The growing presence of female leaders in the global business landscape has been an inspiring trend in the past decades. Women have been underrepresented in leadership roles for too long, and it is encouraging to see shifts in trends as female leaders make their mark, shattering the glass ceiling and creating unparalleled impacts.
To illustrate, among Fortune 500 companies, the number of female CEOs reached a new record of 52, accounting for 10.4% of the CEOs featured in the list. As leaders, women bring unique skill sets that can significantly transform the workplace culture for the better, leading with compassion, ethics, and respect, and strengthening workplace diversity and inclusion in ways that foster innovation, imagination, and business resilience.
When it comes to female leadership, New Zealand has long been known as a champion of equality and inclusivity. In 1893, it became the first country to grant women the right to vote — a revolutionary move that sparked similar movements around the world. The country is also ranked 4th out of 156 countries on WEF’s Global Gender Gap Index, showcasing its strong commitment to gender equity. Subsequently, New Zealand prides itself on creating an inclusive and values-led business environment that puts it at the forefront of sustainable innovation.
In line with the country’s sustainability strategy, apart from striving to achieve its ambitious net-zero carbon emissions goal by 2050, businesses in New Zealand also prioritise responsible investment which generates a positive impact on society and the environment while generating strong financial returns. These macroenvironment conditions set a perfect stage for New Zealand to become a nurturing incubator for female-led businesses.
Strides for empowering female leadership in business
Despite the positive changes in women’s representation in leadership, women still experience various challenges as they seek new heights in their careers due to their lack of two fundamental enablers: confidence and connections. Hence, organised by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) last month on 7 June 2023, the 2023 InvestHER Singapore Investment Showcase — an all-female founder-focused event — was launched to empower female leaders and entrepreneurs by providing them with opportunities to present their business projects and make valuable connections with key regional stakeholders in the ecosystem.
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The InvestHER 2023 showcase featured inspiring pitches from 7 successful women leaders, highlighting their achievements and progress in the investment and entrepreneurship space, ultimately shining the spotlight on the New Zealand tech and businesses landscape. The event provided an excellent platform to celebrate female representation within different industries while also highlighting the unique challenges faced by women in business today.
The participating businesses covered a wide range of industries including new construction materials, cosmetic and pharmacological sectors, healthcare, and so on. These businesses are as follows:
- Dr Olivia Ogilvie, co-founder and CEO of Opo Bio Aotearoa, a deep R&D initiative involving supplying cells exclusively from New Zealand to the cultivated meat industry. Olivia, a Research Fellow at the University of Canterbury, conducts postdoctoral research on cultivated meat policy aligned with the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, all of which are part of her passion for technology commercialisation and the future of food.
- Zarina Bazoeva, co-founder and Managing Director of Neocrete, a company built with the mission of making buildings more durable and sustainable, with a long-term goal of delivering carbon-negative concrete. Zarina, an experienced Business and Financial Advisor, founded Neocrete with the goal of redefining construction to create stronger and more durable concrete made with volcanic ash to address environmental challenges in the construction space.
- Karyna Young, Chairperson of EnPot, whose EnPot technology helps reinvent smelters into virtual batteries capable of providing valuable storage and backup power to the world’s electricity grids. She has over 20 years of experience supplying manufacturing, maintenance, and consulting services to Aluminium Smelters worldwide, overseeing the Heating R&D team and emerging markets, and holding the seat of Chief Executive of the Yunca Group.
- Andrea Taimana, Founder and Chief Science Officer of Organic Bioactives, a business that identifies and elevates the bioactive potential of ingredients, using proven scientific methodology in the formulation of cosmetic and pharmacological sectors. She is an award-winning cosmetic chemist and L’Oréal innovation winner, specialising in developing innovative skincare bioactives from unique native New Zealand botanicals, exporting them globally while incorporating her knowledge of Te Reo Māori and Rongoa Māori for a blend of cultural tradition and advanced cosmeceutical innovation.
- Grace Glass, co-founder of Natural Paint Co, which worked with leading paint chemists and created natural, plant-based paints and oils that far exceed industry standards, while solving colossal sustainable and ethical issues within the industry. Grace, a former nurse, founded Natural Paint Co in 2015 to transform the chemical coatings industry by creating environmentally friendly, high-quality paints that surpass market standards and address sustainability and ethical concerns, reshaping the industry.
- Dr Angela Lim, CEO and co-founder of Clearhead, a one-stop-shop online mental health platform empowering humans to find the help they need through simple and secure access to mental health and healthcare services. She is a Paediatric doctor with Harvard research experience who founded Clearhead to utilise AI in transforming access to care. Clearhead’s AI empowers individuals to manage their well-being, while also assisting businesses in addressing workplace well-being through data insights and a global network of mental health professionals.
- Dr Sandra Grau Bartual, Founder and CEO of RespirAq, a heated humidifier with an integrated filter that is able to switch within 100 milliseconds between a super-hydrophilic state (to capture moisture during expiration) and a super-hydrophobic state (which returns the moisture during inspiration) for patients on artificial ventilation. The Spanish-born 33-year-old has published several journal articles and authored and patented three international inventions during her academic career, which ultimately led her to founding RespirAq with the goal of commercialising a groundbreaking medical airway humidification technology.
“I had the pleasure of speaking at the InvestHER Singapore Investment Showcase — which showcased some of New Zealand’s amazing wāhine-led businesses. The InvestHER event will bring together investors, key ecosystem players, and women-in-business champions to connect and build relationships to help bring these businesses to the world,” expressed Rino Tirikatene, New Zealand’s Minister of Trade and Export Growth, and Minister of Courts.
The movement behind InvestHER 2023 aims to provide support and guidance for businesswomen who are looking for ways to scale up their operations or launch new projects. The event also opened opportunities for mentorship, networking, financial advice, and potential partnerships and collaborations tailored towards empowering female leaders on their growth quests. Furthermore, the event enabled female founders to showcase their products and services as well as their growth plans to a slew of investors, which could potentially yield long-term partnerships.
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In addition to spotlighting female founders, InvestHER 2023 saw an emphasised importance towards sustainable development-oriented business ideas and practices. For instance, Organic Bioactives attempts to source all of its ingredients from New Zealand by regenerative harvesting. The company has developed an award-winning green proprietary extraction method which removes the need for chemical solvents. Furthermore, the company sources botanicals from local remote indigenous communities that are applying traditional harvesting practices passed down to ensure the upholding of environmental and social responsibilities in accordance with their traditional customs.
This unique collaboration offers employment opportunities for female indigenous harvesters and enables them to support their local communities. Organic Bioactives demonstrates how businesses can be sustainable whilst providing premium and 100% natural cosmetic active ingredients both locally and globally, aligning with New Zealand’s broader business culture built on values that prioritise doing good while doing well. In representing the New Zealand story, Organic Bioactives holds the “New Zealand FernMark” Licence issued by the New Zealand government to further promote authenticity and trust in their business and the products they offer to the market.
Exploring scale-up and growth opportunities between New Zealand and Singapore
“Singapore is one of New Zealand’s most significant trading partners, with whom we have a complementary and dispute-free trade relationship,” shared Rino Tirikatene.
Singapore and New Zealand have a long-standing relationship, with Singapore being New Zealand’s largest trading partner in Southeast Asia and the fourth-largest globally. The two countries saw a total of NZD $10,407 million in two-way trade in 2022. This strong partnership has been built on mutual trust, historical ties, and shared ambitions for growth and prosperity. In fact, New Zealand’s fierce appreciation of the land and desire to deliver a sustainable economy for future generations complements Singapore’s national sustainability movement, paving opportunities for collaboration to drive productive, sustainable economies across the world.
New Zealand is known as a global thought leader on climate change and sustainability issues. This is perhaps most visible in the country’s ambitious commitment to also reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and in the fact that they are already 85% of the way towards a fully renewable electrical grid.
In recent years, there has been increasing emphasis on leveraging technology for economic development in both Singapore and New Zealand. With its world-class infrastructure, well-developed talent pool, and access to global markets, Singapore is uniquely positioned to be a great partner for tech companies looking at expanding into the region or exploring new opportunities across Southeast Asia Pacific (SEAP). Both countries also share common goals such as doubling down on digital transformation initiatives which further enhance their ability to collaborate through knowledge-sharing and best practices exchange between both economies.
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Finally, it is worth noting that collaboration between the two nations has extended beyond traditional sectors such as trade and manufacturing and into new areas such as HealthTech, AgrifoodTech, CleanTech, and FinTech to accelerate their digital transformation. Other areas for cooperation include Creative Services, Edutech, and Learning and Development to engender powerful synergies for digital readiness.
InvestHER 2023 is one of the many initiatives that embolden transnational partnerships between New Zealand and Singapore, enabling a mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries while supporting each other’s initiatives in the context of empowering female leaders in business as well as cultivating a culture of sustainable development.
To find out more about the work of the investment team at NZTE, please visit: https://www.nzte.govt.nz/page/invest-or-raise-capital-with-nzte
About NZTE
Te Taurapa Tūhono | New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) is the New Zealand government’s international business development agency.
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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Allison+Partners
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