Mike Collins: Business South CEO on the launch of the Invest Ōtepoti Dunedin plan

A fresh blueprint has been developed to boost Dunedin's future.  

Business South's new targets include delivering more than 15 thousand high-value jobs by 2034, welcoming 150 new businesses a year by 2029, and growing Māori-owned businesses by 129% in four years.  

CEO Mike Collins says the goals may be stretched, but are going to be remarkable, with many motivated people backing the growth.  

He told Mike Hosking they're firing up some wraparound support services that would identify the gaps in a business’ practices and match them up to what they need. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Duneda, next city, looking to replicate the Christy boom Business South,
they've launched a new growth plan aimed at driving the
local economy. They're looking to have tourism from three hundred
dollars three hundred million dollars to four hundred and twenty million,
create fifteen thousand hig value jobs by twenty thirty four,
boosting startups from two hundred to three hundred and fifty
And Mike Collins is the CEO of Business South and
is with us on all of this. Mike morning, Good morning,

(00:22):
How are you very well? Indeed, when you talk about
wrap around support, who's providing the wrap around part? Who
what sort of agencies we're talking about?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, well, Business South is actually firing up some raparound
support services. So we've developed an accelerated program to wrap
around businesses. So we put the businesses through a bit
of an assessment to find out where the businesses are
at currently. We then wait them against best practice and
identify where the gaps are and we start to then
match them up to what they might need, which could
be capital investment, it could be around matching them to

(00:51):
research to commercialization, to the University of Tago and those
types of things. So those are kind of wraparound services
we're producing just out of business South. It's right.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
So you've got two things, as far as I can
work out. One the bit where I I as a startup,
as a business as or whatever need to think about
Dunedin as a place. And the other one is if
I did think about Dunedin as a place, where do
I go? Where do I click? Who do I ring
to go? Bing? There's your port your portu.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, yeah, that's exactly it. And I don't think people
think of dened as the first portal call for investment.
So I think these opportunities here that we kind of
got to give to the business community and Seid actually
we're doing some good stuff in silos of sectors, but
if you put it down on a piece of paper,
what does it look like? So it is about having
one place to go to to kind of channel those
ideas if people want to invest into the city. What's

(01:36):
going on down Here's a lot of investment in healthcare
at the moment. Obviously the one point xx billion dollar
hospital happening, another private Hospelal's got an ounce the other day.
But with all of that, it's not just about investment
in capital, it's also about investment and talent. So we're
really keen to get behind a bit of a strategy
to how we track the talent to the city as
well as the as the funding. See.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
I look at people like Ian Taylor and animated research
and stuff, and his success came about because it was borderless.
In other words, he could do what he did from anywhere.
Is that the sort of thing you're looking at or
are you selling Dunedin on a cool factor? So even
if you do need geography, you still want to be there.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Now you've hit the nail on the head. I think
people like yeah, Serene and his business just shows what
you can do from a from a place where a
lifestyle attached to it. So it's it's basically saying, where
we're working in a global market, but you've got the
lifestyle to go with it. So there's there's a real
entrepreneurial kind of heart to to need and it kind
of comes through you having the polytech and university here.
So we have a lot of startup businesses that operate

(02:33):
in the international markets. You're quite right, it's about giving
them greater opportunity.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
And cheapness come into it. It's cheaper to do business.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
It is, it is cheaper to do business. I guess
what really comes across strongly in Dnina is it's we
kind of live in a village if you like. So
everyone knows everybody so you can get alongside the mentors
of Serene Taylor and the likes from a startup business
through to you know, medium to grow. So I guess
being knowing everybody reading, really real connected makes it easy
to do.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Butusiness, yeah, all right, might go well with it. I
hope it works for your business. South CEO Mike Collins
out of Dunedin this morning.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
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