The Taranaki businesswoman promoting their firms to Australia – Stuff

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Firmsy CEO Claudia King says it was inspiring to see Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in action during the trade mission to Australia in early July.

Two top Taranaki businesswomen say they got a glimpse of Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns star power while accompanying her on a trade mission trip to Australia.

Claudia King, chief executive of Firmsy, and Natalie Innes, chief executive of Van Dyck Fine Foods Ltd, represented two of the 31 New Zealand businesses chosen for the trip earlier this month.

Firmsy is a legal technology company which creates software for lawyers, while Van Dyck Fine Foods specialises in pancakes and crpes.

Both are based in New Plymouth and both have their main markets outside the region.

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The purpose of it was to take a bunch of businesses that export to Australia over there to strengthen ties and to look for opportunities over there to grow in that market, King said.

Seventy per cent of our customers are in Australia, so the Australian market is the fastest growing market for us.

Being around Ardern was inspiring, King said.

It was incredible to watch her in action, and she's definitely got a lot of star power and celebrity.

Everywhere you go, people want to talk to her and tell her about what she's done and how much it means to them and get a selfie with her.

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Ardern used her star power to promote New Zealand, Natalie Innes, CEO of Van Dyck Fine Foods said.

The group spent two nights in Sydney and two nights in Melbourne and learned a lot about the differences between the New Zealand and Australian markets.

For example, King found that the two countries have different preferences when it comes to colour choices, which was good to know when it came to marketing.

Kiwis prefer black and white, whereas Australians prefer bright colours, she said.

It was a really great trip, because I think it's been a long time that we've all been operating out of our homes that it was great to come together with such a group of inspiring people and go over and represent our country in that way and for Nat and me to represent Taranaki.

Innes said it was amazing to connect with companies of all different sizes from different industries.

She said she usually she only spent time with other food companies, but said she believed she was the only food company representative on the trip.

Despite being from different industries, Innes was surprised to learn all businesses had the same issues of sourcing talent, gaining capital, research and development, managing environmental impacts, and cost increases.

Weve all got similar problems, very different businesses but similar problems.

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The Taranaki businesswoman promoting their firms to Australia - Stuff