Photo: supplied
Marian Johnson has spent several years helping build businesses out of the rubble following Christchurch's earthquakes as Chief Executive of the Ministry of Awesome - which fosters high growth start-ups.
It started the year after the earthquake, with sessions for investors, founders, corporates and students to get together to talk about ideas. MoA has grown and grown - offering a nationwide coaching programme for founders, a series of national accelerator programmes, and Electrify Aotearoa, a conference for Kiwi women in entrepreneurship.
It now works with hundreds of founders each year, and Christchurch is one of the fastest growing start-up cities in the world. Marian Johnson is stepping back from her main role as Chief Executive after a shock cancer diagnosis.
She tells Kathryn Ryan New Zealand has huge potential to become a knowledge economy - but the sector needs better co-ordination, more role-models and Kiwis need to back themselves to do big things.
