Bay of Plenty Business News April/May 2017

22 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS April/May 2017
Fintechs won’t feature in five years - report
Today’s companies are too focused on
start-ups at the expense of other potential
sources of disruption, reveals the New
Zealand PwC Global FinTech Report.
The risk highlighted by the
report is that the focus
on start-ups comes at
the expense of other potential
sources of disruption. A
staggering 100 percent of New
Zealand respondents felt that
the most disruptive force in
financial services in the next
five years would be start-ups,
compared with a global average
of 75 percent.
Compared with our global
findings, local companies are
overestimating the impact of
start-ups and underestimating
the disruptive potential of themselves
and their competitors.
“This makes me think that in
five years we won’t be talking
about FinTechs anymore,” says
Andy Symons, financial services
leader at PwC.
“The FinTech revolution
won’t just be driven by startups.
It will come from the established
competitors you thought
you knew, but who are already a
step ahead in transforming their
businesses to meet changing
customer expectations.”
“The distinction we’re now
seeing between FinTech startups
and incumbents is only
temporary and will disappear
completely as corporates realise
their own transformational
potential and today’s start-ups
mature.
“Where today’s corporates
aren’t focusing is on their existing
competitors – our global
respondents were twice as likely
to predict disruption coming
from existing financial service
institutions as our New Zealand
survey participants,” says Andy.
FinTech partnerships –
outsourcing innovation or
the start of transformation?
The report finds that financial
services companies are
relying too heavily on start-ups
for innovation with almost 85
percent saying they are entering
into partnerships with FinTechs,
compared to 45 percent globally.
“The risk that comes with
these partnerships is that established
firms treat a FinTech partnership
as a chance to outsource
innovation to a start-up, rather
than signaling the beginning of
a much wider transformation of
their operations,” says Andy.
Preparing for the FinTech
revolution
Today’s corporates will have
to look beyond simply partnering
with FinTechs and create
a two-speed innovation strategy
if they want to survive the
changes coming.
This will mean bringing
together the best of both worlds
– the existing expertise within
the business; and the innovation,
creativity and digitally
enabled business models of
today’s start-ups.
The FinTech revolution
won’t happen overnight, but it
will happen – and companies
of every size across financial
services have to be ready for it.
Sky’s the limit with business programme
Rotorua business owner
Lee McKenzie urges
others to apply for
Incubate, a 12 week programme
that helps start-ups or
newly established businesses
and social enterprises succeed
and grow.
Lee owns Ace Company,
an online retail store selling
racing drones, parts and
accessories mainly to the New
Zealand market, but he is
growing the company’s export
sales. He started the business
18 months ago and has a goal
to become the leading drone
racing brand in the country
and take drone racing and
freestyle mainstream.
Drone racing is quickly
becoming a popular sport and
is a growing industry. ESPN,
Mountain Dew, SKYTV, and
Red Bull are all investing in
drone racing overseas and
there are now professional
athletes in the industry.
Lee graduated from the
Incubate programme in March,
which is run by Firestation,
the Bay of Plenty’s business
growth centre which delivers
the programme in partnership
with Rotorua X. It is also
supported by Employers and
Manufacturers Association
BOP.
“It’s a great, affordable
programme that gives you
valuable tools to move forward
with your business,”
says Lee.
“The sessions are reasonably
intimate and easy to feel
comfortable in.”
He originally applied for
the Incubate programme to
help improve his business
acumen and get guidance on
how to realise his dream for
the company. Lee said the
programme delivered this
with some extra benefits as
well.
“I had some amazing
businesses in the programme
with me that I could draw off
their experience. I'm going
into another Firestation programme
for the networking
opportunities as well as the
material. Plus, I just loved the
learning,” he said.
He received one-on-one
coaching sessions and group
training modules to build
business capability to help
develop and grow a sustainable
organisation and would
highly recommend it to others.
“The aspect I enjoyed the
most about the incubate programme
was firstly the training,
it was great to be in an
environment where you were
learning through the material
provided.”
“In addition, it was incredibly
valuable to receive feedback
from other participants
as well as providing feedback
to them. That room got so
chocca full of ideas and inspiration,”
said McKenzie.
Incubate gives participants
coaching and training to set
goals, implement actions
and increase overall success
through business planning. At
the end of the 12 weeks they
present their business plan to
the group.
The big focus from the
programme is encouraging
participants to implement
what they have learned and
make progress in the business.
“The biggest change we
made as a direct result of
Incubate was to completely
overhaul our branding, which
changed our business culture
and has had a massive impact
on how we do things.”
“The best part is I'm proud
of our new brand and am
happy to show it off. The old
branding I was a bit hesitant
about it,” he said.
Applications are open for
the next round of Incubate.
The programme is generously
subsidised thanks to funding
from Rotorua Lakes Council.
Applications close on April
26 and the programme starts
mid-May. It requires a time
commitment of two to three
hours per week. Rotorua businesses
and social enterprises
are invited to register their
interest online at http://bit.ly/
Inc-9
Owner of racing drone
business, Ace Company,
Lee McKenzie.
07 578 9144
Tauranga Windscreen
54 First ave, Tauranga 3110
info@taurangawindscreen.co.nz
www.taurangawindscreen.co.nz
15094
Hamilton Windscreen LWP.indd 1
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