Businesswomen in the region

For June’s Lakes Business, we’re taking a look at women in business as Queenstown Chamber of Commerce are preparing for the 11th annual Westpac Queenstown Women in Business Conference. When pulling together this issue, we discovered some common threads from the women we interviewed, namely, just how important it is to uplift one another and highlight women in business. As Simran Kaur, founder of Girls that Invest, puts it, “You cannot become what you don’t see.”

This month we had a 5-minute chat with Ally Kettle, who explains her newly-created role as Programme Development Manager at Queenstown Resort College and her experience working in the STEAM education space across Australia and South Korea. Yasuko Joll takes us behind the scenes of her sake kasu business, which has taken the fermented residue from sake processing and turned it into a profitable business. Melissa Brook of Queenstown Airport tells us about her move to the airport’s newest senior leadership role – General Manager Strategy.

Simran Kaur sheds some light on the scary world of investing money and explains why she wanted to make investing more accessible and understandable to women. Penny Clarke recalls her decorated 54-year career in the hotel management game – and tells us how times have changed for women in business. And Martin King of Winter Pride and Pride Pledge gives some pointers on how to make your business more inclusive and your workforce more diverse.

So, let’s dive in and take a look at the trends we’re seeing for women in the workforce. Aotearoa New Zealand is seeing an increase in self-employed women, with Stats NZ reporting an increase of 14% to 143,500 in the year to March 2021. They also report that women make up almost half of the paid workforce at 48% of the total, however, many more women than men are working in part-time positions. While the gender pay gap is starting to trend down, it still exists and men are earning on average 10% more than women. Additionally, Employment NZ reports that women are under-represented in higher-level jobs – many women are employed in industries where more than 80% of the workers are women, which tend to be lower-paid occupations.

With women running approximately one-third of high-growth businesses worldwide, people are now paying attention to their different approach. A 2016 study that collected data from 55,000 professionals across 90 countries found that women score higher than men on emotional intelligence competencies such as conflict management, teamwork and adaptability. These ‘soft skills’ have been shown to be an important trait of effective leaders and their ability to boost business performance.

The annual Westpac Queenstown Women in Business Conference hosts an array of speakers each year that deep dive into their experiences, stories and journeys in the business world from a female perspective. The theme of this year’s conference is Creators & Change Makers and it’s the biggest event to date, having sold 250 tickets.

“This year is pretty exciting – it’s going to be bigger than previous years as we’ve moved into a new venue, which is QT Hotel Queenstown,” says Sharon Fifield, Chief Executive at the Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce. “Again it sold out really quickly, within 24 hours. We have 250 women coming along and really, the day is an opportunity for women to come together to network and hear from really inspirational speakers. Generally, the speakers will talk about their career journey, advice on what has inspired them or how they’ve gotten to where they are. We have a really good line-up this year.”

This year’s lineup includes Kate Rodgers, Newshub’s Entertainment Editor and Film Reviewer, Simran Kaur, who we chat with in this issue, and founded Girls that Invest, and Roxanne Jacobsen, founder of Saben and much-loved figure in the local fashion scene. Dame Fran Wilde, former MP, Cabinet Minister and Mayor of Wellington will also speak alongside Singer-Songwriter Anika Moa, CEO and founder of Ethique, Brianne West, as well as journalist, political editor and Today FM Radio Host Tova O’Brien, and TV presenter, radio host, podcaster and media chaplain, Petra Bagust.

“A lot of planning goes into it, and Westpac is a really valuable partner for us – they’ve been super supportive. It’s a good six months plus of planning in sourcing the speakers, and this conference is really well-known for great goodie bags. This year, we’re really excited to have the CEO of Westpac speaking to us as well. It’s really one of our key cornerstone events for the year.”

The event’s audience is made up mostly of women in coming from the Queenstown and Wanaka area. While it’s hugely popular, Sharon explains that the event can only grow as much as venues in the area will allow, so they are sitting at capacity for now, although they’re blown away by its popularity each year. In closing, Sharon adds “The whole purpose is really just for women to walk away feeling really energised and inspired – that’s the purpose.” While tickets have sold out, there is a waitlist on the Chamber’s website.

The end of May also saw the Chamber kick off the 2023 Queenstown Airport Women in Business Morning Tea series. These events celebrate women in business and the achievements of female business leaders. Past speakers have included apprentice Carpenter and Chair of the National Association for Women in Construction: Queenstown Chapter, Willow Rolton and IRONMAN Oceania Regional Director of NZ, Amy MacCormack.

This year’s first speaker was Elizabeth Barbalich, Founder of Antipodes, who discussed her journey to make her own natural skincare brand.

Looking at the issue on a more global level, the theme for International Women’s Day this year was ‘embrace equity’ – something that’s a little different to equality and an initiative that aims to close gender gaps. Equality means that everyone has the same resources or opportunities, whereas equity refers to fairness and justice, recognising that not everyone starts from the same place; therefore, making adjustments and providing tools/resources to make adjustments to imbalances and reach an equal outcome for all. The goal of the theme was to get people talking about why equal opportunities are no longer enough and that they can, in fact, be exclusionary.

Just by flicking through our pages, it’s evident that the region has an abundance of thriving businesses that just so happen to have women at the helm. With Tāhuna Queenstown and Wānaka’s business sector growing, it’s crucial now more than ever that we harbour a positive and inclusive environment for all. Martin King says, “In Queenstown, there are great companies doing incredible work when it comes to diversity inclusion, so people just need to feel confident to reach out and share.”