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For companies doing business with the USA

New Bilateral Entrepreneur/Innovator of the Year with the USA award introduced

The American Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2018 AmCham-DHL Express Success and Innovation Awards, held in conjunction with United Airlines, the 19th year of these awards celebrating success and innovation for companies doing business with the USA.

Mike Hearn, Executive Director for AmCham, says 2018 has seen another very strong group of entries, covering a diverse range of products and services. The quality of entries made it even more difficult for judges to select this year’s finalists.

“Trade, investment and tourism links with the USA continue to grow and this year’s entrants have shown considerable success.” says Mr Hearn.

“Following the inclusion of a Tourism award in 2017, this year we have added a new award, the Bilateral Entrepreneur/Innovator of the Year with the USA. This award recognizes an individual’s entrepreneurial spirit; financial performance; strategic direction; national/global impact; innovation; personal integrity/influence, and benefits to NZ and USA.    

Commenting on the awards, Mark Foy, Country Manager, DHL Express New Zealand, said “DHL Express are proud sponsors for the 10th year of AmCham New Zealand’s annual awards, celebrating Kiwi business success between New Zealand and the United States. As an international express logistics provider, we are committed to helping Kiwi businesses navigate international trade, and the USA is a major trading partner for Kiwi businesses.

The annual ExportNZ DHL Export Barometer highlighted a steady increase in NZ exports to the USA, with an increase of 6% for 2017. This is a testament to the innovation and Kiwi ingenuity that thrives among the export community and we predict to see this same trend continue with the 2018 results.

The high calibre of this year’s finalists demonstrates the ongoing success of Kiwi businesses tapping into and reaping the benefits of the USA export market. DHL congratulates all of the finalists for 2018”

The finalists are:

Importer of the Year from the USA

• Ford New Zealand

• Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP

• Protempo Ltd

Investor of the Year to or from the USA

• Goat Ventures

• Infratil Ltd/New Zealand Superannuation Fund

• Tourism Holdings Ltd

Exporter of the Year to the USA under $1 million

• Dexibit Limited

• Eagle Protect Group

• Fix & Fogg

• Tekron International Ltd

• Ubco Ltd

Exporter of the Year to the USA $1 million to $10 million

• EROAD Ltd

• Organic Initiative (Oi)

• Redshield Security Ltd

• RJ’s Licorice Ltd

Exporter of the Year to the USA over $10 million

• Endace Measurement Systems Ltd

• New Zealand King Salmon

• Pushpay Holdings Ltd

Bilateral Connections with the USA

• BioPacific Partners

• Goat Ventures

• MARS Bioimaging Ltd

• Wharf42 Ltd

Contribution to Tourism with the USA

• Let's Travel Magazine

• Regency Tourism Group in collaboration with APTMS

• The Walshe Group

• Tourism Holdings Ltd

• Visit Anaheim

Bilateral Entrepreneur/Innovator of the Year with the USA

• Chip Dawson
  

• Helen Robinson, ONZM

• Ralph Highnam

• Shaveer Mirpuri

One of the above will be chosen as the Supreme winner.

One other award will be presented on the night:  The AmCham Supporter of the Year.

The awards will be presented at a black tie gala dinner at the Pullman Hotel Auckland on 16th August with the Hon Grant Robertson representing the government and US Ambassador Scott Brown presenting the Importer of the Year award.

In addition to AmCham, DHL Express and United Airlines, the awards are supported by ANZ Bank, Baldwins, Fonterra Co-operative, and media sponsor The New Zealand Business.

Previous winners of the Supreme Award have included Peace Software; Airways Corporation; HumanWare; Tenon; Orion Health; Zeacom; SMI Group; Fonterra; Pratt & Whitney Air New Zealand Services t/a Christchurch Engine Centre; Buckley Systems; Greenshell New Zealand; Vista Entertainment; Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Zespri International.

From Ingham chicken and McCain’s fries, to locally grown lettuce and tomatoes, McDonald’s shopping list looks a lot like the average Kiwis, with one exception: the final bill which saw $155 million spent on local produce in 2017.

McDonald’s isn’t just purchasing for New Zealand either. Overseas McDonald’s markets including Australia, the United States and Asia, purchased a further $207 million of Kiwi produce, taking the total amount earned by Kiwi suppliers to $362 million.

Source: Scoop

Turists are flooding into our airports everyday and many of them are billionaires looking for a true Kiwi experience. But where do the rich and powerful go to when visiting NZ?

Veronika Vermeulen, from Aroha Tours, is taking her very high-end customers to Taihape for a chance to connect with real locals.

Waikato based Agritech company Halter has raised $8 million from US venture capitalists which it will use to develop its IoT and artificial intelligence technologies that help cattle farmers manage their herds.

The investment round was led by Data Collective, the largest backers of Rocket lab, with support from Founders Fund (Peter Thiel), and Ubiquity Ventures. Rocket Labs’ Peter Beck, Promus Ventures’ Mike Collett and Matt Ocko from Data Collective now account for three of Halter’s four board members.

Halter says it has developed a solar powered, GPS-enabled intelligent neckband that uses sensory cues to direct cows, enabling farmers to move and manage their cows remotely with a few simple swipes of a screen.

Source: Computerworld New Zealand

New Zealand's leading maritime freight, supply chain and Trade News newspaper New Zealand Shipping Gazette recently published a special report on trade with North America.

Read the digital publication here.

Gentrack Group, an Auckland-based software developer for utilities and airports, said it has made “significant progress towards several new customer wins” in the US and Australia that will contribute to its fiscal 2019 results.

These are not expected to have a material impact on its fiscal 2018 earnings, with the company forecasting earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of between $30 million and $32 million, though “they will contribute to FY19 results and position Gentrack well for further wins in the US airport and Australian utility markets,” the company said in a statement.

Source:  Scoop

Following the announcement made on 23 April 2018, Precinct Properties New Zealand Limited announced today that it has now entered into a binding agreement with a fund controlled by Invesco for the sale of a 50% interest in ANZ Centre in Auckland for $181 million.

Acquired by Precinct in 1997, ANZ Centre has performed well since it became part of the portfolio generating a property level IRR of 9.0%. Precinct completed a $76 million upgrade in 2013 and remains committed to maintaining this building as one of New Zealand’s premium office towers.

Source:  Precinct

FaceMe believes digital humans are the future of customer service – and the judges at LAUNCH Festival Sydney agree, on Wednesday awarding FaceMe ‘Best in category’ and $100 000 in investment as well as an opportunity to participate in the Launch Incubator programme in San Francisco.

Source: FaceMe

A New Zealand company is aiming to revolutionise the way Hollywood makes movies.

Born out of a need to find a way to share and store video securely and efficiently, Moxion allows film-makers to view and edit footage almost immediately after they have shot it.

​Now living in Los Angeles where he's trying to drum up business for the Auckland-based company he co-founded with Michael Lonsdale in 2015, Hugh Calveley said the two Kiwi film industry veterans had seen how frustrating it was to have to wait for at least a day to see footage captured on-set.

Source: Stuff

Naked Brand Group Inc., an innovative fashion and lifestyle brand, and Bendon Limited, a global leader in intimate apparel and swimwear, announced that they have completed their business combination.

Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, Naked and Bendon became wholly-owned subsidiaries of a newly formed company, Bendon Group Holding Limited, which has been renamed Naked Brand Group Limited (“Holdco”), and exchanged their securities for ordinary shares of Holdco.

Source: Naked Brands