Tim Calder

New Zealand Trade & Enterprise Escalator is holding two workshops in June (11th in Auckland and 18th in Wellington) to help those of us interested in developing successful Web Based Businesses. ”The internet continues to provide an untapped opportunity for business wealth. Yet it is also one of the biggest money pits, creating many businesses that are not investible” (NZTE). Our local Dunedin web success is Vouchermate which allows people to cut & paste a range of vouchers onto an online form which can be printed out and used at a wide variety of New Zealand businesses. Vouchermate is a great example of what the Dunedin Business Incubator “UPSTART” can do to help your business successfully grow. I have a couple of Web Businesses in early stages of conceptualisation so am keen to learn from four of NZ’s rising stars (Torpedo7, Sonar6, PlanHQ, StarNow) which will be presenting on the day.

Last night I attended Mike Taylor’s talk about “The New Zealand and Global Economy” and his boutique investment company piefunds [Pie Australasian Growth Fund] at South Bar on Frederick Street. Portfolio Investment Entities (PIEs) have become increasingly popular with the change in tax laws on 1 October 2007. In particular, natural persons will be taxed differently where they invest in a PIE as capital gains derived by PIEs in relation to New Zealand and certain listed Australian companies are not subject to tax. Mike stipulates that Pie Funds investment philosophy is “simple, uncomplicated and based on finding value in growth oriented companies”. Mike has worked for a number of large financial institutions both domestically and in the UK, including institutional equities dealer for ABN Amro NZ, FX Derivatives, Merrill Lynch UK, and recently as a Manager for Bank of Scotland NZ, supporting private equity bidders and large property developers with bespoke debt solutions.

The Start.Manage.Grow event was a great way to get introduced to the new business services on offer from our well known government departments and to meet their local representatives. Hon Clayton Cosgrove introduced the National Launch of these new business services in Dunedin last night where he highlighted the significant value of SME’s to the overall New Zealand economy and how the government plans to support their development with the new publication & website ”Start, Manage and Grow your business“. Local entrepreneur Nigel Bamford from Escea explained how these services were fundamental to the sucess of his firm and how providing cash grants for R&D were particularly important. 

It was great to be part of the 10th of May Graduation Ceremony where I graduated with my Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Entrepreneurship. The best part was the address from the guest speaker the great David Kirk who talked about the need for us graduates to try new career opportunities that confront us. I will graduate with the Otago MBA that I am currently studying for in 2010 which will complete my University Education. The only disappointment of the day was that the Highlanders were beaten by the Blues in front of their home crowd. Our party made the second half after a perfect dinner at Plato. 

For the past six months Pierre-Em De La Bussiere and myself have been putting together a deal to purchase and grow Dunedin based company Kiwitub Ltd. In 2004 Steve August was granted a patent for his innovative invention called the Kiwitub. Since then the product has been developed into a seriously portable hot tub which is light weight, requires no chemicals, no plumbing, and no electricity and is easily run on gas or firewood. We will be showing this truly unique product at the Waikato Fieldays in June where we will be located in the New Invention Section. For those of you that enjoy the outdoors and don’t have the time for the routine maintenance of a spa the Kiwitub is for you.

Last night was a hugely successful night for the Otago University School of Business as it hosted a dinner at the University Staff Club for all past and present MBA graduates, lectures, as well as supportive local business people which make the MBA Business Study Case Reports possible. The speaker for the night was former TVNZ presenter Susan Wood who is also an Otago MBA graduate. Susan spoke about her high profile career as a television journalist and how tricky it has been to reinvent herself to pursue other career opportunities. It was great to speak to so many other people that have completed there degrees and to hear where their careers have been taking them. Many of whom traveled a long way to be there. Hats off to the organisers as this night was truly an exceptional event.

Wednesday night at 6pm the rescheduled University A’s verse B’s Rugby game will kick off. There has been only once in History when the University B’s has beaten the University A’s. It has been quite a rough start to the year for both teams as the A’s are third to bottom of the table and the B’s are bottom. Never before have both teams been so close to being equal. This has been helped by the good recruiting skills of the B’s coaches along with the collapse of the local Rugby League competition providing the team with an injection of fresh talent.

BioSouth is Dunedin’s network of biotechnology and technology-based businesses. Through the Otago MBA Business School I received an invite to their biannual showcases held in in the Conference Room of the Dunedin Art Gallery. I thoroughly enjoyed this showcase as someone interested in business with out having a background in science. The next upcoming event is the Student Function on the 28th of May. This event will showcase some of the exciting career prospects that students have in Dunedin and will be held at the Centre for Innovation on the University of Otago campus.

It was great to be able to attend my first Alumni AGM of St Peter’s School, Cambridge on the weekend. It has been a long time since I have been back to have a good look around at all the new buildings and facilities. Friend and fellow CSG director Hugh Taylor was voted onto the committee to represent our year. I am now looking forward to the next event which will be the Otago University reunion of St Peter’s School Alumni in August at Eureka Bar & Cafe, Dunedin. 

On the 3rd of April the first seats, corporate boxes, and lounges for the new stadium go on sale at the Town Hall. This is an exclusive offering to the Our Statium Supporters club, Dunedin Club, and Chamber of Commerce members. This will be an excellent event for those wishing to get a good deal on the first offering of stadium products. I am currently working with Darren Burden on providing a package for Alumni of Otago University whereby they could get preferential booking rights to lounge and corporate seats for all the big events.