5 September 2022

Following the successful event series in July, we brought our Te Ara Tipu cohort together again last week. Hosted in Auckland this time, students attended a range of activities, including a visit to NZTE, a panel discussion on doing business with the Asia-Pacific, a visit to Fonterra, and the CAPE conference titled “The Context: Asia-Pacific Summit”. Te Ara Tipu – Path of Growth – is the CAPEs’ national tertiary student programme which runs from April to November.

The August event series had a strong business theme, and students learned from first-hand experiences and insights from industry experts on working in the Asia-Pacific region. A definite highlight was the CAPE Summit with its strong line-up of speakers, as well as the Te Ara Tipu specific panel discussion where students heard from three high-profile speakers in a very intimate environment.

The main learning that came out of the event series was that relationship building is key to working successfully with people from the Asia-Pacific. Small gestures such as taking time to listen to people’s stories, how they contribute to the work you both do, celebrating their successes, and giving importance to local holidays and customs will go a long way. In line with that, many speakers agreed that one of the most commonly made mistakes working with the Asia-Pacific is to ‘rush things’.

Highlights

On the first day, we were hosted by Ivy Huang, Market Manager for Greater China, and Victoria Austen-Hayward, Customer Advisor at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE). They gave our group an overview of the types of supports NZTE provides to businesses, what their day-to-day work looks like, and how NZTE fits into the wider ecosystem of government organisations such as MFAT, MB, and MPI.

This visit as followed by a panel discussion for which we were able to secure Amber Taylor, Co-Founder/CEO at Ara Journeys, independent adviser and keynote speaker Ziena Jalil, and Mark Anderton, Executive General Manager – Global Sourcing at the Warehouse Group. Speakers shared their stories and experience on working with people in the Asia-Pacific region. Getting these three high-profile speakers together in a small room gave our students space to freely ask questions and share their own thoughts and comments.

We finished the first day with a visit to Fonterra who put a lot of effort into hosting our students. We heard from Ella Tunnicliffe-Glass, Strategy Manager, Shaheen Junge, Community Engagement and Social Investment Manager, and Lee Stewart, Head of Corporate Sustainability, about Fonterra’s global strategy, their community engagement, and suitability pledge. Our students really enjoyed this unique opportunity to get an insight into the operations of NZ’s biggest global player.

On the second and final day, Te Ara Tipu students attended the CAPE conference “The Context: Asia-Pacific Summit”. This was an action-packed day of keynotes, panel talks, and workshops with well-known speakers, such as Steven Renata, Managing Director, Kiwa Digital, Katy Bluett, Establishment Director, Future Food Aotearoa, and Mitchell Pham, Co-Founder and Director, CodeHQ Chair, NZ Tech.

We already look forward to hosting the cohort again in November!