.”

That said, a Moscow-based Kiwi business consultant insists change is happening, especially in larger businesses. Matthew Cook of KPMG estimates 75 per cent of Russian corporates are now audited by the “big four” firms. “The other 25 per cent don’t want to be and probably wouldn’t be invited to be,” he says.

All parties I spoke to agree having a local business partner is essential – not necessarily to avoid corruption, but rather to help understand and deal with Russia’s unique bureaucratic complexities. It is a matter of knowing when to argue, when to go to court and when to pay up.

New Zealand products are valued for their high quality. Quality is closely related to integrity and honesty. Let’s hope our new friends improve theirs and avoid damaging ours.

Consequently, at times I despair at the tangle made of some economic facts and figures when communicated via mass-media channels. Admittedly, complex concepts are not amenable to instant sound bites, but even simple concepts seem mangled. Sometimes this makes me question whether any information is indeed better than no information at all. What if that information is misinterpreted or worse, misunderstood?

Take the reporting of the exchange rate in the daily TV news. The numbers may provide useful information for those in the finance areas, but I’m sure they get their data from other sources. So why are they deemed so important that we need to have them on the daily TV news? The domestic consumer household would, more likely, have only a passing interest in the exchange rate. Of course, they may be considering overseas travel. But then their research is hardly going to be helped by information on today’s mid-rate, which is not the banks’ sell price available to retail consumers.

To make matters worse, the arrows that accompany such reports are almost always misconstrued. Coupled with headlines or comments like ‘the Kiwi regained lost ground today’, or ‘NZ dollar loses steam’, or ‘Kiwi fared well in rough trading’, the signal is clear: a high dollar is good, and a low dollar is bad Of course, the truth is far more ambiguous than that and this reminds me of the ‘two legs good, four legs bad’ mantra. Yes, the provision of information leads to undoubted benefits in terms of the efficient functioning of markets and the decisions of players in such markets. However, the five-second sound-bite potentially wreaks more havoc through the inadvertent support for the fundamental misunderstanding of a pricing mechanism that is a core driver of New Zealand’s economic prosperity. On a more general note, many economic statistics are routinely communicated as if they were pronouncements from the fountain of all knowledge.

Percentage changes in consumer prices, retail spending, export volumes and revenues, GDP and the like, are regularly reported to the first decimal place. Together, at times, with comments focusing on changes of the order of 0.2 or 0.3 percentage points, these perpetuate the myth of accuracy. However, the overlooked concepts of sampling error and measurement error – not to mention definition and categorisation factors – make such accuracy spurious at best.

No, I am not being pedantic. Definitions and categories are critical for correct interpretation. For example, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation announce- ments are regularly featured through mass communications media. The provision of information function is served well. However, the knowledge that the CPI captures the prices of the basket of goods and services purchased by a mythical average household remains weak.

The CPI rate of inflation measures the change (over a specified period of time) in the average of the prices of the goods and services in this household’s consumption basket. By definition, there will be some prices in this household’s basket that will have increased by more than this average – and some that will have increased by less than this average (some may even have declined). However, I can recall several arguments suggesting uncontrolled inflation (or profiteering) founded on the ‘evidence’ that the price of a particular item (be it petrol, power, or potatoes) has risen faster than the average CPI inflation rate.

More unknowledgeable argument arises from those comparing local authority rate rises with inflation rates. In particular, the basket of goods and services likely to be purchased by a mythical average local authority is, clearly, a different animal to the basket purchased by the average household. For example, for every $100 spent by the average household, some $6.76 is on alcohol and tobacco. I suspect the average local authority does not have similar spending habits.

And I would be surprised to see households spend as much as local authorities on earthmoving, pipelines and site works. Yet many continue to argue that increases in local authority rates should somehow match those of the CPI.

Arguments over ‘the deficit’ are sometimes also characterised by artificial knowledge. Folklore has it that a former prime minister suggested most New Zealanders would not recognise the deficit even if they fell over it. My response is – which deficit? There are (at least) two deficits that are worthy of debate. And they are materially different animals, each with their own drivers, causes and effects and, so, policy implications. The external deficit (also known as the current account deficit or the BoP deficit) relates to the nation’s transactions with the rest of the world. Separately, the government’s deficit is the difference between government revenue and expenditure. Unfortunately, it is not rare to see these two deficits being confused and referred to interchangeably – leading to convoluted arguments and, at best irrelevant, policy suggestions. Yes, mass media commu- nications have improved our collective, and individual, access to information. Some may argue that it has also contributed to the advancement of knowledge. But, the encouragement of knowledgeable, informed debate remains a work in progress – at least in the sphere of economics.

Minister of Finance Bill English said it best in September when he effectively put the frighteners into every grey-suited public servant in the land.

“We simply cannot afford to continue the public sector growth we have seen in recent years. We cannot escape this fact or wish away this constraint?.?.?.

“It’s about doing the things that work and stopping doing the things that don’t work. It’s about doing fewer things and doing them better.”

In the nine years from 2000 the number of public servants grew by 54 per cent.

The message is clear: It is no longer appropriate for the heavy and methodical gears of government to turn ever onwards at the same pace.

Effectively the public sector has been asked to do more, better – with less money and less people, and to do it smarter.

And they aren’t having a quick look behind the couch cushions for some silver coins either.

 The powers that be have said the strategy to cap numbers and salaries in the public sector will extend for the next three to five years. Many commentators have said we will never see anything like the number of public servants we had under the previous government. So this year and those that follow are an interesting time for those in the public sector, and an interesting time for those that work around it.

Brian Cowper is the newly appointed director of public sector at Hudson, one of New Zealand’s largest recruitment and talent management companies.He puts the situation bluntly.

“The current account deficit needs to be managed, that can only eventuate with a sinking lid. You’ve got the Minister of Finance saying that the public sector funding  for this year will be down to $1.1 billion. It was $1.4 billion.”

Cowper is newly appointed, but his role is also newly created – showing an increased private sector interest in public sector goings-on. General Manager of Hudson Wellington Peter de Boer says their increased focus on the public sector is in anticipation of both wider changes in the industry, and a shift in public-private sector relationships as the government strives to cut costs.

“The dust is starting to clear now, but the recruitment industry in New Zealand has changed,” he says. “The whole focus and strategy of the public sector is shifting – working with them creates the best of both worlds.”

So will this year be the year of the public-private servant? Possibly.

Cowper reiterates there are some interesting trends just about to reveal themselves. Like their friends in the private sector, public servants have been hibernating. It’s been a long winter. It’s human nature to want to hold onto your job once you see others losing theirs, so hardly surprising the 2009 Human Resource Capability Survey released late last year showed the largest annual increase in public service tenure since records began.

But with the green shoots of economic recovery now appearing, the winds are changing – people perceive there is more opportunity to change jobs. Here comes what Cowper predicts will be a kind of labour market musical chairs – everyone vies for the higher salary, better development opportunities, communication, and job reassurance once the music stops.

This upswing in mobility will be in part motivated by the mental situation many public servants currently find themselves in – disengaged and disassociated.

“When you go through tough times you have to increase employee engagement,” Cowper says. “Increasing your employee engagement when you are negotiating no pay increases and not rewarding performance as much as you would like to – it makes it extremely difficult.”

He says disengaged employees are also symptomatic of the fact that a large percentage of public sector managers have never managed through hard times – their lack of experience is compounded in the public sector because there is little left for them to give out as incentives.

This is all further complicated by the fact that the safety net of not replacing the people that leave is gone – because they simply haven’t been leaving. Cowper says where previously there was a cushion in budgets – money saved on salaries by not replacing staff, being spent on operations and service delivery – there is now only the bottom line.

“What it means is that people who haven’t had the experience managing in the tough times will find it even tougher because now they haven’t got the margin with which to work, and my recent conversations with some senior managers have confirmed that.”

Part of the government’s new strategy is an active encouragement of public sector innovation, which may sound like an oxymoron but considering the amount of attention they have given to it, it definitely is not. In the same speech he spoke of shaking things up, Bill English said his government would not only push innovation in the public sector, but would also accept the associated risks.

“This is fundamentally important because without innovation, we will not deliver better, smarter public services over the next five years.The government will support innovation – even with a risk of failure.”

Innovation is a concept Cowper says was never a high priority in the public sector.

“I don’t think it was stifled by the previous government, it certainly has never been encouraged as much as this government is doing so,” he says. “The government is encouraging innovative ideas, they are encouraging organisations to come up with something different and not be frightened to – not to experiment – but to innovate in a logical way.”

He cites the initiative to change the service delivery of Primary Health Organisations, and the establishment of the shared services board to save $700 million on back office functions as an example. “I think when you see some radical changes – like in health with the shared services approach to back office functions – you can see that it’s an innovative idea. It came from taskforces that looked at service delivery and then identified efficiencies.”

While there is no denying the recession has changed both the public and private sector forever, questions remain over what the long-term effects will be.

Cowper agrees nothing quite like what we have seen has ever happened before. We have experienced the regular ups and downs of the economic cycle but the collapse of banks and finance companies was a different story. As for the effect on the labour market, after 30 years of corporate and public sector experience, Cowper is capable of giving a pretty informed opinion about the future of the “complex beast”. He says the crossroads between the retiring baby boomers, many of whom lost significant portions of their investments in 2008 and 2009, and younger generations is an interesting space.

 “It is a unique period in history because you have got baby boomers that are coming up for retirement and you’ve got ageing workforce populations. There are some big questions around what happens now if the baby boomer generation want to hang on. What’s the effect of that? What’s the effect of it for the younger people coming through?” he says. “It is a small country, the effects could be quite large. People might start to pursue opportunities overseas; the economy in Australia has already started to lift.”

The recession seems to have thrown up more questions than answers, but as Cowper says, at least we know what we are facing.

Change is coming. Look busy.

An editorial partnership between NZTE and year-old publication IN-Business has been signed to ensure the continuation of the export focused content that made bright New Zealand’s most read business magazine.

In October, the 17,000 bright subscriber base will receive copies of IN-Business magazine with retail distribution taking the total to well over 20,000 copies.

NZTE CEO Tim Gibson said he was happy that their international perspectives are to continue in print.

“NZTE will provide ongoing editorial content about key markets and ways of doing business internationally.

“Tim Collins, publisher of IN-Business, is keen to see the magazine’s mix of inspiring stories about New Zealand businesses with international aspirations grow, and we look forward to helping him do that,” he said.

Collins said he looked forward to developing the NZTE partnership and making the most of the tough economic environment.

“Now more than ever business decision makers need to be informed and inspired,” he said.

“Support for our magazine has grown dramatically over the last 12 months, far more than any other national business magazine. That’s probably because we put readers first – we give them what they’re interested in, real stories about real people – and we don’t just feed them lazy syndicated features.”

Collins had fighting words for the large media industry incumbents.

“We’re not afraid of the old school giants who act like they own media in this country, business readers here deserve better.”

With its roots in Wellington, IN-Business’s expansion into the rest of New Zealand begins with the October issue featuring Jeremy Moon, Bob Jones, Rod Drury, Pattrick Smellie, Tim Pankhurst, Bruce Sheppard, Ganesh Nana and friends.

Dave Chisholm was dux of his school, attended a couple of universities and has recently finished with an honours degree in Architecture. He’s designed a few houses in his spare time (a rare commodity for Chisholm) with his latest projects coming to fruition in Khandallah, Kaiwharawhara, and another in a slightly more exotic location, the waterfront of Sydney. However, he’s not employed in an architecture firm like many of his peers, he is going it alone, armed with a list of ideas a mile long, many not related to architecture in the slightest.

On the day I speak with Dave he is a little bleary-eyed, and admits it’s not often he gets home from work before 10pm. Working long long hours, is part of his routine, which is self-designed, but one he’s hoping wont last forever. “I don’t think I could ever not work at all, but I do hope things will be easier for me one day because of the hours I’m putting in now.” He drifts a little as he mentions his dreams of yachts and overseas travel, but snaps back sharply when I ask the obvious question: “Wouldn’t it be safer to just go and find a job, make your way up the ladder, and become an expert in a specific field?” “No way,” he says, “I’d much rather learn a lot about a variety of things, and have the flexibility to follow opportunities as they arise, than work 9-5 doing the same thing every day for the rest of my life.”

So how did it all start? He recalls his first ever ‘business’ at age 8. It wasn’t completely, erm legal. “My best friend and I decided it would be a great idea to charge all our friends a membership fee to belong to our cricket club. Except there wasn’t really such a thing, we just took the money and ‘invested’ it… in snacks! Eventually, our parents found our Pringles tin full of cash and made us give it all back!” He goes on to describe another ‘learning experience’ where he took all the steps to set up a bouncy castle hire business, only to find it wasn’t exactly what he had in mind; “it looked great on paper, but the one thing I neglected to consider was the impact a yard full of screaming kids would have on my sanity!”

At the age of 14, he then decided to teach himself web design after being repeatedly told what a waste of time it was. Two years later he was making thousands a month by teaming up with an American salesman, who sold the sites and sent the cheques back over to New Zealand. “Can’t say I saved much of the money I made,” he admits, “but I learnt a heck of a lot about the web in the process!”

He’s been designing and working for himself ever since, using the experience he’s gained so far to help him start web business Crescendo Multimedia, with his partner Nadine Isler (observant readers will know Isler also ‘moonlights’ as editor for IN-Business magazine). “It’s been hard keeping up with the work, but in many ways we’ve been lucky, in that we haven’t needed to spend anything on marketing.” They started with a single response from a flyer drop, and since then have grown almost exclusively through word of mouth. “I guess that’s the key in this industry, web designers are a dime a dozen these days, from the teenagers in their basements to the expensive agencies in the CBD, so a personal recommendation goes a long way.”

Chisholm’s latest web venture is Adscape, and he lights up visibly when he starts telling me about it. “It’s a website for advertising opportunities. So if you have any kind of advertising space to sell, you add a listing, and then sell special offers. He’s excited about the website, and while it’s still in its early stages, it has already caught the attention of many prominent media companies and has a lot of growth potential.

He’s also excited about the digital publishing service Crescendo specialises in, which is about converting documents so they can be read online. “It’s already popular in Europe and America, but it’s yet to go mainstream here, perhaps due to the mindset that you can’t beat the tactile experience of physically turning paper pages. The thing is, it shouldn’t be a case of either/or. I think businesses need to see digital publishing not as replacing print, but as an extremely cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to expand distribution and engage with their audience in an innovative way. It’s also a great way to bring documents to life, through rich-media content such as videos, forms and links.”

It’s easy to feel tired after a conversation with Dave, who could happily talk for hours about the ventures he’s involved with. I leave him at his desk surrounded in big screens and paper chaos, and have no doubt that we will be hearing plenty more about this young entrepreneur.

A few years ago, carbon neutrality was new and overwhelming. Then it became the ‘cool’ thing to do, and now the novelty is wearing off again for some. Wellington Combined Taxis doesn’t give a hoot whether it’s cool or not, they’ve been subscribers for years. Nadine Isler caught up with Ani De Graaf, to find out more about their progress.

Ani, marketing manager for Combined says it was a very long road to get their 442 taxis officially certified as carbon neutral, which perhaps explains why they are the first carboNZeroCert TM certified taxi service in New Zealand. No petrol-only vehicles have been allowed to enter their fleet since June 2008, and any kilometres travelled have already been offset by purchasing carbon credits through the Tararua Windfarm project. “It was really important for us” says Ani “to choose a certification programme that we could trust, so we could be 100% that we are telling our passengers the absolute truth and whatever we claimed was correct and transparent.” They chose to offset the personal mileage travelled in the taxis, as well as while drivers were working.

“This has been my baby for the last two years,” she says. “I had so much to learn, I actually started having nightmares about carbon emissions for a while!” She thinks that regardless of customer interest, it was something they would have looked into anyway. “But there was a need apparent which made me look into and investigate it sooner rather than later. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t do it even sooner, but because of the size of the fleet and because it’s shareholder owned and operated, it took a bit longer and we wanted to make sure we did it right.”

Like any major change project it was not all plain sailing for Ani, first she had to sell the concept to her boss, then to the board of directors and of course to the drivers. “She got plenty of grief from some of the drivers initially,” a driver tells me later, “but she stuck at it, learned fast and worked at getting support from the likes of Ministry for the Environment, and Meridian Energy.”

The process has not been cheap; Ani smiles and will only say it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but they are determined not to pass the cost on to passengers. She says it has been worthwhile to give customers what they want, and what everyone knows is the right thing to do.

“We are very proud of this” says Ani, it’s been a lot of work and a great achievement which makes sense for our environment, community and our business, but ultimately its only part of giving our customers what they want, along with a commitment to safety, full traceability of all trips, a range of cost effective payment options and detailed reporting systems”.

They aren’t all too worried about the competition following in their green footsteps either, after all, “it’s satisfying to be an industry leader in something so important.”

Ani knew she was going to face scepticism when she embarked on this project, but overall has been amazed at the support. “It’s been embraced by so many people. I think in general people have realised that it’s a difficult thing for a company our size to do, and we’ve really had to make a stand.” Many of Combined’s drivers have gotten behind the initiative enthusiastically, whether through the promise of saving money through being fuel efficient, or in learning more to talk to their passengers about.

Warren Quirke is one of these drivers. He first became interested in carbon neutrality when he had to buy a new car and wasn’t impressed with the options available. He is an ex-mechanic and began the process to bring in more fuel efficient vehicles into the fleet.

He also has an idea which is possibly a world-first, and certainly a nationwide-first. He’s suggested that Wellington (and eventually other cities) should set some designated ‘green’ taxi ranks, where only certified low-emissions vehicles from carbon neutral companies, are allowed to pick up from. He argues that we should be careful not to affect the other operators within the city, but at the same time we should give people the clear choice at the stands. The idea is currently being investigated further, he is putting a proposal to the council, and has had some great feedback so far.

“We hear all this talk about 100% Pure,” says Warren, “so why not live up to it?” He proposes that the first one should be on Lambton Quay, between tourist destinations Kirkaldies & Staines and the Cablecar. “We could start with a portion of one or two stands as a trial, and go from there. Policing it would be the trickiest thing, but losing a passenger licence is a big threat to drivers, and the council owns the land the stands are on so it would be up to them to be tough on who parks there.”

So where to from now? Ani says the ‘green’ initiative certainly doesn’t end here. “It’s still a big focus for our company, it’s not just ‘oh we’ve got this certification now and that’s it’. We have been careful to avoid greenwashing, and will continue to do so.”

With three million passengers taking Wellington Combined Taxis a distance of 45,000kms every year it sounds like it’s a good thing the company are aware of their own footprint.

We would love to hear what you think about Warren’s idea. Would you like to see designated carbon neutral taxi ranks in Wellington? Email the editor at nadinei@in-business.co.nz with your thoughts.

From scientist to suit; it can be a sizeable leap. But Wellington has a thriving innovation industry working feverishly to guide academics from eureka moment to the unfamiliar territory of the commercial world.

After 20 years as a chemist, Victoria University Associate Professor Kate McGrath now has a dual career as an innovator. The career chemist, whose mind has been trained on her scientific field for most of her adult life, has now filed a provisional patent and is sizing up three potential company leads.

“Anyone who is doing science is doing it because they truly believe the knowledge they gain will aid society. Some people do things that are more tangible, and can be applied in a commercial way, and I’m just one of those people.”

Dr McGrath is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences. The commercialisation of her work drew on the set of talented individuals and organisations helping develop Wellington’s innovation ecosystem. The capital has a network of world-class academics, intellectual property strategists, commercialisation experts, and angel investors coming together to turn innovations, ideas and inventions into serious business ventures.

Viclink chief executive John Errington says Wellington’s innovation industry didn’t exist in its present form five years ago because of a lack of investment and collaboration. But various factors combined to drive a new way of commercialising the research coming out of Victoria University: the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST) started focusing more on commercial outcomes from research, Viclink was bolstered with the resources to properly guide academics through commercialisation, and Grow Wellington’s Creative HQ incubator came on board to mentor and develop fledgling businesses.

“There’s a buzz,” Mr Errington says. “This industry is achieving, for the first time, a critical mass of co-ordinated organisation.”

Not that that means commercialisation will come easily. It certainly didn’t for Dr McGrath. The patent process has required secrecy, which has jarred with a woman who firmly believes in freedom of knowledge. And, after years working in her highly-specialised field, she has suddenly had to learn the ways and motivations of patent attorneys and angel investors.

“It’s a huge mind-shift for me and I struggle with it a lot.”

What kept her motivated was the knowledge she was contributing to the status of physical science in the New Zealand economy.

“I’m passionate about the fact that the New Zealand economy should be based on physical science. If we feel passionately about science, and about New Zealand, the only way that change is going to come is if we, as physical scientists, can prove, even in this environment, we can do this.”

In recognition of the huge potential in her work, the university’s Strategic Research Fund has agreed to support a post-doctoral scientist for three years to ensure Dr McGrath’s biomineralisation innovations have the best possible shot at commercial success. The scientists’ sole focus on commercialisation over the past 10 months has helped the project move swiftly. Viclink commercialisation manager Sophie Howard says many aspects of Dr McGrath’s work are still commercially-sensitive but each of the three company leads presents unique commercialisation potential. One is around paint and coatings technology, another is to do with medical implants and another could help wounds to heal faster and stronger. Dr McGrath and other researchers involved in commercialisation are inspiring a new generation of academics who are eyeing up the career potential in commercial application of research. Benjamin Matthewson, a PhD candidate with a chemical science background who worked with Dr McGrath, has actively courted a commercialisation career. He is about to take up a role as a commercialisation manager with Viclink and says students he talks to are adamant that they want their innovations to reach consumers.

FRST’s emphasis on funding projects with commercialisation value, and researchers with commercialisation expertise, has justified Victoria University’s decision to start developing Viclink. A key plank of Viclink’s work is IP (intellectual property) strategy. Mrs Howard says there are three women who form the core of the IP strategy industry in New Zealand; IP manager Anya Hornsey of Powerhouse Ventures in Christchurch, Viclink’s own IP advisor Julie Crisford and Grow Wellington’s IP strategist Dr Penny Gibson. Dr Gibson is a member of the Viclink IP commercialisation committee and a key figure within the capital’s business incubator Creative HQ. Originally from the United Kingdom, Dr Gibson’s PhD was in the strategic use of patents to achieve growth in small and medium-sized research and technology innovators. As Sophie Howard says, Dr Gibson’s skills have proved a dream resource for Wellington’s innovation industry.

Dr Gibson says New Zealand is operating at the cutting edge of innovation, but there needs to be more support to get Kiwi ideas and inventions into an international forum. Throughout Europe, government bodies offer millions of Euros to fund the development of great ideas.

“Small companies in Europe get significant government support on IP audits, investment and commercialisation. That automatically sets them at an advantage over a New Zealand company.”

Dr Gibson says she’d like to see a government commitment to innovation and changes to the grassroots IP environment: affordable expert advice for small businesses, earlier strategic thinking about IP and greater use of free resources such as the international patent databases to help refine novelty and valuable innovation – a proxy for competition in small innovative communities.

“New Zealand’s a very positive environment for innovation. I can see the calibre of innovation coming along. It’s definitely all moving in the right direction, but there’s a long way to go. I’d like to see New Zealanders have a higher profile on the IP stage.”

David Beard is a partner in angel investment group Movac, and another member of the Viclink IP commercialisation committee. He says the committee is an example of the capital’s academia and industry working well together.

“We’re starting to talk the same language.”

Mr Beard says a more mature commercialisation model is developing, and Viclink is quickly learning how best to integrate investment and people to get a deal.

“When you start putting deals together, that’s when the rubber hits the road.”

Ms Howard says Viclink and the organisations working closely alongside it, such as Creative HQ, are on the brink of achieving serious momentum in the innovation game.

“We’ve got the resources, the focus and the people to do this job. And we’re on the verge of creating a range of companies based on the IP coming out of Victoria University.”

Viclink’s chief executive John Errington says US research suggests the recession will only serve to feed the surge.

“Five years after a recession, there is always a peak in IPOs (Initial Public Offerings). Recessions are often the genesis for innovation.”

Mr Errington says the capital’s innovation ecosystem is now well-established, highly effective, and braced for that recession-era deluge.

At Trilogy, a Wellington-based skincare company, that question would result in a $5 fine.

Sisters Sarah Gibbs and Catherine de Groot, who run Trilogy, have banned the word from their office.

They have put up tongue-in-cheek posters warning against use of the word and each time someone utters it he or she must put $5 in a swear jar.

The money raised will go towards an office lunch.

Borne of a frustration with the world’s pre-occupation with being gloomy, the concept was originally intended only for the company and its trade partners.

Ms Gibbs says it was to encourage everyone to “get on with it and try and have a bit of fun”.

But after high-profile media coverage, Trilogy has been approached by several large New Zealand companies all wanting to use the idea, Ms Gibbs says.

When she sent an R-word pack to the Prime Minister’s office, he congratulated her on her positive initiative.

The concept has been such a success that it has even been adopted in the UK by the Boots pharmacy chain and in Australia by Myer department stores, Ms Gibbs says.

While the campaign has undoubtedly raised the company’s profile, it is more about philosophy and was never intended as a marketing strategy.

“It’s very typical of the way we like to think around here. We think a little differently, we think positively,” Ms Gibbs says.

She admits the worst offender in the office is in fact herself, and says while it is a bit of fun there is a serious side.

“We just hope we won’t need to ‘D’ proof our office.”

Frank Yukich (Montana Wines Founder) quietly delivered a gem on Campbell Live the other evening, I bet you missed it, I nearly did and I was actually watching the program.  The show focused on the Marlborough wine region and on Sauvignon Blanc in particular. Lucky for me I caught the end of the interview with Yukich who planted the first Sauvignon Blanc grapes near Blenheim in the late 1970′s.

Back then, who was to know that the wine produced in Marlborough from this grape variety would become world famous?   Not many Kiwi’s had even heard of Sauvignon Blanc in 1979, yet today New Zealand produces over 150,000 tonnes per year and 90% of that huge amount is produced in Marlborough.  
Campbell claims that Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc has done what the All Blacks couldn’t by beating France in Britain. And he could well be right, this wine has done more to put New Zealand on the international map than notable exports like lamb, butter, Kiri Te Kanawa and maybe even the All Blacks.

Yukich comes across as a humble man with that Southern weathered look about him, clearly a man who has worked hard all his life. I wasn’t listening that carefully to the interview and have to admit I’m no wine buff but my ears pricked at the very end when Yukich succinctly summarised his vision and his approach to business success;

 “In business you have to dream

And if you are going to dream you need a plan

And when you have a plan you have to act

And to act you must believe.”

And his vision was also compelling and simple;

 “Wines from here will become world famous”

The new grape, which turned out to be ideally suited to New Zealand, was not immediately successful. Three quarters of Yukich’s first crop (over 1,000 acres) died and had to be replanted. These were lean times when New Zealand wine had little or no reputation overseas and at home Kiwis were more likely to be drinking Aussie reds or Chateau Cardboard. Once the sauvignon vines started to produce grapes, Yukich and other winemakers still needed to make good wine and convince distant markets to take them seriously. They needed to keep cash flowing in difficult early days and to scale up to meet market demand when it finally arrived. Needless to say, without a dream of producing the world’s best Sauvignon Blanc, the ability to plan and the commitment to act – this may never have happened. It wasn’t clear though if the ‘belief’ existed from the start or if it grew over time.

There is nothing like achievement for building belief. Even in tough times completing milestones feels good, the confidence that comes with achievement makes next steps comprehensible, even inevitable; achievement could well be a drug. If it is, it’s a drug that getting hooked on can build belief beyond religious or political ideologies.

Dreams can be hazy, abstract, confusing, scary, exciting and hugely enjoyable. They take us places we might otherwise never go and tap into levels of consciousness that unleash surprising power. As Yukich knows, the power to act and to keep acting is key and not necessarily sticking with the original plan. Now more than ever those of us in business know we have to adapt plans to suit changing conditions.  During challenging times businesses cannot afford to batten down the hatches in the hope that things will get better, we need to revise plans and believe in ourselves and our people, but most importantly to believe in the value we offer customers and in our determination to deliver.

I wonder is there room in our crowded political landscape for yet another political group? Call it the Achievement Party. We already have Act, a bit too right leaning for many of us but to be fair to Rodney Hide and Co, they get on with stuff, it’s as though they feel pressure to live up to their name.

I’d vote for The Achievement Party if it did likewise.