A disruptive economic model created by SheEO.World designed to actively support a small number of women-led ventures with no-interest loans launches in New Zealand today writes Lew Kai Ping for bizEDGE.
Theresa Gattung is behind the local launch of SheEO which aims to bring together 500 local female Activators who contribute $1,100 each ($1, 000 invested to create a perpetual fund and $100 as a program fee) to create a funding pool of $500,000.
The launch kicks off with 50 signed-up Activators whose contribution will be used to support five female-led companies.
Activators have until November 24 to be part of the NZ campaign.
The second part of the model is about the Ventures and the five selected Ventures not only receive funding but also access to a network of buying power and expertise to help them grow their businesses.
“Traditional funding models haven’t worked well for female entrepreneurs and SheEO is all about women funding women to succeed,” says Theresa Gattung, SheEO New Zealand lead.
“We are replicating a proven business model which has dramatically increased revenue, growth and impacted selected SheEO Ventures in other countries. The success of the new system is seeing strong interest from all around the world and New Zealand is the first country outside North America to introduce SheEO,” says Gattung.
New Zealand Venture applications open today October 18 and close on November 24, 2017.
Vicki Saunders, SheEO global founder, says, “I have watched time and again for decades, as investors (mostly men) have put their money into businesses that increase inequality, and perpetuate the cycle of putting more money into fewer hands - five men have the same wealth as a billion people right now – it’s insane - and it literally pulls apart communities
“I didn’t want to simply level the playing field by bringing more women into that broken model, I wanted to create an entirely different one.”
After decades of watching the stagnant numbers - only four percent of venture capital going to women, and less than one percent of corporate procurement going to women-led businesses – SheEO’s model is a breath of fresh air for women innovators and all of the Ventures we supported last year have experienced double-digit revenue growth and we want to build on this momentum to help more female entrepreneurs,” adds Saunders.
“The vast majority of female entrepreneurs do not have mentors. That’s why beyond the funding component, selected Ventures have the opportunity to tap into the Activator’s networks, buying power and expertise to grow their businesses as well as a personalised, guided development program,” says Saunders.
David McLean, Westpac CEO, and major supporter of SheEO in New Zealand says, “By helping to enhance these businesses, it creates a positive financial impact not only on these companies but on the country as well.”
| A bizEDGE release || October 18, 2017 |||
Blockchain start-up Blockfreight has ambitions to serve 360 million shipping containers on blockchain networks by the year 2020, the company’s Australian Founder and CEO, Julian Smith, tells Logistics & Materials Handling.
After many years working on the development of applications for large corporations, universities and government agencies, software engineer Smith became increasingly interested in Bitcoin technology, an interest that eventually led him to the logistics space.
“Bitcoin is a way to digitally track and transfer virtual assets, but a similar type of technology can be used to track and transfer physical assets,” Smith said. “This method has great potential in the logistics space, reducing fraud and increasing efficiency and consistency – effectively leading to a more effective movement of goods between parties on a global framework.”
At the beginning of 2017, Smith founded Blockfreight in San Francisco to commercialise and build a reference implementation for enterprise, designed to act as a blockchain partner to the container logistics industry. He now spends his time between New Zealand, Australia and Blockfreight’s US offices.
To date, Blockfreight has completed a research period and is entering beta trials of its Blockchain technology on global freight, findings and case studies of which Smith will share at the upcoming Supply Chain Management Australia 2017 event, to be held in Sydney in November.
As a firm dealing with a developing technology, Blockfreight is delighted to be investing in Australia, with a three-year commitment to a Melbourne research and development lab, Smith noted.
“I believe Australia is a leading adopter of technology in the Asia-Pacific region and globally,” he said. “This is evidenced by the spectacular growth of vendors such as WiseTech Global, and is also the product of a relatively low population and its distance from major markets.”
“We put a particular emphasis and focus on opportunities for technology-led cost and process efficiencies.”
| A Logistics&MaterialsHandling release || October 17, 2017 |||
New Zealand's top 200 technology companies now have combined revenues of more than $10 billion - and export receipts of $7.3 billion making the sector our third biggest earner of overseas income writes Tim Murphy for Newsroom.
A report prepared by the Technology Investment Network (TIN) released Tuesday night found the technology, high-tech manufacturing and biotechnology sectors now contribute about 10 percent of all New Zealand exports. The 8.5 percent increase in export revenues in the year came despite currency challenges resulting from a higher Kiwi dollar against all major trading nations.
The top two businesses, Datacom Group and Fisher & Paykel Appliances are billion dollar companies by revenue, with Datacom edging its rival to take top rank this year with $1.15 billion in revenue.
The rest of the top 10 are Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Xero Gallagher Group, Orion Health, Douglas Pharmaceuticals, Tait Communications, NDA Group, Temperzone Group and Magic Memories.
Datacom had the largest revenue growth, at $103 million this year ahead of Magic Memories at $89 m and Xero at $88 m, the report said.
| A Newsroom release || October 18, 2017 |||
Locals had been led to believe Baywa AG was expanding
Hawkes Bay apple juice company T&G Foods faces an uncertain future as the owner the gigantic Munich trading house Baywa AG tries to sell it into an unreceptive market
Local fabricators had tooled up anticipating the expansion of the old Turners & Growers business and now they find themselves contemplating the possibility that the business, big by New Zealand standards, but tiny by Baywa’s might simply shut its doors.
Several years ago that The Munich-based company BayWa AG acquired over 100 per cent of the third largest apple producer in New Zealand, Apollo Apples Ltd., through its New Zealand subsidiary Turners & Growers Ltd.:
The on-season/off-season growing cycle made sense at the time.
But now the German firm cites a decline in fruit volumes and a slide in apple juice concentrate prices.
T&G Foods has the capacity to process up to 200,000 metric tonnes of apples and other fruit at its two manufacturing sites, one in Hastings and the other in Nelson.
The company processes apples into apple juice and has also diversified into the production of higher margin fruit ingredient products including diced apple for the food services industry, apple sauce in bulk and small format pouches for retail consumers.
The company was founded in Germany nearly 100 years ago, operates in 34 countries and has nearly 20,000 staff
The uncertainty about the company’s New Zealand apple business is a surprise just because the main problems were well-known at the outset of the acquisition.
These included supply problems due to the widespread pulling up of orchards, and the labour problems involved in the picking of the fruit in the remaining orchards.
Baywa is a conglomerate in that it is involved in energy, notably solar, as well as in building materials, and farm equipment.
The uncertainty over the company’s processing future here comes at a time of intense political sensitivity over the acquisition of New Zealand’s primary resources by foreign firms.
This has been compounded by the worry of local constructors who had been led to believe that the company was on an expansionary path.
| From the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. || Wednesday 18 October 2017 |||
Further reading:
14 June 2014 - The BayWa Group takes over New Zealand's third largest apple producer
16 october 2017 - T&G Global looks to sell food processing T&G Foods unit
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242