Business leaders highlight trade ties

A vibrant meeting of business leaders took place in Auckland last week. And they all shared a common objective to build and enhance the business relationship between New Zealand and India.

The Business Leaders India Forum was jointly hosted by the Office of Ethnic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. There was also the support of the India New Zealand Business Council and the Asia New Zealand Foundation while the ANZ Bank was a strategic partner. Significantly it was the first time that Ethnic Affairs had partnered with private sector entities.

Ethnic Affairs Minister Pansy Wong, speaking at the forum, lauded the co-operation, believing it signalled a new and exciting opportunity to significantly progress the business relationship between the two countries.

Mervin Singham, Director, Office of Ethnic Affairs, said it was a unique example of co-operation between government agencies and private sector entities. “Partnering with the ANZ Bank has given us the opportunity to deliver a substantial forum that will enhance the business relationship between the two countries. With ANZ active in the Indian business space they brought some useful perspectives to the discussions and presentations throughout the forum. ”

For participants it was a lively and stimulating day of activities. Among the array of attending participants was - a familiar figure to most - former Black Caps cricket Captain Stephen Fleming.

Fleming said investing in building networks and relationships between New Zealand and Indian business people was undoubtedly the key to success. “By bringing people together in one room for this forum we could share ideas and wisdom.”

Consistent themes highlighted throughout the day included the rapidly changing business environment in India; the need to aggressively market the New Zealand brand across India and the potential opportunities emerging in the Indian market.

Participants seized on these themes and were more than happy to share the ideas that flowed in the plenary sessions. One such commonly mentioned idea was the need for mentoring. It is seen as crucial to providing essential expertise to build linkages and alliances between New Zealand and Indian businesses. This could be, for example, on a purely commercial basis or on a shared basis where the New Zealand business brings the skill base and the Indian partner company delivers the capital.

Throughout the day there was the constant reminder of the pace of change in the Indian market. Over the past 30 years as more and more of the Indian population has become urbanised so has the demands and expectations of the consumer economy. Speakers were happy to hammer this point and emphasise the new opportunities this brings.

Increased potential to export expertise, alongside the more traditional commodity focus is one such are of major change. New markets in education, sustainability, technology, health and wellness and food were identified as areas of real opportunity.

In the case of Ina Bajaj, founder and manager of East Day Spa, one of Australasia’s premiere spa companies, these opportunities are well and truly being embraced. “Working with India is valuable for East Day Spa as we are able to source high quality, custom-designed products and order production runs to suit the size of our business. he quality of the product has got better and better over the past ten years and the attention to detail is unsurpassed,” she says.

And in the printing industry space the realisation of this potential is no better illustrated than by Steve D’Souza’s Christchurch based company Kalamazoo. State-of-the-art technology keeps Steve close to the action at each of the entities, including dedicated servers that provide online access from anywhere in the world.
“Doing business with India is like nurturing a child. We know that he is going to be a big strong man, who will help future generations through friendships that he will create.”

Without a doubt the current relationship is in good heart. That was evident during the recent forum. The determination is there alongside generous goodwill, a healthy appreciation of the risks and opportunities and above all a commitment to growing the relationship.

With government agencies working proactively with the business associations and private sector providers there is a sense of urgency that some participants say had been lacking for too long.

And with the Free Trade Agreement, currently under negotiation, Pansy Wong’s expectations of progressing the business relationship are perhaps on the cusp of being realised.