Air New Zealand was named Australasia’s Leading Airline for the ninth year in a row at the prestigious World Travel Awards announced in Shanghai, China, early yesterday morning.The airline has also been named the inaugural winner o…

While the number of residential properties sold in Auckland in May was low compared to previous years, prices showed no signs of retreating.

“The average sales price for the month at $942,717, and the median price at $846,000, remained rock solid,” said Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson.

“With a sound number of new listings, total listings at their highest for the past five years and low sales, there was greater pressure on prices to fall than has been experienced for some years.

“However, the average and median prices achieved for both have barely moved over the previous three months.

“On a year-on-year basis the average price is now running under 8 percent higher and the median price is 4.5 percent higher.

“For the first five months of this year sales numbers are down about a quarter on what they were for the same period last year.

“The vendors who are achieving a sale are those who accept that prices are flat, and are likely to remain that way until the September election is behind us.

“New listings at 1734 were down 6.6 percent compared to the average number for the previous three months and nine percent lower than they were in May last year. However, they were a third up on those for April.

“It suggests the price slow-down is not leading to a greater number of people than normal listing their property for sale.

“Total listings at 4298 were up a little on last month’s but more than 40 percent higher than at the same time last year.

“Top end properties remained in high demand with 341, or 38.5 percent of all properties sold in May, reaching more than $1 million, and of these 58, or 6.5 percent of properties sold, were for in excess of $2 million.

“Of properties sold during the month, 40, or 4.5 percent, sold for under $500,000.

New Zealand is on track to exceed last year’s level of building consents for new homes, despite building consent data released today by Statistics New Zealand showing a fall in April.Building and Construction Industry Training Orga…

Chow Group Management Limited (“CGML”) has awarded the hotel management contract for their Rotorua property to world leading travel and lifestyle group, AccorHotels. Currently undergoing an extensive refurbishment from a comm…

Supporting New Zealand founders in their endeavours and in their lives

Hot on the heels of the government announcing a commitment of $372.8 million for Business Growth, New Zealand’s national coworking and collaboration operator BizDojo is rallying the private sector to support growth with their initiative Founders Central.

The initiative, which launches today out of BizDojo’s location in the heart of the innovation precinct GridAKL, comprises of an initial series of learning focussed experiments, designed to inform programs and activity that will be rolled out across New Zealand.

Co-founder of BizDojo, and one of the creators of Founders Central, Jonah Merchant says the strength of the project is in its founder-led basis, and focus on targeted solutions.

“Over the years we have been in the unique position of working hands-on growing our own business, while sitting side by side within a community of startups and entrepreneurs. We have seen gaps in the kind of support that is out there for founders and we are keen to do something about that, but we are not interested in shuffling the deck-chairs. We want Founders Central to be truly helpful to our founders community and complementary to the other great things happening now across the NZ ecosystem,” says Jonah.

“A big part of what we are doing in this starting phase is collecting data, experimenting with a solution, looking at the results and then iterating. We are applying a founder logic to the very solutions being crafted.”

Jonah and Co-Founder Nick Shewring decided to launch Founders Central after discussing the concept with BizDojo residents and other founders. The team surveyed the community on “issues relating to support for founders and entrepreneurs on their business journey.”

“We got some excellent feedback from the community. More than 37% of people wanted more appropriate resources, 20% of people called for increased openness and 12% found it confusing navigating the current landscape,” says Nick.

“Our vision is a New Zealand populated by empowered founders and supported by the innovation ecosystem. As New Zealand’s only national coworking provider, we see BizDojo playing a key role in achieving this. BizDojo is a place where founders come for support, guidance, connections and advice to help them and their businesses thrive.”

Founders Central is a rally cry for our vision of healthy, productive founders who are able to work through the stresses of entrepreneurship and creativity and come out the other side with both a successful business but also a successful life.

“We know the need is there, but we cannot do this alone, so we are calling on the ecosystem to help us. With time we can get programs running on our own dime, and we are committed to doing that – but a collaborative approach will mean faster deployment which will be better for everyone,” says Nick.

The current Founders Central initiatives includes education and mentoring around investment and business makeup with BizDojo investors-in-residence Greg Sitters and Ken Erskine, and a founder mental health and wellness project. BizDojo is also supporting ZeroPoint Ventures in its plan to help founders “build their business to the $1 million revenue mark within two years”.

ZeroPoint Ventures provides early-stage funding and coaching and early stage funding for ventures via a unique online business incubation model.

Dan Khan, founder of ZeroPoint Ventures, says BizDojo has been a massive supporter of early-stage entrepreneurs for many years and he is looking forward to working with BizDojo in this space.

“BizDojo has offered us venues and space for our ventures at their coworking spaces throughout the country, which is incredibly exciting for a distributed programme like ours. BizDojo have been massive supporters of the early-stage entrepreneurial ecosystem from the very early days of supporting StartupWeekend where I first met Nick and the team.”

Founders Central launches today and more announcements around the project will be made as new programs roll out.

“As a country we encourage people to become their own bosses, to take on new challenges and to change the world around them. Our wish for Founders Central is that it will help founders on their journey and ensure they achieve the vision they’ve set for themselves,” says Nick.

Enquiries of interest are open for involvement in the initiative at Founderscentral.com 

Toyota New Zealand is excited to announce a partnership with the New Zealand Olympic Committee and Paralympics New Zealand for the next eight years.

It mirrors the global arrangement between Toyota Motor Corporation, and both the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and makes Toyota the first TOP partner to include a financial distribution to National Paralympic Committees.

The scope of the global contract covers all major Olympic and Paralympic events starting with PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in South Korea,the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Argentina, and followed by the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Japan.

“This partnership aligns strongly with our local Believe brand position,” said Alistair Davis, CEO of Toyota New Zealand. “One of our Believe statements is ‘that if you can dream it, you can do it’. This seems to personify the passion that all sportspeople have to excel in their chosen sport. The Olympic and Paralympic Games capture the world’s imagination and inspire millions everywhere to aspire to be the best they can be.”

“It takes huge motivation, determination and self-belief to compete at the Olympic Games,” said Kereyn Smith, CEO of the New Zealand Olympic Committee. “Toyota understand this and their global partnership will help support the success of Olympians around the world. We are also excited that Toyota’s commitment to sustainability will help deliver a positive games legacy at Tokyo 2020.”

“Toyota is the first worldwide Paralympic partner to support all 178 National Paralympic Committees around the world,” says Fiona Allan, CEO of Paralympics New Zealand. “New Zealand has been recognised amongst the top strategic markets for the Paralympic partnership globally and we are thrilled to have secured Toyota’s long term support. I am excited about what this may mean for aspiring Para athletes in communities across New Zealand.”

Toyota will be using the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Japan, Toyota’s home country, to highlight its capacity as a sustainable mobility company with a fleet of environmentally friendly buses as well as a range of Hybrid, Electric and Hydrogen powered vehicles.

With Olympic, World and Commonwealth shot put champion Valerie Adams as one of its brand ambassadors, Toyota New Zealand is already associated with the Olympic movement.

In line with the Olympic Agenda 2020, with sustainability as one of its key pillars, Toyota will work with the Organising Committees through to 2024 to provide sustainable mobility solutions for the Games.

This will help with safer, more efficient mobility, including intelligent transport systems, urban traffic systems and vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems. The partnership will help deliver a mobility legacy in the host cities and countries.

The Toyota Motor Corporation is investing $800 million on the global sponsorship. The IOC and IPC use their discretion to determine how the funds are allocated to further to the Olympic and Paralympic Movements.

Locally the details of the support provided by Toyota New Zealand to the New Zealand Olympic Committee and Paralympics New Zealand have yet to be finalised.