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Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/67815
Come on New Zealand! Editor's Note L ast week I spoke at the EPIC NZ Conference in Auckland. This was a new platform for me to present to as I am so used to telling my life story to engaged women's groups. The migrant presentation really did require some thought as the content needed to be relevant to the delegates attending, and provide the very real 'takeaways' that I always like to deliver. I settled on talking about my recent trip to China and the substantive shift that I had in my thinking towards manufacturing in this country. The presentation was well received. I know this given the follow up emails and the direct contact that many delegates made before I left. It did, however, leave me with some food for thought and gave me an insight into a market that exists and is growing in New Zealand which I know very little about. The questions from the floor during Q+A time started the ball rolling. The first was an enquiry as to the percentage of our work force that is migrant. "Not a lot, but at least some," was my reply. "We have at a mix of Indian, Pakistani, Malaysian and Uruguayan in our despatch warehouse and sampling side of the Head Office operation." The second question was "Do I feel that New Zealanders embrace the migrant business workforce in this country?" Definitely not. We still have such a long way to go here and could definitely look to our Australian neighbours to see a working model. It was also interesting to note that one of the delegates, a man running a global business from a rural town, made reference to the fact that we (both he and I) were both the only true New Zealanders in the room. Really! Have we not learnt from Paul Henry! What constitutes a true New Zealander? My origins go back to Germany in my Grandfather's generation, so just because my skin is not coloured that makes me a true New Zealander? I was no more Kiwi than many of the 6 | www.hermagazine.co.nz others who were in the room and have New Zealand citizenship. Now is the time to realise that we are a multicultural society. In the next five years it has been reported that there will be over 800,000 SME migrant businesses adding to the New Zealand economy. I see this is as a pretty important contribution (with very little being drawn from social welfare) and we need to embrace and be thankful for that. Just as we love to eat curry we also need to welcome all aspects that Indian and other cultures can bring to our home environments. The New Zealand way is not the only way and definitely has its weaknesses. "For our economy to experience the growth that we so desperately need maybe we should consider that some of the answer lays in the relationships that we could have with our migrant countryman." The New Zealand way is fast becoming diluted and I for one love that we are a nation of travellers. Those who are working overseas will certainly know what I am talking about. Skin colour and nationality have never been a deciding factor as to whether a relationship is built. It is simply about personality fit! We want a migrant culture that assimilates into New Zealand. Not like Australia where large pockets of Chinese send money out of the country, so don't actually absorb into the culture but act as satellite nations. This is often what gets people's backs up as well, so it works both ways. For our economy to experience the growth that we so desperately need maybe we should consider that some of the answer lays in the relationships that we could have with our migrant countryman. They will have extensive relationships and contacts in their homeland, and these countries are often the ones that have become very necessary trading partners. So surely it would make sense to develop and foster these. Wouldn't it simply put business on the fast track to global growth? Come on New Zealand! Embrace the rest of the world and their entry into our environment. Sure this model will have its failures, but it will also have its successes so make sure you are well positioned to engage. Remain open to opportunities. Here is a great example of just how they whisper: A while ago I was approached by a woman wanting to write for Her Magazine. Not having a lot of budget and possibly a full quota of writers I put her request to the side and said 'No at this stage but I will come back if anything changes', and it did. Farida wrote the cover story for this issue and I also caught up with her at the migrant conference where she told me that she was a former editor of a fashion magazine in India, a place I intend to travel to in mid-October. Yep, you guessed it … she offered to connect me to her contacts in Mumbai; all of whom work from a fashion platform. As I said, opportunities whisper so check them all out. I love getting feedback from our readers, and Letters to the Editor is a great way for me to get your comments and your input to Her Magazine. Email me at: hermag@ strettonpublishing.co.nz