All Eyes on Air New Zealand at Paris Air Show
Air New Zealand was the centre of attention at the Paris Air Show with their new black livery on display and world first ‘sharklets’ on display. The airlines new Airbus A320 was officially presented…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Internet Giant Launches Balloon Connection over Canterbury
Google has launched a balloon over Christchurch emitting an internet connection, which could connect to remote parts of the world to the web. “Project Loon” came to fruition in the South Island, where the…
New Paint Job for National Carrier’s Aircraft
Air New Zealand has unveiled a new livery for its aircraft, which will feature an iconic silver fern, to adorn its entire fleet by the end of 2014. The new look will phase out…
Berkett Joins Guardian Media Group as Chairman
Departing Virgin Media chief executive New Zealander Neil Berkett has been named chairman of Guardian Media Group (GMG). During his six-year tenure in the same role at Virgin Media, New Zealand-born Berkett focused on…
Quantum Move with Australian Pharmaceutical Acquisition
New Zealand’s Ebos Group Ltd. has reached a $1.1 billion deal to buy Australian pharmaceutical supplier Zuellig Healthcare Holdings, in what would be the biggest acquisition by a New Zealand-based company in two years….
Minister Blasts Department Over China Meat Export Bungle
A bungle by the NZ Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) was responsible for NZ meat exports being held on Chinese wharves for up to two weeks, says stuff.co.nz. The hold-up was caused by MPI…
NZ’s ‘Papple’ Pear Makes Dream California Debut
‘Like an Asian pear with flavour’, the Papple is a NZ bred and grown cross of various Asian pears. The Papple has just made its Californian debut at Gelson’s markets, one of America’s premiere supermarket…
Huawei Founder Choses NZ to Speak to Media for First Time
Huawei Technologies Founder Ren Zhengfei chose New Zealand for his first ever media briefing, The Wall Street Journal reports. ‘New Zealand may be a tiny market for most global companies, but for Chinese telecommunications…
Producing X-ray Beams in Germany’s North
New Zealander Graham Appleby, a physicist based in Hamburg, speaks to German publication The Local about high intensity x-ray beams and life in Germany’s scientific community, in the latest installment of “My German Career”….
Michael Fischer Mines Gold on Top of the World
New Zealander Michael Fischer mines gold at the top of the world. He heads the Kumtor Operating Company in Kyrgyzstan, a nation of 5.5 million people located half way between Moscow and Beijing. Mining…
Air New Zealand’s Skycouches Pass ‘GeekDad’ Test
Andy Robertson is the self-styled ‘Chief GeekDad’ of UK Wired magazine. Recently, he put Air New Zealand’s innovative Skycouch technology to the ‘geek’ test, flying from the UK to New Zealand with his young…
New Zealand’s Boating Industry Keeps Winning Awards and Customers
New Zealand’s luxury boat builders have always made boats that ‘defeat the odds, break records and collect awards,’ writes Maria Alafouzou in the New York Times. You might think, at first glance, that a…
Gulf Cooperation Council and NZ to Ratify Trade Agreement
New Zealand is likely to ratify a trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) within the next 12 months, according to Steve Jones, NZ Consul General to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Negotiations…
Opportunities for Sharing World Class Technology
New Zealander Richard Watson had the unusual pleasure of sharing his Burke County farm in Georgia with visitors from home. “We bought this property in 2007, and here currently, we’re milking 560 cows,” he…
Eastbourne Sisters Enjoy Giltedge Success
Eastbourne (Wellington) Giltedge Publishing directors and sisters Ann Husmann and Kate McFlinn have publishing in their blood, writes Jazial Crossley in the Dominion Post. Their father, Gil McGhee, published primary school children’s…
Harvard Studies Telecom Split
NZ companies Telecom and Chorus are being used by the Harvard Business School to teach its MBA students, writes Tamsyn Parker in the New Zealand Herald. In 2011, the Government split New Zealand telecommunications…
China Overtakes Australia as NZ’s Biggest Export Market
China has overtaken Australia as New Zealand’s biggest export market for the first time, buying more meat, dairy products and pine logs, while shipments across the Tasman have fallen, says the Sydney Morning Herald. …
Delegat’s Snaps Up Aussie Winery
Auckland-based Delegat’s Group has bought the assets of Australia’s Barossa Valley Estate out of receivership for $24.7 million, according to Australia’s Courier Mail. The winemaker, whose stable includes the Oyster Bay brand, will acquire…
Fiji-NZ Trade Benefits Both Countries
New Zealand exports more than $300 million worth of goods to Fiji. This is more than New Zealand exports to Russia or South Africa. And Fiji can benefit from programs focused on expanding the…
China and New Zealand Trade on Track for $20 Billion by 2015
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister John Key have reconfirmed the target of doubling two-way goods trade between their nations to $NZ20 billion by 2015. ‘Businesses are on track to achieve this, and…
Bastion of the Boat Building Industry
New Zealand is “a bastion of hard-nosed sailing and boating knowledge,” according to The New York Times. “Being so far away from all places except for Australia, they’ve had to make amends generationally, and…
Wireless Contract for Chinese
At least one small nation in the South Pacific isn’t too worried about China’s Huawei Technologies Co. posing a national security risk, writes Fox Business. New Zealand’s biggest telephone company, Telecom Corp. of New…
McIndoe Sculpture Unveiled
The design for a memorial honouring pioneering plastic surgeon, Dunedin-born Sir Archibald McIndoe, the hundreds of Second World War air crew whom he rescued from despair, and the town of East Grinstead crucial in…
Exports Soar to China
New Zealand’s food and beverage sector is experiencing a boom with demand from Asia, particularly China, New Zealand’s second largest export destination country, buying $2.9 billion worth of products. The Investor’s Guide to the…
Integrating Sound in E-books
New Zealand-based company Booktrack is redefining reading in its traditional sense by synchronizing sound to e-book reading in much the same way that movies synchronize sound to images, chair of New…
Chinese infant formula maker to open in NZ
Chinese infant formula giant Yashili International Holdings will invest $NZ230 million in a New Zealand milk processing plant, according to the People’s Daily. The plant will be built just south of Auckland. Zhang Lidian,…
NZ protects Asian tourists from exploitation
New Zealand will ‘not tolerate’ Asian tourists being ripped off, Associate Tourism Minister Chris Tremain is reported saying by the New Straits Times. His comment follows the fining of two New Zealand firms by…
NZ and Taiwan ‘on track’ for trade agreement
New Zealand’s top trade official in Taiwan, Stephen Payton, told the Taipei Times that the two countries are ‘ on track’ to ink a trade pact that will leave people ‘impressed’. Taiwan and New…
Fonterra to launch infant milk formula in China
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra will enter China’s ‘lucative branded infant formula market’ in mid-2013, according to the Straits Times. Fonterra also plans to build its own China milk processing plant in 2014-2016. …
10,000 NZ light bulbs help the Cook islands become energy efficient
The Cook Islands wants to generate 100% of its energy supply from renewable sources by 2020. Encouraging the more efficient use of existing energy resources is a vital part of this transition. Recently, Te…
Shot at Movieland
The New Zealand company behind Queenstown’s Shotover and Hukafalls jet boat tours is collaborating with Italy’s theme park Movieland in Verona to create a one-of-a-kind ride with a theme based on the…
Leader of the Pack at Google
New Zealander Craig Nevill-Manning, Google’s engineering director in Manhattan, was the impetus behind the company’s decision to hire a cadre of engineers in New York, and he led an exodus to Chelsea from what…
Stirring Up the US Market
“Challenging older, slower companies is all in a day’s work to many technology start-ups – and nowhere more so than in New Zealand,” says dual Canadian/New Zealand citizen Andrew Ferrier, currently the chair of New…
PNG an ‘exciting economic opportunity’ for NZ
‘Spectacular’ economic growth makes Papua New Guinea (PNG) an exciting economic opportunity for New Zealand, according to William Dihm, PNG High Commissioner to New Zealand, and Marion Crawshaw, NZ High Commissioner to Papua New…
NZ Companies Office promote private sector growth in the Pacific
Pacific Island delgates attended an Auckland workshop organised by the New Zealand Companies Office and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to develop and reform online/electronic business registries in the Pacific Islands, reports Islands Business….
Doing It for Themselves
“If you are a working woman, you would do well to move to New Zealand,” according to The Economist, who have compiled their own “‘glass-ceiling index’ to show where women have the best chance…
Cable Sector Reflections
“As Neil Berkett prepares to depart the stage, the man who has arguably been the most successful CEO in UK cable said he was immensely proud of what has been built at…
Chile and NZ Sign Agreement on Science
President Sebastián Piñera of Chile has signed a new trade agreement with the visiting Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, writes Elizabeth Trovall of The Santiago Times. The agreement promises shared innovation in…
Britain Gets a Health Lesson
Midlands Health Network in New Zealand is exploring how best to tackle the problem of the country’s ageing population. Midlands Health Network chief executive John Macaskill-Smith explains in the Guardian how Britain’s…
Empowering the People
Lyttelton’s Harbour Co-op, which features in the March issue of Monocle, is a company wholly owned by its customers. “While New Zealand has a strong history of co-operatives, a consumer-owned food-retail…
Keeping Friends and Influencing Nations
Sir Don McKinnon appeared on a BBC ‘Daily Politics’ segment arguing that the Commonwealth is a “pretty good investment” for Britain but it has not “always used it best”. The New Zealander was the…
Clark Calls for Action
Helen Clark is calling for swift action to halt a surge of diseases such as cancer and diabetes in the Pacific, writes the Samoa Observer. Ms. Clark, a former New Zealand Prime Minister, is…
NZ Congratulated for Plain Packaged Cigarettes
New Zealand will follow Australia’s lead in forcing cigarette makers to sell their products in plain packs, writes Dan Harrison, Health reporter for The Age. ‘Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia announced that she would…
Kids TV and Crime Linked
Otago University Professor Bob Hancox has found that the risk of having a criminal conviction in adulthood increases with every hour that children spend watching TV. The New Zealand study followed a group of…
Our Man at Facebook
New Zealander Vaughan Smith, 46, vice-president of mobile partnerships and corporate development at Facebook, was a speaker at the 2013 Mobile World Conference in Barcelona in late February. Smith’s session examined the pros and…
New Zealand Telcos Plan Fibre-optic Link with Australia
New Zealand’s telecommunications companies will build a new $60 million fiber-optic cable connecting New Zealand with Australia. Telecom, Vodafone and Telstra hope to finish the build by the end of 2014. The cable’s capacity…
NZ Police Get Tech Savvy
More than 6,000 New Zealand police officers are getting an iPhone, writes Louis Bedigian in Forbes. Almost 4000 of these officers will also receive an iPad. The deal is ‘the most lucrative Apple has…
Make Your Own Plane
New Zealander John Nicol is the founder of Makerplane, the first open source aviation organization allowing people to download its aeroplane plans for free. Canada-based Nicol says the use of home-based…
New Creatures from the Deep
In a recent joint expedition between the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and the University of Aberdeen, to one of the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean, scientists turned up something…
YouTube Whizz-kid
Corey Harris is a 16-year-old high school pupil from Kerikeri, who likes hanging out with his mates, gaming, photography and spending time on his computer. The bright-eyed teen with spiky hair is also New…
Tim Groser Favorite for WTO Director-General
London bookies Ladbrokes have named Tim Groser, New Zealand’s Trade Minister, ‘joint favourite’ to be the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) new Director-General. Mr Groser is at 3:1 to take out the top job, along…
From the Top and On Fire
New Zealander Victoria Ransom is chief executive of Wildfire, a provider of social media marketing software, which was acquired by Google last year. In an interview with Adam Bryant of The…
Networked Lab Rats
New Zealanders have become the Internet’s most beloved lab rats, according to Bloomberg Businessweek writer Ashlee Vance. New Zealand has a large enough population to adequately test products, and the population is self-contained. Last…
Dotcom Goes MEGA
From his home north of Auckland, former hacker and internet cult hero Kim Dotcom, tells the Guardian his eyes have been opened to US tactics after his Megaupload site was shut down last year….
Tips From The Top
New Zealand’s top performing farms operate on seven principles according to Irish dairy consultant Dr Mary Kinston. Firstly: “Top farmers benchmark against other farm businesses. Eighty-five per cent of farm managers would have a…
Trading Black Gold
New Zealand is famous worldwide for its dairy exports, Sylvia Pfeifer writes for the Financial Times. “Its dairy industry generated $13.9bn in revenues in the year to March 2012. But now the government is…
