2010 Entrepreneur Of The Year finalists - Ernst & Young - New Zealand

Cameron Mehlhopt, StarNow.com (Wellington)
'A Star is Born'

As a breeding and training ground for innovation, TradeMe isn’t a bad place to cut one’s cyberspace teeth.  Three ex-senior TradeMe team members have taken the concept of on-line commodity trading a step further in now dealing with human talent and creativity.

Known as StarNow, this online talent search site came to fruition when the trio, on a trip to London in 2004, saw an opportunity and gap in the market.  Cameron Mehlhopt says they collectively were searching for another opportunity to utilise their skills.  A chance meeting with an acting friend provided the stimulus to end their search.

“The tried and true method of linking aspiring talent through to professional actors with agents had not changed fundamentally for decades.  Typically, an agent would have had to organise their talent base in a very manual way, with paper files, faxed applications, and a stream of ‘walk ins’ interrupting their day. For the talent it was a case of beating a path to an agent’s door, lots of phone calls or having friends of friends to grease the process that connected them to casting professionals.   Our solution was to build on the fledgling online talent market to tailor a focused, simple web interface that met the needs of both casting professionals and aspiring talent.”

Now in its 6th year of operation, the Wellington-based business now looks after the world.  StarNow has 1.5 million members worldwide and dominant market positions in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand as well as representation in the United States, Canada, Ireland and South Africa.

By clever use of online infrastructure, aspiring and professional actors, models, dancers and musicians are easily matched with professional acting and modelling agencies, creative agencies, production companies and the like.

“The proposition is not dissimilar to TradeMe.  Our site is founded on core values of a simple and easy online experience, deployment of efficient and innovative web technology, and a strong customer service ethic.  Moreover it shows the power of applying real innovation to revolutionise a traditional business.” 

While no-one was asking for a better way to interact before StarNow, the hundreds of thousands that have utilised the technology and service reflect that the company has the talent to meet a latent need.  Encore!!.

Craig Carr, Winslow Limited (Ashburton)
'The Seed of a Growing Global Business'

As with Craig Carr’s core products—seeds, feeds, technology and on farm services—from small beginnings the venture has grown.  His company, Winslow, develops and manufactures nutritional stock feed and provides innovative animal feed solutions and biological treatments targeted to most farming operations.  The company also specialises in producing a large array of grain, seed and vegetable seed products from throughout New Zealand and, in turn, markets these domestically and internationally to approximately 40 countries. 

Winslow also owns and operates agricultural machinery for silage and straw making, along with buying and selling these feed products.  At the ‘higher tech’ end of the agribusiness spectrum, Winslow distributes Lely Robotic Milking machines and provides farm technology applications and best practice. This was launched by creating New Zealand’s first fully commercial robotic dairy farm with his brother and key staff.

All of this started in 2000 with the purchase of dilapidated feed producing mill—named Winslow—and the pursuit of an opportunity to provide product for a large local beef feed lot that wanted locally sourced alternative protein.  Craig originally intended to go to university to study law and commerce, but the lure of a business opportunity in seeds took precedence.  At 18, with no formal training in the commercial world, he quickly learned that hard work and dedication make great business partners. 

The challenge of building a large regional and expanding national business along with building on expanding export opportunities in emerging Middle East and Asian nations, as well as European markets, has been considerable.   Craig Carr cites the move to acquire competitor Canterbury Seeds to gain critical mass quicker in the grain and seed business was one of his more ambitious moves. 

As with any venture, sacrifices and challenges have been part of the mix.

“Long hours, nights away and the recent fluctuations in exchange rates and commodity pricing volatility have necessitated us to be on our game.  Nevertheless, we have continued to grow at a rapid pace building on sales year on year and now employing 45 permanent staff.  Their effort and the support of my wife, parents and board have helped us innovate and drive the business forward into new, dynamic areas.

Daniel Robertson, Fishpond.co.nz (Auckland)
'Big Fish in the On-line Sales Pond'

Amazon.com may be the biggest and best in class for on-line sales of books, movies, games, toys and electronics, but Daniel Robertson’s creation is also going along swimmingly.

Fishpond.co.nz (and the trans-Tasman sister site .com.au) is now Australasia’s biggest online store. Both are run from a 2,000 sqm warehouse near Auckland Airport.   While the biggest ‘bricks and mortar’ competitors in this country boast up to 130,000 titles for sale, Fishpond has almost 4 million on offer.  His is the #1 online bookstore in both New Zealand and Australia.  Given the venture has only been alive since 2004 makes these statistics all the more surprising.

The story of Daniel Robertson’s life might have taken quite a different twist had he chosen to complete an electrical engineering degree at Auckland University.  A recipient of the coveted Alstom Scholarship, he further expanded his engineering knowledge by working part-time between studies for a number of electronics companies including Fisher & Paykel.  With six months to go to completing his degree he changed direction.  Having attended a number of university seminars on entrepreneurship and the ‘Knowledge Wave’, he decided he’d rather pursue what seemed at the time an ‘out of left field’ desire to launch a website selling books.

“I started the business in a spare room in my house in Papakura.  I began the business with little capital and no wages, at first taking on people who were unemployed but eligible for a wages subsidy from the Department of Social Welfare.”

Fishpond’s sales have doubled every year since inception and the goal now is to attain triple digit growth.  Equally, the business has been profitable from the outset and now employs 70 people.  The company invests heavily in intellectual property and software development and boasts an IT team of 20.  Being ITC savvy allows Fishpond to stay alive 24/7 with some staff working remotely—including as far away as Belarus—to meet demand. 

His parents have stopped asking when he is going to complete his degree.  Like everyone else they see there are still many more business opportunities to ‘fry’ in the Fishpond world.

David McKee Wright, Sealegs International Limited (Auckland)
'Creating Poetry in Motion'

David McKee Wright’s ‘serial entrepreneur’ tendencies have transported his skill set from IT to the deep, blue sea.  Inspired by the muses from an early age, he remembers the influence of a poem his father presented him by Ralph Waldo Emerson titled Self Reliance.

"Nobody knows you and your duties better than you know yourself…other people don’t live your live…so why should their decisions for you come ahead of yours.”

Starting first as an accountant in 1994 with PC Direct, he became CEO in 1995 and pioneered the direct sales model in New Zealand, and via the Internet, for computers.   Exiting the business in 1997 with a sizeable sum of cash, he then founded exo-net and in the process helped push the accounting software revolution in the country.

Now, his latest venture, Sealegs, has literally taken his focus offshore to where it is the world’s largest manufacturer of amphibious boats.  With long-time business partner Maurice Bryham this is the latest chapter in one of New Zealand’s more successful business partnerships. 

Sealegs’s operating premise is based around the convenience and enjoyment of boating.  As comfortable on land as it is on the waves, a Sealegs boat can be driven from a storage location, down a boat ramp or beach and into the water—all with the occupants staying on board and staying dry.

While this design-led, innovation bred creation suits New Zealand conditions down to the ground, it is also evolving into an export winner.  In 2007, the 100th boat was commissioned and the first one sold to the rescue sector—the Malaysian Fire Department.  In 2009, the Mumbai Police Department joined the list of Sealegs advocates.  This year the 500th boat has been shipped.  The focus going forward is on ‘cracking’ the United States military market as well as outsourcing manufacture to Asia.

From David McKee Wright’s perspective there is a big, wide world of opportunity for this business.

“Having lived and worked in the United States, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand, I have a great appreciation for the vast variety of cultures that we all co-exist in.  More over I embrace the various ways there are for one to go about conducting business within these cultures.”

Garth MacIntyre, Portion Pack Foods Limited (Upper Hutt)
'Leading the Long Life Food Charge'

With contracts secured with the British Ministry of Defence and the Australian Defence Force the by product of Garth MacIntryre’s business is literally on the lips of soldiers across the globe.  He is also taking the fight to secure beachheads in commercial markets for his revolutionary food offer.

He never had any intention of being employed.  He wanted to take charge of his own destiny and run his own operation.  With a science background, combined with a ‘hands on’ and practical upbringing, Garth MacIntyre believed he had the commensurate skills to take on the world.

He bought a business in 1989 that was involved in the hospitality industry selling in-room amenity items.  The operation was structured on producing sales driven by volumes of small items.

Its major client was Government-owned tourist properties.  When these assets were sold in 1990 the venture almost collapsed.  Good fortune would have it that he was directed to look at a tender coming up to supply food to the New Zealand Defence Force.  Seeing that his processing and packaging operation could manage food as well as it had shampoo, he changed direction to focus on food logistics opportunities.  The competitiveness of the sector made him look for a point of difference.  That came with specialising in long life rations. 

His association with military customers started in earnest in 1992 when he tendered for food ration supplies for the New Zealand Defence Force winning a major proportion of the contract. The following year he secured his first order with the Australian Defence Force.   In 2001 he launched Portion Pack Foods in Australia and New Zealand to focus on commercial opportunities with Government agency, police and rescue service markets.  Website sales also took off and with that the fortunes of his twin ventures. 

As a spearfishing champion, Garth MacIntyre has no difficulties diving into the deep end of business challenges. 

“I’ve found out that no matter how solid your ideas may seem at the time, the pitfalls soon expose themselves.  I took risks early on in the business that paid dividends later.  I had a total belief it was going to work.  As James Wattie said:  ‘nothing comes before hard work.’  I agree.”.

Hamish Nuttall, nakedbus.com (Auckland)
'Air NZ’s On-the-ground Competitor Succeeds'

The concept of a bus company dubbed Naked has nothing to do with servicing the needs of sun worshippers or nudist camp followers.  Rather it relates to a ‘low-cost’ strategy which has seen Hamish Nuttall’s nakedbus.com achieve record growth.

With cheap airline offers and one dominant bus operator to contend with, it has been anything but a smooth ride.  The initial challenges were threefold.  The incumbent had a virtual monopoly on city-to-city bus travel. Hamish Nuttall was literally operating his business from his living room—12-15 hours per day, 7 days a week. To complicate matters further, wholesalers were dubious of a newcomer offering low-cost fares and therefore refused to sell bus tickets on nakedbus.com’s behalf.

The venture could well have stalled if Hamish Nuttall had not been so persistent.

“I refused to give up and the industry resistance meant I had to look for alternative solutions.  I spent three months researching customers needs, broadband and credit card penetration around the country to see whether the market could sustain a strategy of 100% on-line sales.”

Turns out, it could.

The company uses an innovative yield management business model with bus operations contracted out. A purpose-built self-service internet booking engine reduces the need for sales people with, as he says, ‘expense accounts.’  Electronic ticketing and drivers linked through mobile internet means there’s little need for expensive paper trails; Hamish firmly believes the low-cost model can be applied to other ventures.

“We’ve launched nakedactivities – low-cost activities and tours in some of New Zealand’s prime tourist destinations and nakedpassport - the nationwide bus pass that gives low-cost mega-trip options to travellers. “

The company has grown rapidly since its launch nearly four years ago with 60% annual growth, 25% market share, and now links 320 cities/towns around the country.

Ian Douglas, The Village Goldsmith and The Inspired Collection (Wellington)
'All that Glitters could well be Gold'

Ian Douglas says his greatest personal achievement is having a stable marriage with a loving and supportive wife and family.  No doubt the ring he created to consecrate the union must have been something rather special.

His two allied enterprises—The Village Goldsmith and Inspired Jewellery—design, manufacture high end jewellery for domestic and international markets.  His focus is on innovation, uncompromising quality and outstanding customer service.  His ambitions now are to take his creations to the world stage.

While Ian Douglas’s creations are enduring, his 29-year old business has also survived what is usually the death knell for luxury goods—namely two major recessions.

“Many other jewellers never survive one, let alone two, such severe downturns.  By staying true to our values, being quick on our feet and believing in our service and our innovation,  we kept going and growing.”

Initially Ian Douglas fulfilled all roles for all people in building his vision of creating ‘the best jewellery store in New Zealand.’  For 10 years he worked 70-80 hours per week as designer, craftsman, salesman and manager.  Taking meagre drawings allowed his venture to cement its reputation and financial viability. 

Today the Wellington-based operation has one store with nine staff and a dedicated office for Inspired Jewellery.  In the last 18 months of so-called ‘down turn’ turnover has gone up in a significant way. 

Similarly, going global has helped create golden opportunities to confirm both the world class qualities of design and manufacturing.  Initial discussions with the CEO of De Beers in New York proved the marketability of the jewellery—the ‘fine print’ detail on royalties stopped further progress.  Negotiations are underway internationally with other possible partners and, based on the De Beers feedback, prospects are shining.     

“Peer recognition and client feedback have certainly helped us achieve our goals in New Zealand.  The aim now is to build the brand to be recognised as the best jewellery store in the world.  Lofty but not impossible.”

Jim Brodie, Soltius New Zealand Limited (Wellington)
'Human Approach to Software Business'

The world of computer technology and software innovation is, by nature, somewhat impersonal.   Yet Jim Brodie’s people skills and ability to develop a high level of trust in his dealings underpins his business philosophy and trust.  He also puts a premium on looking after his own people and recognising the importance of life outside of work. 

“We look to focus on the long term, which applies equally to customer relationships and the well being of our employees”.

His company Soltius is a professional services enterprise specialising in SAP which is the global leader in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.  While a number of truly global heavyweights specialise in SAP offerings, Jim Brodie believed that a ‘second tier’, more local provider could do well in the New Zealand market.

SAP enterprise software services is highly specialised and traditionally the domain of the likes of IBM, HP and some of the Big 5 accounting firms being the main players.  Jim Brodie’s relationship with SAP began in a sales role at IBM.  His association with ‘Big Blue’ was fruitful but the time came to look for a career change.  Even though an offer from a Big 5 firm for a position was on the table, he chose a slightly riskier path of taking a role at an operation with a total headcount of three. 

The company, Intelligroup, was an established international brand, but it lacked a particular persona and presence in New Zealand.  Jim Brodie’s decision changed that.  He remembers his first PowerPoint presentation was mostly white fluffy clouds filling in the blanks as they had very little track record to promote.  People, he says, had to take them on trust—and soon the likes of Telecom, Enza, Zespri and CHH came on board.

With success gaining momentum, and with SAP’s client base growing in New Zealand being positive for his operation, business grew.  He was appointed MD in 1999 and 2006 he negotiated a bank funded management buy-out making the operation now 100% New Zealand owned.  The company has consistently won recognition from both the market and SAP winning such titles as Outstanding New Zealand SAP partner and the Highest Performing All in One Channel Partner.

John Woodham, Woodhams Limited (Rangiora)
'Grounded Attitude to Family Business'

The common denominator of John Woodham’s business is dirt.  Whether it is property investments, agricultural machinery sales and service, and distribution of turf equipment products, soil is the medium on which the three generation old venture is based. 

Founded in 1934, John Woodham is the third Woodham to head the operation.  In that regard, the role of the family has played a critical role in the shaping of John Woodham’s world view.  Particularly when he suddenly didn’t have one.  He was 17 when his father passed away with an incurable form of cancer. 

“Since that moment I’ve compared all adversity and obstacles in the same way.  As in nothing compares to that December day when I lost my father.” 

His sense of responsibility has been further heightened in not fulfilling the prophecy some make about family businesses—the first generation builds it, the second grows it and the third destroys it. 

In 2001 he took the helm and a process of divestment and diversification came into action.  Non performing property assets were terminated, the company’s foundation wool  trading business was sold , and the family moved into farming equipment with the full purchase of Ashburton Implement Services ({AIA} his grandfather had been the founding shareholder), two other agricultural businesses and one import/distribution operation. 

As a strategy that made sense until an unforeseen event out of his control in 2009. 

“The single greatest obstacle was when received notification that our agency with a major US farm machinery business had been terminated—after a relationship with this one brand for 57 years.  It was not their decision but that of the local distributor.” 

Most other ventures would have come to a halt but the family business’s founding principles—honesty, integrity and respect—came to the fore.  In order to protect the livelihood of the then 77 staff members, the AIS business was restructured, a new agency agreement won, and the business now is in a stronger position than ever.

Katherine Corich, Sysdoc (Wellington)
'A simple solution to global success'

Two interlinked events some years back helped Katherine Corich to take her business airborne and become a global leader in business transformation services as well as guiding and building ventures and people.

Her passion was flying—in a world of jargon and complexities, nothing quite equals aviation information.  Flying is basically going from A to B in one piece.  Yet, when you encounter terminology like CAICS, CAISOS, Notams and the like, she was concerned how anything could get so complicated. 

To help pay for her aeronautical ‘fix’ she worked as a computer operator on 24 by 7 shifts. During this time, she had to use manuals that were just slightly less daunting than their aviation counterparts.  It seemed to her that the business could be much more efficient if there were clear instructions for the computer operators to follow. So she wrote them!

Katherine Corich also discovered she loved growing and changing things—especially people’s lives and businesses—and the combination of these elements launched her business.

From there Sysdoc then grew wings.  Specialising in business makeovers, her team of over 170 experienced and skilled consultants are comfortable flying between weighty matters like change management, training, documentation, process, information and knowledge management consultancy services.   They have delivered on large-scale, complex projects in New Zealand and overseas in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. 

As well as business leadership, Katherine Corich inspires others through thought leadership and action.  Recognition has come through a plethora of awards including 2009 Finalist in UK National Business Award’s Entrepreneur of the Year and 2010 Winner of Opportunity Now – Agile Organisation Award.  

Her achievements throughout the world have been immensely satisfying but no more so than in the United Kingdom.

“Most advisors said it would take far longer than it actually did to penetrate Europe. They said that because we had no reference-able United Kingdom experience, no major organisation would give us a second look.  To my delight we’ve proved these naysayers wrong.”

Despite recessionary times, business is growing especially well here and offshore.  In the United Kingdom growth last year was 42%, against an industry average of -1.6%. 

Sebastian Stapleton, Mastagard (Christchurch)
'Waste not, Want not'

Sebastian Stapleton’s motivation comes from his ability to improve the lifestyle of his family and those he cares about.  His means of achieving this heartfelt goal is really just a bunch of rubbish.
Mastagard Group is the South Island’s largest combined locally and privately owned waste collection and recycling company.  Serving the industrial, commercial and residential markets, his company takes care of waste collection, sorting and baling, council contracts plus the country’s first closed circuit plastics washing and extrusion plant.

With offices on both sides of the ‘Mainland’ (Christchurch and Westport) his business is rapidly building momentum through diversification and an impressive array of contracts.  He has just secured last week a new 5 + 2 year contract with Ashburton District Council to operate their recovery and transfer station, education program and composting program.

Sebastian Stapleton became involved with Mastagard in 2001 where, along with his mother, he drove the first truck.  Having his mother riding shotgun alongside him when collecting rubbish certainly drew attention.  There were other factors he had to contend with. 

“One of the biggest obstacles I’ve faced has been other companies not taking me seriously when I wanted to expand my ‘one truck’ business.  I was essentially a laughing stock.”

Smirks began to be wiped off a number of faces when, in 2003, he was able to purchase the first brand new skip truck.  By 2005 he had enough resources to make his first acquisition—Mini Bins and Exist Waste—and over the years purchased a total of eight other waste companies, acquired Coleridge Paper Company and New Zealand Plastic Recycling Limited.

Though a number of financial institutions thought his operating model was anything but sustainable, all it took was one partner to buy into Sebastian Stapleton’s motivation and vision for achieving wealth through waste management.  Despite economic downturns and the sort of setbacks all entrepreneurs encounter, his ability to acquire other operations and thereby gain economies of scale and financial clout have again proved the doubters wrong.

“I focus strongly on setting goals which I believe has played a large part in establishing strong growth for the company.  As soon as we reach a goal, we’ll set another.  We make a point of celebrating our successes and recognising what we’ve achieved.  Our eye, however, is always set on the next challenge ahead.”

Steve Brooks, My Group (Christchurch)
'Talking 'bout My Generation'

First there was the ‘Me’ generation.  If he has anything to do about Steve Brooks believes that the time of ‘My’ generation is nigh.  He is building his business operations on the back of this possessive. 

With an eclectic mix of tax, accounting, night club, marketing, medi spa and even pizza offering, the evolving empire is being fuelled by Steve Brook’s real estate and property acumen.

At age 14 he became the country’s youngest real estate agent and gained registration at 15.  At age 16 he owned his first house and by 19 achieved millionaire status.  His self confessed ‘high energy, full throttle, let’s get it done’ approach to business is what drove him into other areas of endeavour.  At age 20 he started My Refund and the ‘My’ generation began.

Having had some experience with the IRD, and realising the opportunity to help wage and salary earners ‘track down’ their tax refunds could mushroom, he envisaged an operation based where most people chose to roam.  In malls—the only problem was that soon copy-cat ventures began to appear in similar locations.

He took that as a challenge rather than problem. 

“Competition demands excellence and duty—most importantly a duty to provide the best service you can and ultimately step up your game.” 

My Refund currently has 8 teams in 6 locations—Auckland, Dunedin, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch.  It employs 25 full time staff, 10 part-time and 30 sub contractors.

Given the nature of this venture, My Accountant was a natural next step.  My Body, My Bar, My Marketing and what may seem as the odd one out La Mia Pizza - it actually translates to My Pizza in Italian. 

Now aged 23, the only obstacles encountered are based around what he calls ‘setbacks and resistance to age.’

“The business world is hesitant to take me seriously and I still have to prove myself.”

He cautions the doubters that, though young, he has as much world and business savvy as a 40 year old seasoned pro.  Plus, what he lacks in years, he makes up in enthusiasm.  He is someone who is looking around every corner for the next opportunity to grow the “MY” Empire.

Tim Alpe, JUCY (Auckland)
'A Luscious Tourism Offering'

From From the outset, Tim Alpe wanted to create a business model and approach that would put the squeeze on existing players. 

As he says:  “From Day One I wanted to create a business that was next generation and in the process develop a tourism brand not just a tourism business.”  His idea was to create the first tourist-focussed vehicle hire company to embrace next generation technology to enable travellers to plan, price and book low-cost travel deals.

Tim had dusted his commercial and tourist sector skills working for New Zealand’s largest tourism company Tourism Holding Limited (THL).  Starting as a camper van cleaner while at university, he quickly moved up the pecking order to become the youngest GM of one of the company’s companies—Airbus.  At the time he took the wheel of the enterprise it was financially haemorrhaging.  With Tim Alpe at the helm, new life and fiscal vitality came into the operation.

Tim and  brother Dan decided to pursue their idea and, on a less than auspicious day—the day after 9/11/2001—they set up what was initially called Ezy Rentals from a small office in Auckland.  Their fleet consisted of 35 Daewoo Lanos that they purchased from Auckland Hospital Board using money borrowed from their dad.  Overtime they expanded locations around New Zealand and increased their fleet. “We learned early on that we needed to adopt a ‘street hustler’ attitude and that all phone calls and emails meant business.”

Though Ezy was expanding the brothers felt their existing branding was functional but not ‘funky’ enough to provide any point of differentiation to the competition.   In 2007 they created their JUCY offering and the launch of their brand mascot—a very alluring character known as JUCY Lucy.

JUCY now has over 2,000 vehicles on the road and offices throughout New Zealand and Australia.  The brand also encompasses the first JUCY Hotel in Auckland as well as JUCY by Design where the company’s camper vans are custom built.

Tony Armstrong, Power System Consultants New Zealand Limited (Wellington)
'The Buzz of Electrical Engineering'

With his passion and fascination for electricity, Tony Armstrong could well be thought of as the Benjamin Franklin of the Southern Hemisphere.  He has certainly played a pioneering and pivotal role in electrifying the nation.

He has had over 30 years experience in the high voltage electricity industry holding senior roles on several of New Zealand’s major power projects.  His introduction to the electricity industry began at age 15 when his father said “join the NZ Electricity department son, get a trade and vote labour”. One of his pinnacle projects was with the upgrade of New Zealand’s High Voltage Direct Current link (HVDC)  between the south and north island’s  of New Zealand. This link hold’s a special place in the Armstrong history with Tony’s Dad (Wally) working on this in the 1960’s, Tony in the 1990’s and now his son, Kane working on the latest upgrade of this link.

Though a public servant at the time, Tony Armstrong had enough commercial nous to realise the value of his knowledge and expertise.  He also wanted to feel the energy of launching his own venture. In 1995, together with colleague Dr Ranil de Silva, they launched Power Systems Consultants (PSC), a niche consultancy in the electricity industry. 

He had observed the industry norm of splitting earnings out when received and drawing them down and out of the business.  Great in ‘feast’ times but questionable in downtimes.  Though it put pressure on them, Tony Armstrong did not want to be beholden to the bank.  He determined that having a ‘war chest’ of capital reserves would allow the operation to develop new business models and take new risks. More importantly build his company to what it is today, a company of around 100 people working internationally as specialists in their field. 

At the time the consultancy was formed, the overall industry was in a state of major reform.  Given the conservative tendencies of this business sector and the tall poppy syndrome that is inherent in this industry, the last thing anyone wanted to see was a new consultancy company,  a position reserved for multinational foreign owned organisations.  His resolve and entrepreneurial approach to providing consulting services gradually turned the sceptics around to the point that many came on board as clients and in some cases employees.

Current niche market share in New Zealand is over 60% and the international opportunities for the company are significant.  PSC has a sizeable share in the Australian market and now works for all the electricity transmission companies (TNSP’s) and both market operators.  Business in the United States, Asia, Canada and Europe are also humming.  The group has offices throughout New Zealand, Australia, USA (Seattle) and ‘beachheads’ in Singapore and Sweden. 

“The business model seems to work inside and outside the country.  Our expansion is now both organic and ongoing with new offices and operations opening around the world.  All underpinned by an international governance framework based out of New Zealand, and Yes PSC is proud to be New Zealand owned and operated".