Irish Business Network of New Zealand IBNNZ
A new generation started the Irish Business Network of New Zealand
The Irish Business Network of New Zealand facilitates forums for business people to network and socialise together.
Originally intended for the Irish expatriate community in New Zealand, the society is open to anyone with a connection to Ireland (family, personal or professional) or anyone with an interest in doing business with Irish companies in New Zealand or establishing a presence in Ireland.
IBNNZ events and activities are open to all with members drawn from a broad range of business sectors. The network is committed to bringing Irish people together in New Zealand and raising the profile of Ireland in New Zealand. It is also dedicated to helping Irish businesses looking to establish an operation in New Zealand and connecting New Zealand businesses and businesses to opportunities in Ireland.
IBNNZ was incorporated on 17 March 2015, which is of course, St. Patrick’s Day. A number of Auckland business professionals, most of whom had met each other at The Lansdowne Club, were the driving force behind the society.
“The main instigator was Niamh McMahon,” recalls Grainne Moss, the first chairperson of the society and now the CEO of Oranga Tamariki. “A number of us had offered to help Oliver Lee with the Lansdowne Club but didn’t take us up on it. When it started to fade. Niamh saw a gap.
“There were a number of different Irish groups meeting different needs in the community but there wasn't one that catered specifically to the Irish business community. For years, Niamh has worked incredibly hard on behalf of the Irish in New Zealand. She’s so supportive and strategic when it comes to connecting people.”
“I’m not sure who the ringleader was,” says Niamh McMahon, “but I like to think of it as a collaboration and a number of people including Grainne Moss, Russell O’Brien, Brendan O’Connell, Brian Walsh and Treza Gallogly played their part.”
Treza Gallogly was the first secretary of IBNNZ, a role that complimented the work she did as the New Zealand Trade Representative for Enterprise Ireland from 2010 to 2016.
“Enterprise Ireland hosted a Patrick's Day lunch every year and I’d built a nice network of contacts. I felt it was a bit of a wasted opportunity, bringing all these people together in a room just once a year. There wasn’t enough time to get to know people and develop relationships and I felt there was a real opportunity to start a proper business network.”
“I talked to Rodney Walshe about it and he was very supportive. Billy Walsh, Kevin McCaffrey and Niamh McMahon were also keen to get something off the ground. We invited 15- 20 people we knew to our first meeting at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron at the end of 2014. We talked about the purpose of a network, what it would be called, how we would run it and so on.”
“We talked about some of the challenges of the Lansdowne Club,” recalls Brendan O’Connell, the current chairperson of IBNNZ. “Oliver Lee did a great job with the Lansdowne Club but it was dependent on one person and that makes it difficult to sustain in the long term. We knew we wanted to have a committee type structure with different personalities involved bringing different ideas to the table."
“I think the key to it is the camaraderie, it is social first and business second. " - Niamh McMahon
Grainne Moss has fond memories of that first meeting.
“We were talking about who we could get to speak at the first event. Someone said, ‘There’s this Irish woman in Auckland who was the first woman to swim the English Channel. We should ask her.’ And I put my hand up and said, ‘Well that’s me.’ I’m not quite sure how I ended up as the chair but it was a job I was very happy to do.”
The purposes of the society which were agreed at that first meeting and set down in the constitution are:
- To create a business network for business people in New Zealand who have or want to create a business connection in Ireland.
- To create a business network for business people in Ireland who have or want to create a business connection in New Zealand.
- To foster good relationships amongst members of the society.
- To foster good relationships amongst business people in New Zealand and Ireland.
- Do anything necessary or helpful to the above purposes.
“I think from the very first meeting we realised we had something special in the room,” says Niamh McMahon. “We had the right people with the right motivation and the right skill set to make things happen. Grainne set the direction and she was the perfect leader. She is very collaborative in her style and very inclusive. She was nifty and nimble in the way she operated. She rallied other people behind her and really set the tone. I think we’re riding on her shoulders and a lot of the success of IBNNZ can be credited to her energy and foresight in the early days.”
“We decided to make it a pay as you go society because we didn’t want to complicate things with membership fees,” says Moss. “It kept us sharp and on our toes. We had some events that worked really well and some that didn't. The events that didn’t work cost us money so it made us very aware of what the network wanted.”
“I think IBNNZ works so well because Irish people are very sociable and they genuinely want to help each other.
The other thing I like about IBNNZ is there’s no hidden agenda. There’s so much politics in Ireland, when people leave they tend to leave the politics at home and make the most of a fresh start in a new country.”
“I’ve been introduced to some great people through the network who I’ve gone on to do business with. People are very targeted with their introductions, so you’re never inundated. People think carefully about how other people can add value to my work and what I do. Most Irish people in New Zealand have been helped at some point by another Irish person so everybody is paying it forward if you like.”
No more than 20 or 30 people turned up for the first IBNNZ event, but within five years the society has grown to over 1,500 members nationally. There are branches in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and more planned for Palmerston North and Hamilton.
“We always had ambitions for it to be a New Zealand wide organisation,” says Niamh McMahon, “but we figured it made sense to start with Auckland and see how it worked out. We recognised Auckland was the business centre but there were a lot of influencers in Wellington. It was a dream but a dream for the future. We didn't have the money or the resources to fund a nationwide organisation. Because, then as it is today, it is self funded and driven by volunteers.”
IBNNZ reflects the culture of both Ireland and New Zealand and members come from a diverse range of industries and sectors. It’s an independent networking organisation run by volunteer business professionals with executive level experience and connections in finance, law, digital media, recruitment, marketing, management consultancy, business development, international trade and social development.
The goal of the society is to provide meaningful experiences for members and help them develop valuable and rewarding connections. Getting to know more people and build connections enables better access to job opportunities, resources and information sharing.
Members tell stories of the valuable role IBNNZ played when they first arrived in New Zealand or when they first engaged with the network. There’s a real sense that members are proud of their Irish heritage and their connection to Ireland and the lasting relationships they have developed through the network.
IBNNZ hosts monthly breakfast networking sessions in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. These are well attended each month and are focused on enabling interaction between attendees. These sessions are often the first contact point with IBNNZ for many people, as well as being regularly attended by existing members.
IBNNZ is a not-for-profit incorporated society that funds events through a mix of network support and income from ticketed events. Social media plays an important part in connecting members with active profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook providing further opportunities for members to compliment their real-world networking. IBNNZ also communicates with its membership base on a regular basis through event promotion and other communications.
“I think from the very first meeting we realised we had something special in the room” - Niamh McMahon
“There is a large Irish community here in New Zealand, but we’re very much focused on the business community and building a strong network of business people,” says Niamh McMahon.
“There are other organisations that cater for different needs. We don’t want to be exclusionary either but we are not trying to be all things to all people.
“I think the key to it is the camaraderie, it is social first and business second. For me personally it’s been a great thing to be part of. I had a friend of a friend who came to New Zealand looking for a job in IT. I was able to call an IT recruiter who I met through IBNNZ and within a couple of hours, they had lined up a job for this person. It is those types of connections that are not recorded in the minutes but they happen all the time.”
“I don't get the impression that people are involved in IBNNZ for what they can get out of it. It is the opposite. Most of the people involved are happy to give back and are happy to contribute in any way they can. When I go to events I’m not getting business cards pushed into my hand or people trying to sell me services which is refreshing.”
“It’s more about where you’re from in Ireland, what brought you to New Zealand, how are you settling in and what’s your story. There’s no secret handshake feeling to it, the vibe is more about connecting with one another and helping one another rather than being very self-serving. It is more about building a community and helping each other, whatever form that takes. If anyone in the network has a problem or is going through a tough time I’d like to think there would be a lot of people putting their hand up to help.”
The Network has strong partnerships with the Embassy of Ireland in Wellington, the Embassy of New Zealand in Dublin, the Irish Consulate in Auckland, Enterprise Ireland (the Irish trade development agency based out of Sydney), IDA (the foreign direct investment agency for Ireland) and Tourism Ireland, both based in Dublin. IBNNZ also has a good working relationship with local groups in New Zealand including the Irish Society, the GAA, Invest Northern Ireland and the New Zealand Europe Business Council.