Dec 18, 2017  -  The Whangaparaoa Community Recycling Centre has found a way to harness the power of the sun as it gears up for the busy festive season. The recycling centre recently began using a solar-powered wheelie bin lifter for glass recycling after being granted $11,000 by the Glass Packaging Forum (GPF). The machine, which was custom made by Simpro Engineering, lifts bins filled with colour-sorted container glass and tips it into a storage container at the small site.

The glass can then be transported to New Zealand’s only glass manufacturers O-I New Zealand to be remade into new glass bottles and jars. The previous system saw workers manually pull the bins up a ramp and tip the glass out.

Sustainable North Trust trustee Betsy Kettle says the bin lifter is a great addition to the operation. “The workers love it because it eliminates the manual strain on their backs and frees up the space taken by the rusty old glass ramp.

“Having the extra space also means that the glass collection truck doesn’t have to shift the bins in the parking lot across the street, making the Whangaparaoa Road safer, too,” she says.

The recycling centre is once again expecting a busy festive season as the number of recycled glass bottles and jars increases over the summer. The new bin lifter gives them the capacity to deal with the extra load, Kettle says.

The site does not have a power supply, meaning it is essential the bin lifter be solar-powered. It also powers the center’s eftpos machine and can recharge the staff cell phones, she says.

The Sustainable North Trust and Community Business and Environment Centre (CBEC) jointly run the recycling centre under contract to Auckland Council. The recycling centre handles around seven tonnes of glass a month.

The GPF promotes the environmental benefits of glass packaging and manages the accredited GPF Product Stewardship Scheme. It allocated grants to fund infrastructure, research, events and public place recycling to increase the volume of recycled glass going back to the furnace at O-I, or for alternative uses for recycled glass.

| A Glass Recycling Forum release  ||  December 18, 2017   |||

Dec 15, 2017  -  When six Wintec Māori and Pasifika engineering students volunteered for work experience at Longveld recently, they got to work on a very special project. Together they have made the framework for Hamilton’s Matariki Interactive Waka sculpture.

The work undertaken by the students on the waka ‘skeleton’ complemented their trade training as it required them to weld and assist with cutting steel while experiencing a real-world workplace.

Longveld directors Pam and Les Roa launched their business with little more than a toolbox, a welder and some great trade skills in the early 90s. They celebrate innovation and believe very strongly in culture and wellbeing. Their adoption of mātauranga Māori principles added a welcoming, cultural dimension to the students’ experience.

“We’re no strangers to interesting projects, in fact at Longveld we relish the challenge. To work with students who are embarking on a career in engineering, and at the same time help to create something that is so culturally significant for our community, is really inspiring for our team,” says Pam.

The students have been mentored by Longveld engineer Jemoal Lassey who says he has a new respect for teaching and learning.

“Upskilling these students, who I hope will become part of a new generation of engineers, was a reminder of how important it is to get the basics right, learn by doing and to ask questions along the way and challenge better ways of doing things,” says Jemoal.

Wintec tutor and PhD candidate Joe Citizen is behind the multidisciplinary Matariki Interactive Waka project which to date has involved Wintec students studying trades, engineering, early childhood education and media arts working with industry partners and Wintec’s Māori Achievement team.

“I can’t say enough how awesome it is that Longveld are involved and through this project they are mentoring our students. It was just wonderful to walk in there and see how they’re getting top-level mentorship in making a prototype that informs the cladding process,” says Joe.

“It’s real hands-on stuff. What’s particularly cool is the way I’m learning from the students, as they could tell me what the hard parts were and what they think needs to be done next.

“The next part will be working on the illuminated access hatches, which need to be integrated into the cladding design.”

Looking ahead, there are exciting plans for the Matariki Interactive Waka project as the sculpture nears completion in time for a June 2018 installation at Hamilton’s Ferrybank. Wintec media arts, business and IT students will work together to create an app with the sensor data from the waka project. Sustainable energy options have been researched by Wintec electrical engineering students and next year will see their implementation, using solar and wind solutions.

BackgroundThe multidisciplinary Matariki Interactive Waka project was developed by Wintec tutor and PhD candidate Joe Citizen. Joe envisaged this project as a public art installation that encompassed many of the disciplines and values related to his research.

The seven metre tall interactive sculpture is being built with a stainless-steel skeleton and clad in 3mm corten plate, and will utilise an interactive design that engages with the seven stars of Matariki through LED lighting and ambient soundtracks. The interactive sculpture will be activated by movement and its environmental sensor network will operate at dawn and dusk.

The sculpture will be situated at Hamilton’s Ferrybank, having gained unanimous consent from the Hamilton City Council at both its concept and siting stages. It is a collaborative, consultative, multidisciplinary partnership with Wintec’s researchers, Media Arts, IT and Māori Achievement teams, guided by Wintec kaumātua Tame Pokaia.

Current industry partnerships include Longveld, ACLX, and Taranaki-based MechEng. More than $100,000 of funding has been secured so far, with donations, grants, and in-kind support received from Perry Group, Trust Waikato, WEL Trust, Longveld and Wintec.

Follow the Matariki Interactive Waka Project on Facebook.

Homepage image: Artist's impression, the Matariki Interactive Waka sculpture at Ferrybank, Julian Smith.

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Dec 15, 2017  _  Why Hermpac chose Flow Software for EDI…  When its trading partners requested electronically-submitted invoices, building supplies manufacturer Herman Pacific looked to Flow Software to provide the necessary integration. In a low-touch solution, the company now seamlessly interfaces with the various enterprise resource planning systems used by its major vendors, with the efficiency and performance advantages it enjoys also extending to its partners.

Herman Pacific – or Hermpac – is New Zealand’s leading manufacturer and supplier of specialty timber products. Established in in 1974 with a simple promise, ‘quality first and second to none’, the privately and 100 percent locally owned company operates out of a 9-acre facility in Silverdale, north of Auckland, with further sales and warehousing facilities in both Wellington and Christchurch. In addition to its flagship Western Red Cedar timber, Hermpac offers over 15 different hardwood and softwood options, matched with a range of solutions from the ground up: flooring, decking, weatherboard, cladding, mouldings and paneling.

| SituationWith the march of time, the old methods of handling business administration are replaced with the new. Greg Crawford, Hermpac’s group accountant, explains that the major merchants with which the company works, updated their policies to require all invoices to be submitted electronically. “Previously, we were sending invoices by printing and posting them. This is a business process which we are increasingly seeing digitised for very good reasons, as it reduces errors, lowers costs and results in a much faster delivery of the paperwork,” he notes.

The merchants to which he refers are the large retailers and trade suppliers of building supplies across New Zealand such as Placemakers, ITM, Carters, Mitre10 and Bunnings. “Using the postal system is increasingly inefficient and the time taken for processing on our side and that of the customer isn’t good enough. All our major merchants want a similar sort of thing, with invoices going directly into Accounts Payable and lining up with order processing. It means they don’t need people keying in information and it reduces the chances of mistakes.”

| SolutionWhile a point-to-point integration doesn’t present any major challenges, the picture does get more complex when considering the multiple ERP systems in use by various customers, says Crawford. “Each of our major merchants uses a different system and we need to integrate with all of them,” he points out.

However, he says with Flow Software’s experience, addressing each integration has proven a surprisingly simple, low-touch task.

He explains a typical integration: “We get a Message Information Guide (MIG) pack from the merchant which details their requirements – and Flow generally already has that anyway. We pass over the contact details of the merchant as well as the people who support our Dynamics SL ERP [Adaptable Consulting].”

Flow’s technical people installed their middleware software at Hermpac, and within Dynamics SL, Adaptable created several views which were accessed by Flow’s technicians. “Those views come from our SQL database and are dumped into the Flow server, which checks every 10 minutes or so for invoices which are then sent to our customer by EDI.”

Getting it done, Crawford again notes, took very little effort aside from coordination between Flow and Adaptable Consulting. “And there was already a working relationship there – so engaging with a trusted partner with a proven track record really made this easy, with basically the same process for every one of our customers which wanted invoice integration.”

He has praise for the flexibility of Flow’s integration and the lateral thinking of its people; one customer required a feed of electronic purchase orders into Hermpac’s systems before invoices could be sent the other way. But there was a problem, as Crawford explains: “We didn’t want the PO going directly into our systems, as when we are supplying specialty timber solutions, it has to be carefully checked to be sure the right product is selected. If it is wrong, it must be corrected, cancelled and resent, creating an administrative overhead.”

Flow created a workaround, which saw the incoming POs captured and held, allowing for evaluation, before continuing the process. To the merchant, the process is seamless, while for Hermpac, there is no need to worry about incorrectly specified orders going into its systems.

| ResultsIntegrating with its trading partners, say Crawford, has gone off without a hitch. “For each EDI implementation, Flow asks for sample orders, sets them up as tests in the system and works with the recipients. When all parties are happy with the testing, we get an OK, go live and we haven’t had an issue.”

With the first such go live in February 2016, and a further three merchants since the original integration and a fifth being added at present, he says Hermpac has had ample opportunity to test the reliability and durability of the Flow integrations.

Electronic integration, Crawford says, dramatically accelerates invoice processing while eliminating the costs of printing, paper and postage. “Customers get their invoices a lot quicker. We save time and money. And it is more reliable.”

Which isn’t to say all Hermpac’s customers are receiving EDI invoices. Some prefer an emailed PDF document, while others still prefer snail mail. He says the company’s systems are set up to provide options for the preferred mechanism of information exchange depending on individual requirements.

Asked if he would go through the process of invoice EDI again, Crawford has no hesitation. “If it was with Flow I would. They have the expertise, they understand this well and they made it work without any headaches or issues. And their lateral thinking is of great value.”

| Source:  Flow Software  ||  December 15, 2017   |||

 December17 Edition Click here to open

Dec  13, 2017  -  Earlier this year, we committed to placing 55 billion XRP in a cryptographically-secured escrow account to create certainty of XRP supply at any given time. As promised, today we completed the lockup.  By securing the lion’s share of XRP in escrow, people can now mathematically verify the maximum supply that can enter the market. While Ripple has proved to be a responsible steward of XRP supply for almost five years – and has clearly demonstrated a tremendous track record of investing in and supporting the XRP ecosystem – this lockup eliminates any concern that Ripple could flood the market, which we’ve pointed out before is a scenario that would be bad for Ripple!

This move underscores Ripple’s commitment to building XRP liquidity and a healthy and trusted market. Long term, the value of digital assets will be determined by their utility. XRP has emerged as the only digital asset with a clear institutional use case designed to solve a multi-trillion dollar problem – the global payment and liquidity challenges that banks, payment providers and corporates face.

Unlike other digital assets purely driven by unexplained speculation, real institutional customers are already using and finding value in XRP, and governments, regulators and central banks are increasingly recognizing the role it could play in the global system.

XRP goes beyond what Bitcoin does well — a store of value — and delivers transaction speed and throughput that is orders of magnitude faster than BTC or ETH. While other digital assets continue to bump against their transaction limits, XRP remains the fastest, most efficient and most scalable digital asset in the world – making it the best digital asset for payments. It’s no surprise that institutions are looking to XRP to provide much-needed on-demand liquidity for cross-border payments.

Game changer for $XRP! 55 billion XRP now in escrow Tweet This

Here’s how the escrow works:

The Escrow feature in the XRP Ledger allows parties to secure XRP for an allotted amount of time or until specific conditions are met. For example, Escrow allows a sender of XRP to put conditions on exactly when a payment can be completed, so the payment remains cryptographically locked until the due date.

We use Escrow to establish 55 contracts of 1 billion XRP each that will expire on the first day of every month from months 0 to 54. As each contract expires, the XRP will become available for Ripple’s use. You can expect us to continue to use XRP for incentives to market makers who offer tighter spreads for payments and selling XRP to institutional investors.

We’ll then return whatever is unused at the end of each month to the back of the escrow rotation. For example, if 500M XRP remain unspent at the end of the first month, those 500M XRP will be placed into a new escrow account set to expire in month 55. For comparison, Ripple has sold on average 300M XRP per month for the past 18 months.

Ripple’s vision remains the same – to enable the Internet of Value in which money moves like information moves today – and XRP is at the heart.

To learn more, please visit ripple.com/xrp.

| A Ripple release  ||  December 7, 2017   |||

Dec 8, 2017  -  Rocket Lab plans to roll out the company’s second light-class Electron rocket to its launch pad in New Zealand on Thursday for final countdown preparations, but officials have delayed liftoff to no earlier than Friday night, U.S. time.  The Electron booster, standing roughly 55 feet (17 meters) tall, could blast off from Rocket Lab’s commercial launch pad as soon as 0130 GMT Saturday (8:30 p.m. EST Friday) at the opening of a four-hour launch window. The launch opportunity opens at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in New Zealand.

Rocket Lab says it has a wider window to launch the rocket, with four hours each day through Dec. 17.

Liftoff with three commercial CubeSat payloads was planned as soon as Thursday night, U.S. time, but officials said they needed more time.

The company transported the Electron vehicle to its launch base last month, after completing full-up hotfire testing. The launch team rehearsed countdown procedures last week, and practiced loading kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the rocket.

“We did a hotfire campaign as a big preparatory test, so all that was done over a month ago,” said Shaun O’Donnell, Rocket Lab’s vice president of global operations. “The wet dress rehearsal went really well. It went really smooth, especially for our first run at it, so we’re really confident.”

Ground crews at the launch site on Mahia Peninsula, on the east coast of New Zealand’s southern island, planned to transfer the two-stage rocket from its assembly hangar to Launch Complex 1 overlooking the Pacific Ocean Thursday, U.S. time, a Rocket Lab spokesperson told Spaceflight Now.

The rocket will be raised vertically on its launch mount, and Rocket Lab officials will assess the launcher’s readiness and weather conditions before proceeding with the countdown Friday.

The Electron rocket’s second launch comes more than six months after Rocket Lab’s first orbital launch attempt, which ended prematurely May 25 when a ground tracking computer feeding data to the range safety team stopped receiving signals from the launcher around four minutes after liftoff.

The flight safety officer inside Rocket Lab’s launch control center followed established procedures and sent the command to shut down the Electron’s second stage engine after the data dropout.

Investigators traced the mishap’s cause to a software programming error in a tracking system provided by a third-party contractor, and Rocket Lab’s own ground systems — operating in a shadow mode on the maiden flight — did not suffer the same problem.

With a launch base, control center and factory in New Zealand, Rocket Lab also has a headquarters in Southern California, where it is outfitting a second rocket assembly plant. Eventually aiming to launch as often as once per week, the U.S.-New Zealand company operates under the regulatory umbrella of the FAA.

The FAA announced earlier this week it issued a commercial launch license for the Electron rocket’s second flight.The second Electron rocket is pictured on its side at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab

The May 25 test flight, dubbed “It’s a Test,” demonstrated good performance of the Electron rocket’s first stage, and the launcher’s second stage engine ignited and payload fairing jettisoned as designed before the mission was terminated.

The results raised hopes the second Electron launch, christened “Still Testing” by Rocket Lab, could successfully reach orbit. Engineers also minimized changes to the rocket, with the most significant upgrade in the second stage, which will debut stretched propellant tanks to accommodate more fuel, O’Donnell told Spaceflight Now.

“The performance we saw from the vehicle was really good,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday from Rocket Lab’s development facility in Auckland. “It was actually in the upper bounds of the performance we expected, so that was really positive.

“The vehicle this time around is slightly longer,” O’Donnell said. “That’s really just a tank stretch. It doesn’t relate to any changes with the engines or other functional parts of the vehicle. From the good data that we got from that first launch, we’re confident that the majority of those systems are fine, which was really reassuring.”

But the upcoming mission is still considered a demonstration, and Rocket Lab has a third Electron vehicle built that could launch in early 2018 on a third test flight — if necessary — before the company begins operational launches. Rocket Lab officials said commercial service could be accelerated to begin on the third Electron launch if the second flight goes well.

Rocket Lab said the weather outlook for Sunday does not look favorable, so the launch could slip to Monday (Sunday night in the United States) if officials order a further delay.

“Our weather limits are pretty generous for the vehicle,” O’Donnell said in an interview with Spaceflight Now. “We’ve got pretty decent ground level winds.

“One of our biggest issues is triboelectrification in the high clouds,” O’Donnell said, referring to the potentially dangerous build-up of static electricity on the rocket as it soars through high-level clouds. “It’s one of those things that could happen any time of year, and that can cause potential issues.”

A dedicated team will monitor real-time conditions during the countdown in case weather takes a negative turn.

Refined kerosene fuel and liquid oxygen will be loaded into both stages of the Electron rocket in the final hours of the countdown, and a final automated launch sequence will commence at T-minus 2 minutes to oversee the last steps before liftoff

The Electron’s nine Rutherford main engines, mounted in a circular web-like configuration at the base of the first stage, will ignite at T-minus 2 seconds.File photo of the Electron rocket’s nine Rutherford first stage main engines on a previous vehicle. Credit: Rocket Lab

The Rutherford main engines, developed in-house by Rocket Lab, will generate around 34,500 pounds of thrust at liftoff and power up to 41,500 pounds of thrust as the rocket climbs into the upper atmosphere. The Rutherford engines use electric turbopumps, an innovation in the launch industry that first flew on the Electron rocket.

The first stage engines are scheduled to shut down around two-and-a-half minutes into the flight, and the booster will release to fall into the Pacific Ocean four seconds later. Ignition of the second stage’s single Rutherford engine is slated for T+plus 2 minutes, 36 seconds.

Separation of the Electron’s nose shroud, which covers the three shoebox-sized CubeSats riding on the launch, is planned at T+plus 3 minutes, 4 seconds.

The second stage engine is programmed to fire more than five-and-a-half minutes until T+plus 8 minutes, 14 seconds. The second stage burn will be around 50 seconds longer than the firing planned on the Electron’s first test launch, thanks to enlarged propellant tanks that extend about a half-meter (1.6 feet) longer than the tanks on the inaugural flight, O’Donnell said.

“It just gives us more payload, essentially, thanks to a longer burn time,” O’Donnell said of the bigger second stage.

The three CubeSats — one from Planet and two from Spire Global — will release out of Rocket Lab’s Maxwell deployers at T+plus 8 minutes, 31 seconds.

Planet’s CubeSat, named “Dove Pioneer,” will join the company’s fleet of Earth-imaging satellites. Spire’s Lemur-2 CubeSats are used to track ship traffic and collect atmospheric measurements to aid weather forecasters.

Rocket Lab says it charges $4.9 million per Electron flight, significantly less than any other launch provider flying today, and offer a dedicated ride for payloads that currently must ride piggyback with a larger payload.

The company has a launch contract to place several CubeSats in orbit for NASA next year, along with future launch agreements with Planet, Moon Express and Spaceflight, which books launches of small satellites from various commercial and scientific customers.

With money from venture capital funds in Silicon Valley and New Zealand, along with a strategic investment from Lockheed Martin, Rocket Lab completed the design and qualification of the Electron rocket with less than $100 million since the company was established in 2006, according to Peter Beck, the company’s CEO and founder.

Rocket Lab’s progress was marked with test launches of more than 80 sounding rockets since the company’s formation. If the second Electron mission reaches orbit, it will mark the first orbital launch from New Zealand.

“What we’re looking for (on the second launch) is just to close off that final few minutes that we didn’t see on the first flight, where we’re getting into orbit, we’re completing the burn of the second stage and we’re releasing some payloads, which would really be the cherry on top,” O’Donnell said.

“It is still a test,” he said. “We had originally planned for three test flights, so we’re fully prepared to run that third test as well if we don’t get everything we need from this one.”

| A Spaceflight Now release  ||  December 8, 2017   |||

Dec 8, 2017  -  Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) has announced its product plan for 2018, following the end of General Motors manufacturing in Australia, and it doesn’t include any hot imported Commodores.  However, the good news for rear-wheel drive V8 muscle-car fans is the 2018 HSV range will be headlined by the Chevrolet Camaro SS coupe, although it will be $20,000 pricier than Ford’s equivalent Mustang GT at up to $80K.

Before HSV begins right-hand drive Camaro conversions in July, it will start RHD production of the Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD pick-up in April, followed by the even heavier-duty Silverado 3500HD by mid-year.

In a move that GM denies marks the first step in Holden being rebranded as Chevrolet, the Chevy brand will be established in selected HSV dealers in Australia and New Zealand to sell both the Camaro and Silverado.

The first cab off HSV’s 2018 rank will be the Colorado SportsCat ute, which enters production in late January and will become the only HSV-branded model available once stocks of the Commodore-based MY17 models are sold.

Copntinue here to read the full article with images on Motoring  ||  December 8, 2017   |||

Dec 7,  2017  -  Synlait Milk (NZX: SML; ASX: SM1) has today officially opened its new Wetmix kitchen, which will enable it to simultaneously run both large-scale infant formula spray dryers.  This will double the amount of infant formula powder which can be produced at the Dunsandel site, from 40,000 metric tonnes (MT) to 80,000 MT per year.

“We were at the point where our current Wetmix facility was at capacity, and our consumer demand was continuing to grow. Building this new Wetmix kitchen will relieve that pressure,” says John Penno, Managing Director and CEO.

Synlait has invested $37 million in the new Wetmix kitchen, which is at the core of the production process.

It’s where the dry ingredients (such as dairy proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals) are mixed into the liquid milk. That mixture is then sent to the dryer, where it is dried into infant formula base powder.

Mixing the dry ingredients into the liquid milk before drying ensures a superior blend quality.

The project has been in planning since December 2015 and contractors began work on site in February 2017. At times there were up to 125 contractors on site per day, but the construction of the Wetmix kitchen did not disrupt the activities of other areas on site.

“We’re really happy with how the build went,” says Mr Penno “it was a smooth process which was completed on time and within budget, without the need to alter our day-to-day operations.”

Designed with staff in mind, some manual steps (e.g. lifting and tipping large bags of ingredients) have been reduced with the help of automation. This creates a safer environment and provides operational efficiencies.

“It was really important for us to make this new facility as user-friendly as possible. We want our employees to be safe at work, and to work under the best possible conditions,” he says.

| A Synlait release  ||  December 7, 2017  |||

Dec 5, 2017  -  The grounding of one of the world’s biggest container ships off Southampton was caused by pilot error, an investigation has concluded.  In a report, the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch found standards of navigation, communication and use of electronic charting aids “did not meet the expectations of the port or the company”.

The 399m Vasco de Gama, at the time the largest ship under a UK flag, ran aground in August 2016 as it attempted a tricky turn to enter Southampton docks.

Continue here to read the full article ||  December 5, 2017   |||

Dec 5, 2017  -  High profile businessman and social entrepreneur, Tenby Powell, who chaired the government appointed Small Business Development Group for five years, is leading a call for the new Government to establish an Institute for Small Business.

The idea for a step-up from government in support of small business is resonating in New Zealand and farther afield says Powell who also represents New Zealand on the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “New Zealand needs to do much more to support our small business ecosystem. Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) account for 97 percent of all enterprises and are the engines of growth and innovation in the APEC region. For these companies to make an even bigger impact on the economy we need a dedicated Government entity focused on better understanding and supporting small business owners,” says Powell.

Early next year, coinciding with the first ABAC meeting for 2018 to be held in Auckland, he is gathering 100 top thinkers, business owners and entrepreneurs together to plan a road-map to future value creation for SMEs. Discussion at what’s being called The SME LEAP (Leading Enterprise Acceleration & Productivity) will include how an Institute of Small Businesss could work in New Zealand. High profile keynote speakers from other APEC nations will also share deep-seated knowledge citing examples from other APEC economies.

Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) employ over half the workforce across APEC economies and contribute significantly to economic growth, with GDP contributions ranging from 20 to 50 percent in the majority of APEC economies; New Zealand is circa 28 percent. However, according to Powell they only account for less than 35 percent of the direct exports, “New Zealand SMEs are particularly affected by this.”

Powell believes New Zealand is perfectly positioned to lift our SME performance and capture the value that will come from the recently signed Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership; the agreement signed by eleven APEC leaders, including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, in Da Nang last month.

“New Zealand’s physical Internet infrastructure is world class, following the rollout of the Ultra-Fast Broadband network and the continuation of the Rural Broadband Initiative. This positions us amongst the best network infrastructures in the developed world, and it’s an important enabler for small business to compete in overseas markets under the CP-TPP.”

Powell says the ABAC SME & Entrepreneurial Working Group which he co-chairs is a work stream with a high profile within APEC. “It is more socioeconomic than just economic per se. It acts as a superset for the subsets of cross-border liberalization, market access and the removal of non-tariff barriers for SMEs, financing for business expansion and capability development, integrating green SMEs into the global value chain, leveraging the digital economy, and greater support for women-in-business.”Powell believes establishing a Government Institute is the sort of big thinking required to ensure the Government better understands and delivers support to small business owners.

“An entity focused on delivering value to small business would be charged with developing well researched policy advice aimed at enhancing the ecosystem and environment in they operate, facilitating education for owner-managers, making access to the digital platforms more accessible, and working with banks to develop ways to fund SMEs without mortgaging the family home.”

Support for the idea has come from far and wide, including from business leaders from the Maori, Asian, Indian and New Zealand European economies.

Billy Te Kahika, Cultural Ambassador for Kingitanga says, “This is exactly what Maori small business owners have needed for some time. While larger Maori business can develop relationships with big overseas players, like Chinese funding partners, it’s the SME business owner who needs greater support and recognition. A well led government Institute has the ability to empower this support.”

Oceania Silk Road Network’s, William Zhao and Jerry He, agree. Mr He, who served on the Small Business Development Group with Powell says, “Chinese business owners who have made New Zealand their home are committed to the country’s development and see many opportunities under the new multi-lateral free trade agreement, the CP-TPP, signed in Da Nang.”

Founder and CEO of Indian radio network Tarana, Robert Khan who also served on the Small Business Development Group, is another avid supporter. “The Indian community will fully support any initiative that enables SME business owners to grow domestically and as exporters. It is as though an idea and its time has come together and we welcome discussion on the establishment of a Government Institute for SMEs.”

High profile Chinese business woman, Diane Wang, founder and CEO of DHgate, is speaking at the Summit. Wang, who represents ABAC China will travel to Auckland ahead of ABAC 1 and deliver a keynote address that Powell says will “resonate with any small business owner and particularly with women who are disadvantaged in terms of access to finance and global supply networks.”

Other speakers include incoming ABAC Chair, David Toua, who will coordinate the 21 nation ABAC agenda for 2018, and leading Malaysian business woman, Dato Rohana Mahmoud, Chair and Founder of RM Capital Partners.

Powell says, “Malaysia is an example of targeted resources in action to support small business through a government entity called the SME Corporation. The SME Corp is a central coordinating agency under the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry that formulates policies and strategies, and coordinates the implementation of SME development programmes across all related Ministries and Agencies. A similar entity, in the form of a government Institution, would work in New Zealand.”

| A Hunter Powell release  ||  December 5, 2017   |||