Entrepreneurs Release Manifesto For Government To Level Up Kiwi Entrepreneurship
A network of more than 140 entrepreneurial businesses and organisations warns New Zealand is in danger of being left behind economically due to a lack of resources and insufficient policies to progress entrepreneurship.
The New Zealand chapter of the
Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) wants to see local and
central government politicians initiate policies to make
entrepreneurship easier and more effective. To that end, it
has released a manifesto (https://www.genglobal.org/new-zealand/manifesto),
outlining initiatives it hopes will help New Zealand become
more entrepreneurial.
Wellington-based
entrepreneur and angel investor Dave Moskovitz has been the
chair of GEN New Zealand since 2019.
“We
need to make New Zealand more entrepreneurial and level up
our entrepreneurial skills so that we can compete on the
world stage and provide that intergenerational social and
economic prosperity,” Moskovitz says.
Over
the last three years, GEN has grown its New Zealand network
to more than 200 people representing more than 140
organisations, including entrepreneurs, incubators and
accelerators, entrepreneur support organisations, central
and local government, academia, investors and NGOs. They
collaborated to produce the manifesto, reflecting the views
of network members.
GEN’s mission is to
connect entrepreneurs with the people and resources they
need to thrive nationally and globally.
GEN
also wants to create a diverse and more resilient foundation
for intergenerational economic and social prosperity.
Moskovitz believes that if entrepreneurs and government
collaborate, the conditions to increase entrepreneurship
will improve.
“If you can get the
foundation right, then that makes everything else a lot
easier.”
The manifesto’s six sections
address policymaking, how to support and educate
entrepreneurs to enable an innovation nation, the
commercialisation of research, how to attract talented
entrepreneurs, and how to enhance and expand our
entrepreneurial ecosystem on the global
stage.
“We would like people who are in, and who interact with, the entrepreneurial ecosystem, to support our key messages and initiatives and create a more entrepreneurial Aotearoa,” Moskovitz says.