Kiwi Young Leaders was formed mid 2010 and here you can find out what we have been up to since then.

Kiwi Young Leaders is a committee of the Kiwi Chamber Korea and thus our members are also invited and encouraged to participate in Kiwi Chamber events. We have included information of past Kiwi Chamber events here also, and other relevant events that we have attended.

Summary:

October 15th: Global Business Networking Event (Seoul Global Business Support Center & Korean Business Central)

Korean Business Central, in partnership with Seoul Global Business Support Center, held an event to bring together members of the business and international community.

Around 200 people attended the event, which consisted of dinner and drinks at Min's Club in central Seoul.

Kiwi Young Leaders members that attended found the event relaxed and informal with everyone being very approachable. In particular it was a good opportunity to connect with Korean members of the international business community. Tip for next event - Bring more business cards.

Kiwi Young Leader's member Nick McHugh also ended up on the Korean Business Central's video podcast live from the event. Check it out here: http://www.koreabusinesscentral.com/video/101015-kbc-99-with-daniel

October 1st: Kiwi Chamber Friday Night Hui 

Kiwi Chamber, Kiwi Young Leaders members and other attendees were joined by visiting guests from ASB, at the newly renovated Lobby Lounge in the Coex Intercontinental.

We highly recommend these events for Kiwi Young Leaders members. The event draws a very diverse group of people who share a connection to New Zealand. Most importantly people are willing and available to talk and share thoughts on a wide range of issues from living in Korea to New Zealand business strategy.

In particular thankyou to Graeme Solloway from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and Grant Phillips from Nestle Korea, for sharing their insights and advice with a couple of Kiwi Young Leaders members.

September 16th: Kiwi Chamber Business Breakfast with ANZ Chief Economist Paul Gruenwald

ANZ Chief Economist Paul Gruenwald delivered a presentation to a group of Kiwi Chamber members, including some Young Leaders' members, discussing economic and financial trends and how they impact New Zealand, wider Asia and Korea.

For a copy of the presentation slides please email kiwi.young.leaders@gmail.com

Regarding New Zealand:

• Compared to economic recovery after past recessions, this recovery is slower and it will take the economy longer to regain the output lost and New Zealand is still below the 2007 GDP peak.
• Households are de-leveraging, taking action to reduce their debts as opposed to spending or investing and driving the economic recovery.
• In addition house prices are likely to flatline or fall, interest rates are rising and upward pressures on living costs include changes to government policies such as GST and ACC.
• Positive effects on spending include firms finally rehiring, high commodity prices increasing rural incomes and tax cuts.

Regarding wider Asia:

• Compared to the rest of the world growth in Asia, driven by China and India, has recovered quickly; 3-4% since the second quarter of 2009.
• China poses three risks: inflation, property/negative real interest rates and protectionism.
• Asian intra-regional trade is a positive that can substitute for declining economic activity in countries outside the region.
• Overall, growth will be strong but probably not to the same level it was prior to the downturn.

Regarding Korea:

• Korea has a number of positive factors for short term future of the economy. The consumption of durable goods, such as televisions, is rising. Trade with Asia is strong. The Long Term Debt ratio is falling and capital ratios are high.
• Risks include consumption falling again in addition to a weak housing sector, the result being downward pressure on domestic demand. In addition, weakening of the US or EU economies could hurt exports.
• Weak lending in Korea is effecting the SMEs. Whilst allowing the country to decrease its Long Term Debt ratio, it is acting as a barrier for the growth of small businesses.

September 8th: Seoul Global Business Support Center - Seminar

Seoul Global Business Support Center held a seminar covering two topics with two guest speakers. A group of Kiwi Young Leader's members attended and learned more about starting a business in Korea and the implications of cross cultural differences for business in Korea. Below is a rough outline of each of the speakers presentations. An indepth outline of each presentation is available for anyone interested.

• Starting a Successful Trading Business
  by Mr. Simon Lee, KITA Trade Consultant

Mr Simon Lee is a consultant for Korea International Trade Association (KITA)

KITA supports Korea’s business community through research, training, and networking of Korean enterprises with the global trade community. In particular they help domestic Korean firms with their overseas interactions.

He covered three main areas:

• How to select your business item
• How to develop a business plan
• Implementation

Please email kiwi.young.leaders@gmail.com for a more indepth summary.

• Cross-cultural Communication and Business Development in Korea
  by Mr. Peter Underwood, Partner of IRC in Seoul

Mr. Peter Underwood works for IRC, a consulting firm that has been helping western companies enter the Korean market since 1982.

His presentation was titled "Cross Cultural Communication and Business Development in Korea" and covered a wide range of cultural issues in Korea that challenge typical western assumptions. He also discussed the implications of these issues for doing business in Korea.

Please email kiwi.young.leaders@gmail.com for a more indepth summary.

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September 11th: ANZA, AustCham and Kiwi Chamber Bledisloe Cup BBQ

A joint event organised to bring together the Kiwi and Australian communities in Korea.

A BBQ at the Hilton Millenium Hotel and an evening watching the Bledisloe Cup Rugby match live.

Congratulations to the All Blacks for their victory.

August 26th: Kiwi Chamber NZ MBA's BBQ at the Hilton

The rain stopped for a few hours to allow us to enjoy a nice evening BBQ outside at the Hilton Millenium (pictured above).

The members from Korea were joined by 20-30 business professionals doing the MBA programme at Auckland University. They were visiting Korea to seek market opportunities for a variety of New Zealand companies, including Windflow Technology (wind turbine company), Mani Soju (NZ soju made from Kumera J), Esquires Coffee, Airborne Honey, Icebreaker, Cowells Pavlova, Lumber Line (Hardwood timber products), Wot Wots (Weta Digital children’s television programme).

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August 24th: Kiwi Young Leaders Job Opportunities Seminar

Held at the brand new offices of the New Zealand Embassy in Seoul, Kiwi Young Leaders organised three guest speakers to present on the issue of "Employment opportunities for people with experience living in Korea".

We were also joined by some members of the MBA group from Auckland that consisted of New Zealand business professionals visiting Korea as part of their course. Some of them had been in hiring positions in New Zealand and were able to talk about their experiences and give advice from a firm based in New Zealand's perspective.

Below is some more information about the three speakers. They had quite a lot to say on the issue and we have managed to include a couple of their key points.

Peter Thomas 
Financial Controller, ZESPRI International (Korea) Co., Ltd

Peter talked about the path that led him to Korea and about the hiring practices of Zespri based on his experience. Some brief notes of interest:

• Zespri is becoming more interested in Asia and their operations in New Zealand are interested in people with experience in Asia.
• Zespri internationally tends to hire locals and has only a handful of Kiwi expat employees and they are in quite high managerial positions attained through experience with the company. He mentioned this is similar in other large New Zealand international firms.

Lukas Beech
Consultant, McKinney Consulting Inc.

Lukas Beech works for McKinney Consulting, an executive search firm based in Korea. He offered advice on breaking into the Korean job market and some general advice on doing resumes in Korea.

• When applying for jobs in Korea don't try to compete with Koreans based on academics (unless your academics are amazing). Focus on more practical things that you can offer.
• If you are a foreigner you have to ask yourself "why would a Korean company hire me over a local Korean?". Therefore you need to offer something special and these days English speaking is not considered special outside of teaching it.

Graeme Solloway
New Zealand Trade Commissioner,
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise

Graeme was able to talk about his observations working for the New Zealand government but also his own personal work experience. He started off working as a geologist. He has had many different jobs throughout his career and has ended up as New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Trade Commissioner to Korea.

• He advised that your career path is never certain and be prepared to make a change.
• The New Zealand government typically hires local overseas staff except for a handful of people in key positions, similar to the situation with Zespri.
• The government is looking at Asia and people with experience in Asia are valued however policies on government spending are limiting the hiring organisations like New Zealand Trade and Enterprise can do.

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July 23rd: Kiwi Chamber July Social Evening at the COEX Intercontinental

Everyone was having a great night catching up over a buffet, plus unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks, at the Lobby Lounge of the COEX Intercontinental.

Special guests included some representatives from Idea Big Bang Inc. who are importing New Zealand water under the brand "ph10". (www.ph10.co.kr) They had some free samples to hand out and the water was much appreciated considering the dry red wine we were drinking. One of the people involved with importing Charlie's products into Korea also attended and his story of how he came to do it was very interesting.

July 17th: Kiwi Young Leaders Introduction Evening

Essentially the hard launch event of the Kiwi Young Leaders group, was held at Dicken's Pub in Itaewon. Kiwi Young Leaders organised an event for Kiwi's and Korean's to come meet some other people interested in New Zealand, learn more about Kiwi Young Leaders and watch the New Zealand versus South Africa match live.

July 5th: Kiwi Chamber - Breakfast with John Key

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key was in Seoul to meet with President Lee Myung-Bak. During this time he attended a breakfast organised by the Kiwi Chamber.

At the breakfast the Prime Minister delivered a speech and answered questions from the audience.

His speech covered some of the following:

• Korea is New Zealand's seventh largest market. Key exports are food produce such as beef, fruits and dairy.
• Agricultural products were a sticking point in the current free trade talks and the Prime Minister was hoping to alleviate those concerns during his meeting with President Lee later that afternoon.
• His view is that New Zealand agricultural products shouldn't be an area of big concern as they do not compete directly with domestic Korean  producers.

June 15th: Kiwi Chamber Soccer World Cup Evening

The first New Zealand match of the Soccer world cup was watched in Seoul by a large group of Kiwi's at a venue organised by the Kiwi Chamber.

This event also represented the soft launch of the Kiwi Young Leaders group.

The New Zealand goal in the last minutes of the game created the perfect atmosphere for the rest of the night. For us Kiwis in Seoul it was a great chance to celebrate New Zealand sporting achievement with others.