Business summit highlights ethnic contributions to economy

A new report reveals that ethnic businesses contributed $87 billion to New Zealand's GDP in 2023, an increase from $64 billion in 2021.

The Economic Contribution of Ethnic Communities 2001-2023 report - commissioned by four organisations, including the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the Ministry for Ethnic Communities - was unveiled at the Ethnic Xchange Symposium in Auckland on Friday.

The symposium, organised by the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, followed last year's inaugural event in an attempt to boost economic growth and expand ethnic enterprises.

Nearly 500 ethnic representatives attended the event alongside Finance Minister Nicola Willis, Ethnic Communities Minister Mark Mitchell and Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing Chris Penk.

Mervin Singham, chief executive at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, said an additional $10 billion in untapped potential was waiting to be unlocked.

"That is quite a big contribution," Singham said.

"Our recent research has highlighted that more can be done to unlock entrepreneurial capability of that community. This is why we have symposiums like this to continue to lift that contribution."

Ethnic businesses make up one in five of all New Zealand enterprises, reflecting nearly the communities' population share of 25 percent, according to the Ministry for Ethnic Communities.

Asian-owned firms export goods worth almost double the national average, the ministry said.

Dave Ananth, president of the New Zealand Malaysia Business Association, highlighted the importance of government engagement and people-to-people ties.

"I think there should be more engagements, not once a year, but more often things like this," he said, adding that the hundreds of participants can all act as ambassadors for New Zealand.

"I think people need to understand that business in Asia is building trust," Ananth said. "It's who you know rather than what you know."

Ananth said it was easy for him to pick up the phone and ring contacts in another country to conduct business and he would also happily introduce New Zealand business to his friends overseas.

He also encouraged business to think outside the box and look for business opportunities, for example in a country that's less well-known.

John Hong, an investment consultant, was encouraged to see that many people from all ethnic backgrounds - especially younger generations - participated in the event.

He said the government should try to retain staff who were knowledgeable and skilled, calling for a stronger continuation of government policies.

"There has also been a high level of staff turnover within government agencies ... especially after the pandemic," Hong said.

"If an entire agency ends up being staffed with new people, then of course they don't understand the international environment, and they don't understand the domestic context either," he said.

"There's no continuity. If you don't know the past, how can you possibly plan for the future?

"It takes time for [new people] to know each other and settle in. But with elections every three years, the cycle is so short that many things simply don't have enough time to get off the ground."

Supporting female entrepreneurs

The symposium also unveiled a report titled Ethnic Women Entrepreneurs on Friday that was also commissioned by the Ministry for Ethnic Communities.

The report said four in 10 of ethnic business owners were women, facing challenges that "reflect the combined effects of gender, ethnicity, migration status and systemic bias".

Structural barriers, cultural disconnects and persistent under-representation characterised ethnic women's entrepreneurship, the report said.

While ethnic communities comprised 25 percent of the employed workforce as of May 31, women from ethnic communities earned 16.4 precent less per hour than European men, it said.

Speaking at a panel focusing on stories of ethnic female entrepreneurs, KPMG partner Bineeta Nand said it was hard for ethnic women to secure bank loans or venture capital and, as a result, they needed to rely on personal loans and community funding, which could restrict their project's scalability.

"Think about those stereotypes and biases that you might have when you're looking at another ethnic woman in business or a proposal or an application for funding," she said.

"I think that's where we can actually start making a difference. Unless we start changing some of those mind sets, we ... will be having the same discussion again."

Singham said women entrepreneurs were most successful because they were highly relational in a multi-dimensional way.

He said the report would provide an insight into how to better support this cohort of entrepreneurs.

"We want to make sure that there's a bit more of an even keel for ethnic women entrepreneurs to be supported," Singham said.

"We feel there's more support that could be put in place to support ethnic women entrepreneurs."

Singham said there had been more engagement between business councils and ethnic businesses after last year's symposium.

"The government is taking into account more of what ethnic communities [and] businesses are saying about immigration, regulatory settings in the country and so on, and this is an ongoing conversation that we've started," he said.

However, he hoped the "ethnic community's voice could be heard a little bit more".

Mitchell said ethnic businesses were a "huge enabler and competitive advantage" for New Zealand.

"We've got diasporas with entrepreneurs, businesspeople, business leaders [and] people with deep connections back to countries that we want to increase our trading relationships, our sporting relationships, our cultural relationships," he said.

He said the government was very focused on taking big trade delegations that were always heavy in presence with ethnic leaders to leverage the relationships they had.

Mitchell said the government was working on identifying and reducing red tape.

"The government should be pulling the levers ... to support and help our entrepreneurs, business leaders [and] businesses grow, and give them an environment so they can grow unimpeded," he said.