eTime entrepreneurs speech

Speech to launch the Jim Anderton Challenge for students of entrepreneurship

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eTime entrepreneurs launch the 'Jim Anderton challenge'

4.00PM
Thursday, 28 July 2005
17 Armagh St Christchurch

SPEECH NOTES

Teachers, students.

I've heard that students in eTime were set a sales challenge -- and you have already raised over $30,000 from it.

That's impressive.

The Minister of Finance could do with people like you.

The project you're involved in is exciting, because it's about unleashing entrepreneurialism.

Entrepreneurs are people who use creativity and business skills to create successful businesses.

You're finding out that it is tough to do -- but it's also rewarding.

You're also finding out you can learn the skills behind a good business.

It's not just a talent you are born with.

If you work at it you can get better.

Business history is full of individuals who struggled at school but made a fortune because they had a good idea and they took the time to work on the skills of successful business.

But the experts say that if there is one thing you can do to ensure the success of your business, it is to do everything you can to improve your business skills.

The government is supporting this project because it can make a difference for everyone involved by developing their entrepreneurial skills.

We want you to be encouraged to think about starting your own business and growing it.

We want everyone who has a good idea to know they can develop the skills to make that idea profitable.

The government wants businesses to succeed because it's vital for the people whose livelihoods depend on business success.

In fact, in the end, all of us depend on growing, successful businesses.

Everything our country produces and earns, is earned through business success.

Every job, everything we buy depends ultimately on businesses working.

There are other things to value about our country, too.

Our unique physical environment

Our social relationships and the chance to enjoy our cultural riches.

But we also need to provide every New Zealander with opportunities to achieve their potential.

We need to provide security for people in hard times.

We need to provide jobs and services.

All of these come only from economic success.

It comes from business.

So we need entrepreneurs who start and operate business, who grow them and watch them flourish.

Every week I see great examples of successful New Zealand businesses. Businesses like:

CWF Hamilton here in Christchurch - jet boat engineers. Fisher & Paykel - white wear. Tait Electronics - radio telephones. Navman - marine technology / navigation equipment.

We need more business success.

We need to celebrate our successes more.

We need a positive pro-business culture.

New Zealanders have a bit of a habit of being modest about our success.

We're used to looking at the brash way Australians celebrate their world champions.

We tend to be a bit quieter and more modest about our achievements.

But we can celebrate when we choose to, and we need to be better at it.

We celebrated when the All Blacks beat the Lions a few weeks back.

We celebrated when Michael Campbell won the US Open.

We celebrated last year when the Lord of the Rings won all the Oscars in Hollywood.

All those achievements were worth cheering.

But can we cheer just as loudly for the entrepreneur who gets a business off the ground and creates jobs

Can we celebrate the business visionary who takes on the world and succeeds?

We don't celebrate because successful businesspeople get rich - we don't need wealth to be flaunted.

We need to celebrate the creativity and drive it takes to make a business work.

We need to celebrate so that we inspire others to emulate success, just as I hope you are being inspired by the experience of this business challenge.

For the last couple of years some New Zealand high school students have been involved in a global challenge a bit like this one.

Students from a 30 to 40 different countries have competed against each other.

They had to devise business ideas, work out a business plan and put together all the components of a winning strategy.

They were then judged on their success by a panel of international judges - from the NASA Space Laboratory.

One year after another, New Zealand students keep winning.

I get to go along and present the prize!

That makes me feel very confident about New Zealand's future.

We have as much energy, talent and creativity as any country on earth.

The businesses we need to make the greatest effort to encourage are high-value, creative, innovative businesses.

The big money, the good incomes, and the secure jobs come from businesses that depend on selling our uniqueness and our talents.

Those qualities can never be taken away.

So as you tackle this challenge, I know you'll use all your creativity and good ideas.

I hope you'll learn the crucial skills to build business success, and you'll go on with those skills to create new successes, the next generation of CWF Hamilton, Fisher & Paykel, Tait Electronics.

I wish you all the best of luck with the Challenge, and I look forward to hearing about the results.

ENDS

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