IN TOUCH : How to get a break offshore

If you’re small New Zealand company ready to go international with an innovative electronic safety device for vehicles, who better to help out than France-based Kiwi who has contact with the French Minister responsible for road safety?
Not quite marriage made in heaven so much as connection made in webspace brokered through KEA – the association that is successfully building virtual community of Kiwi expats working around the globe. Ellerslie-based DataBrake International made its French connection by logging into KEA’s recently launched Venture Mentor Network (VMN) which is all about linking aspirational early stage businesses in New Zealand with in-market knowledge and expertise that can help them grow.
DataBrake, which had developed and patented an Intelligent Brake Light System (IBL) that automatically activates the hazard lights when certain deceleration threshold is reached (ie, drivers have had to brake heavily), was one of the first to take advantage of the network.
“We were about to start exporting and wanted to go to Europe and Asia but didn’t know anybody there so we put our profile up,” explains company operations manager David Barrowman.
The process involves three parties: “seekers” such as DataBrake, “partners” which are agencies already assisting New Zealand start ups such as the various incubator groups or government organisations like NZ Trade & Enterprise, and “mentors” – KEA members who basically opt in if they have both the desire and knowledge to help.
“The partner can enter one page description of the ‘seeker’ company – who they are, what they’ve achieved, what they’re looking for,” explains KEA’s acting CEO Simon Brown. “That gets pushed out through the VMN programme to the entire KEA membership and then if people want to interact with that opportunity, they have to join the VMN network. The idea is to gather bit of gated community of interest around mentoring.”
Having the partners involved (in DataBrake’s case the University of Auckland Business School’s ICEhouse) injects degree of objectivity into the process – the mentors get protection from tyre kickers, the seekers some assurance that the advice on offer is relevant and useful.
The idea grew out of Brown’s own experiences in early stage businesses and venture capital markets where he spotted something of gap in the market for aspiring Kiwi exporters.
“They get to point where they need quick and easy access to offshore in-market knowledge to help validate their plans and round out their business model before they start getting into the whole process of the angel investment and venture capital world.”
For companies already maxed out on their credit options and facing the common Kiwi export barriers of time and distance, life can be pretty tough, says Brown.
“Our VM network is about trying to help people who are in that gap to get the knowledge they need in relatively easy way.” But it’s also attracting companies that are at later developmental stage, he adds.
The programme launched in May with seven “seeker” companies and has since attracted about five more as well as some 80 mentors who are distributed across wide range of offshore markets – from China to America.
“Within 48 hours of launching, our seekers were getting two to three page emails from people around the world saying here are some ideas, here are some contacts, here’s what we think you could be doing. It was almost overwhelming,” says Brown.
DataBrake not only heard from France but from someone in China who was also very enthusiastic and able to offer great advice, says Barrowman.
“It gives us more than anything else name and contact in country where we want to go – and that’s the bottom line.”
Plus it’s comforting to know the advice is coming from fellow Kiwi.
“There is real bond between Kiwis wherever they are in the world – they do want to help,” says Barrowman. “At the moment we’d like to be the recipient of that help. Another time we might be helper.”