Message from the Chair 2019
2019 was the year Family Business New Zealand came to town!
We announced our arrival with a full day workshop on generational families in February. The idea was to demonstrate our capability right from the start and test the market.
Hosted by the Hynds Family at their impressive corporate headquarters in Auckland the first members of our advisor and family business community heard about our plans for the future and learnt from one of the world’s foremost experts on intergenerational succession, Dr Dennis Jaffe. The session was ably facilitated by Richard Boyce from the Boyce Family Office.
Feedback from attendees was hugely positive and gave us confidence to forge ahead. We spent the next few months continuing to build our New Zealand community by word of mouth, marketing activities and, mostly, face to face meetings.
Thanks to the dedication of Greg Griffith and his Australian staff with the support of the Board of Family Business Australia, we were able to go live on 1 July 2019 with a full time Country Manager and a full events schedule.
I was delighted to be able to attend the Family Business Asia Pacific Conference in Melbourne in early September along with some New Zealand family business representatives and advisors.
We held a successful networking event in September kindly supported by Gary Beard of AH Beard, an Australian Family Business with operations in New Zealand. In November Dr Deb Shepherd from Auckland University facilitated a full day workshop on Succession for families in business and earlier this month a large group of members and supporters gathered at the wonderful Sheraton Four Points in Auckland for a Celebrate ’19 social event.
The year has been about building our community and proving ourselves. We definitely now have some great forward and upward momentum. Our Foundation Members have been fantastic supporters and cheer leaders for our brand new organisation and I acknowledge them here: Hynds Family, Hayes Family, Russell Group, AH Beard, Kennards Hire, and Turley Farms. Thank you!
We’re also extremely fortunate Nicole Oswell decided it was time for her to return to her native New Zealand. Nicole was appointed NZ Country Manager and has been tirelessly working to grow our member base and put together an attractive programme of value added events for families in business and advisors. Without Nicole’s efforts we would have made nowhere near the amount of progress we have.
Thanks for all who have joined the Family Business New Zealand community from these early days. We have a great programme for 2020 and I’m confident we’ll reach the targets we’ve set ourselves.
Whatever you are doing for this holiday season and wherever you are I wish you a safe and enjoyable time with your families and friends.
Kind regards
Iain
