When people talk about going global, it’s easy to focus only on international markets and overlook the role of your own backyard. But in my experience, the New Zealand market is not just important—it is essential. It is your testing ground, a place where you trial new products, refine marketing messages, and built credibility before knocking on the doors of overseas distributors. This is a key business strategy for New Zealand entrepreneurs.

Ironically, one of the best ways to build a global brand is to first succeed in your domestic market. Overseas distributors want proof the brand is already performing well in New Zealand before they commit to launching it abroad. The home market becomes a testing ground—a place to refine products, packaging, and messaging before taking them global. Building the brand in the home market is a critical step in building a global business from New Zealand.

From the very beginning, you should know you intend to operate overseas: if you are going to compete internationally, then you need to build a global consumer brand. This is not a side project or an optional extra—it is central to your strategy. A brand, after all, isn’t just a logo or a tagline; it’s the way people around the world perceive your company. And perception, especially in international markets, is everything. This is a major challenge when building a global busin

Defining the Market When you decide to take a product global, the first challenge is to define your market. Without clarity, you don’t know who you’re competing against—or how you’ll win. For instance, in Manuka Health, this meant positioning ourselves not simply as a honey company, but as a player in consumer healthcare, specifically the self-medication segment we called “natural healthcare.”

The Realities of Managing People Of course, engaging employees isn’t always smooth sailing. People bring their whole lives to work, and that means challenges inevitably arise. We all have our share of difficult situations—personal conflicts, underperformance, and even breaches of trust. Each case had to be addressed individually, with honesty and firmness.

Leadership Starts with Selling the Vision I’ve always believed that leadership is about more than issuing instructions. It’s about getting people to want to do the work—because they believe in the mission as much as you do. For a chief executive, that means spending an enormous amount of time selling: selling the core concept, selling the plans, selling the values, and selling the changes needed to keep moving forward.

The Governance Imperative Raising funds is one part of the equation. The other is governance—the structures and practices that ensure the company is run responsibly. Securing capital brings obligations. Shareholders are entrusting you with their money, and maintaining their confidence is one of the CEO’s most important jobs.

Securing investment and establishing governance are crucial for start-ups, especially during the initial phase and throughout the business lifecycle.

Developing a unique business model is a process of combining your firm’s unique skills and capabilities to meet customer’s needs with your ability to add value to the product or service you want to deliver.

A key consideration when starting a business is the development of a strategy and the establishment of essential capabilities. Company strategy can be defined as the integrated set of decisions made on activities to position the company where it can deliver unique value to its customers in its chosen markets while earning superior returns in the long run. In short, strategy defines how you compete in your chosen markets on a sustained basis.

Leadership Style Matters An idea, however, is only as strong as the people driving it. Leadership is critical. In my view, leaders are not “born”—they’re developed. The most important trait? A growth mindset.

Getting Started: Turning a Core Idea into a Business Every successful business begins with an idea. But having an idea and turning it into a sustainable, global business are two very different things. In my experience, the difference lies not just in the product itself, but in how well you define, plan, and execute around it. There are many challenges when building a global business from New Zealand.

Lessons from Five Start-ups to Exit over 20 years This Blog Series draws heavily on Kerry Paul’s experience over 20 years founding five start-ups, building these into global businesses and finally the exit. The most notable being Manuka Health New Zealand 2006-15. In less than a decade, it grew from a start-up to a $73 million business, exporting to 45 countries with a staff of over 120.

What drives you to start and build global businesses? In my case between 2003 to 2021 I founded and exited five start-up companies. I would like to share why I did this alongwith what I learnt from these experiences. The aim is to encourage others to think through do they want to do the same and if they do what they can learn from my experience?