On the hunt for NZ’s best exporters — Exporter Magazine

Entries are now open for the 2015 New Zealand International Business Awards, which celebrate the success of New Zealand businesses on the world stage and recognise professional excellence and innovative practice. While the Awards ceremony will be held in March next year, businesses will need to be quick off the mark with entries closing June 11th 2014.

The Awards programme, run by NZTE with support from Strategic Partner ANZ, celebrates the passion and vision of New Zealand’s most outstanding global businesses and business leaders – and benchmarks the contribution they make to growing New Zealand’s economy. 

The programme features a new Award category, He kai kei aku ringa for Māori Excellence in Export. The category recognises the contribution Māori business is making to the New Zealand export economy – the approach, values and tikanga that underpin and uniquely define Māori business.

NZTE Board member Robin Hapi says the category has been created to recognise the value Māori bring to New Zealand’s export economy – through business, investment, labour, innovation, resources, brand stories and values. 

“Māori are heavily invested in the primary sector and other key export industries. This category will raise the profile of that contribution and encourage innovation and greater participation in the export economy.”

Elsewhere, the special categories have been streamlined to reflect excellence across Innovation, Marketing, Operations, Design and Leadership. 

Also new this year is a pitch and tender training session for all entrants. Delivered by private sector advisors, the session will give entrants a taste of business development best practice by providing insights, as well as tried and tested techniques to support them in winning more business internationally. While all entrants will benefit from the session, finalists will have the opportunity to put the training to use when they pitch their business to the judging panel to receive a frank assessment of their strategy and future direction.

Finalists will also have a session with NZTE’s Better by Capital team to explore or accelerate growth finance options, while all entrants will receive two months access to research from the Awards’ independent assessors, Frost & Sullivan.  

Past winners of the Supreme Award have included Beca, Orion Health and 2013 winner Tru-Test.

Tru-Test Group Business Development Manager Brendan O’Connell says the recognition “really adds to the introduction” internationally.

“It helps people assess where the business fits, especially if it’s people overseas and they see that in our home market we’re getting good recognition.”

He adds that as a result of the analysis enabled by the Award process, the company had to look deeper and think long and hard about its business strategy, and how it could be applied to other potential markets. 

“The real benefit of the Awards process was the opportunity to judge ourselves on each aspect of the business. You have a first swipe at where you think you score, and then you look at what ‘better’ and ‘worse’ would look like. This gives you a framework to think, ‘are we truly doing well in this area?’” 

NZTE Chief Executive Peter Chrisp says entering the New Zealand International Business Awards provides numerous benefits for companies.

“The Awards build profile, and recognise what has worked (and what hasn’t). They also help companies take a deeper dive into their business, to refine their strategy for growth.” 

ANZ New Zealand’s Managing Director, Institutional Banking, David Green, says: “ANZ is proud to have been the Strategic Partner of the New Zealand International Business Awards since 2009. In this time the Awards have celebrated a number of outstanding businesses and individuals who have succeeded in pursuing opportunities to grow in offshore markets.”

The Awards judges will be looking for companies that show courage, drive and innovation to build successful international businesses. Judges will want to see how businesses are taking an idea to market, how they have overcome obstacles to get to where they are today, and how they are nurturing the business and preparing for future growth.

The categories for the 2015 New Zealand International Business Awards are:

General categories for International Business

• ANZ Best Business Operating Internationally – Under $10 million

• ANZ Best Business Operating Internationally – $10-$50 million

• ANZ Best Business Operating Internationally – Over $50 million

Special categories for International Business

• Excellence in Innovation

supported by AJ Park

• Excellence in Marketing 

supported by AUT Business School

• Excellence in Operations

supported by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade (MFAT)

• Excellence in Design

supported by Special Group

• He kai kei aku ringa for Māori Excellence in Export

supported by The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), Te Puni Kōkiri, The Treasury

• Excellence in Leadership

supported by KPMG

The deadline for stage one entries is Wednesday 11 June 2014. Winners will be announced at a black tie ceremony on 25 March 2015 in Auckland.

To enter the New Zealand International Business Awards visit www.nziba.co.nz