Simon Bridges: It’s time for business to raise its sights

OPINION

It hasn’t been easy to be in business in recent times. Covid, and a hangover from it, lack of workers, cost escalation, floods, a cyclone, have all been there. But it’s time for business to raise its sights, up and out, and beyond our shores.

After all, much of the world is moving on, and as the smallest, most remote developed nation in the world, we do best when we are connecting, collaborating and learning from trading globally.

This is why, in addition to our delegation with other business organisations to India, the Auckland Business Chamber is also leading delegations of businesspeople to China and Israel before the end of the year. In talking with others, we decided it was time to get out there.

The immediate, significant interest from business has surprised me. We are clearly on the right track and thinking the same. Without much effort we have 40-plus businesses coming on both trips.

Regarding China, the rationale is pretty clearcut. It’s our biggest economic partner and given our size and scale relative to it, there is still much opportunity there. Personally, I am also very keen to see China post-Covid. We hear it isn’t quite as buoyant as it could be, but the wheels are turning, and there is nothing like being in a market and seeing it with your own eyes to understand and get the real oil.

The players coming are almost entirely commercial, across sectors including manufacturing and construction, financial and investment services, energy and primary production – honey, wine, fisheries and forestry for example.

While in China, we will learn from officials in Shanghai, Beijing and Hainan about the regulatory and cultural landscape and we will also meet Chinese businesses relevant to each attending sector to enable commercial opportunities.

Hainan province will be a particular policy treat. In the recent past, China has transformed the region into a free trade port with duty-free shopping and, more generally, a lower tax and compliance regime. This is helping to diversify its local economy, which has traditionally relied on agriculture and tourism.

Israel will be different again. In partnership with the New Zealand Israel Innovation Hub and the Israel Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce, we are exploring the “start-up nation” and all things innovation, from advancements in AI, cybersecurity to robotics, agritech and food-tech.

The profile of those coming on this unique trip include significant independent directors, high net-worth investors and businesspeople.

There are undoubted opportunities for us in this land that’s thrived under conditions of adversity, boasting more unicorns per capita (26) today than any other country in the world.

The reason I was so attracted to lead this mission was a conviction tech will become our country’s number one sector if we want it to in the next decade or so. And surely with our challenges ahead – whether climate, ageing demographics, low productivity and the threat of more natural disasters – moving into these more lucrative, weightless, and productive areas is a no-brainer.

Moreover, to do it right we should learn from the best.

Technology can complement our biggest sectors such as agriculture, with innovation allowing for greater productivity and profit, and opening new areas of growth.

Israel must be one of, if not the greatest example of this, given just a couple of decades ago it was primarily an agricultural nation whereas now it’s a unicorn superpower, home to 270 multinationals and 350 significant R&D facilities, investing more than anywhere else in innovation as a proportion of GDP.

It’s time – in fact not before time – to get out there. China and Israel are excellent places to start.

● Simon Bridges is CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber.