Key takeaways

Talk to the Nelson Regional Development Agency and the Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce if you are considering a move to Nelson.

Networking opportunities in Nelson might come on a mountain biking ride or in the Koru lounge at Nelson Airport.

When people think of Nelson Tasman, they might see it as the ideal place to come to for retirement after selling their business.

But why wait? Many entrepreneurs are living the dream right now- enjoying early morning walks on the beach with the dog, running global businesses by day, and mountain biking in their spare time.

The Nelson Regional Development Agency (NRDA) which will be a first port of call for company founders.

The total number of businesses across Nelson-Tasman as of February 2023 was 14,565 and the proportion of small businesses is high, with 92% of them less than 10 employees.

Nelson Tasman has a population of 115,000 and three key employment hubs - Nelson, Richmond and Motueka.

“Companies looking to relocate to Nelson, want to keep talent and they want work life balance, so they are looking for regions like Nelson which can provide this,” says Mark Maguire, is Innovation and Business Growth Manager at .

The key sectors driving the Nelson Tasman regional economy are the blue economy, Nelson, the country’s largest fishing port, and then forestry, food and beverage and science and tech.

Two local Nelsonians on why they never left

“Nelson has great connections that make it easy to travel to other parts of New Zealand, or offshore, conveniently, says Jason McKay, owner of Orbit World Travel Nelson.

There is a higher frequency of flights from here compared to other regional cities, he says.

Local entrepreneur, Chloe van Dyke, co-founder of the healthy drinks business, Chia Sisters would like to see more early startups come to Nelson and recommends the AI Sandbox.

In the food and beverage sector, a lot of businesses start their lives at Nelson Market, she adds. The Nelson Fresh Choice supermarket was the first retailer to stock Chia Sisters drinks and Pic’s Peanut Butter, she says.

Nelson is also home to the well-respected science organisation, the Cawthron Institute.

“I can make a batch of drinks in Nelson and on my bike home I’ll drop off a bottle for nutritional health and testing at one of the world’s best regarded institutes,” says Chloe.

Networking happens in the oddest places in Nelson

One of the best places to network in Nelson is at the airport’s Koru Club at 6 am on Monday mornings, says Sean Tengrove, the Nelson manager of Gold Band Finance.

It’s common to meet business contacts while out mountain biking or doing recreational activities in the area, he says.

“A British guy I swim with is a PhD microbiologist who has been working on Covid vaccines. He does that from here,” says Sean.

The Nelson business ecosystem

British-born Ali Boswijk, Chief Executive of the Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce, says when a new business comes to town, she makes sure people have the opportunity to connect in a social environment first, before they progress to business discussions.

The Chamber of Commerce runs “Findex Business after 5” networking events for its members.

The Chamber has also developed the Port Nelson Export Hub, with Ports of Nelson, an initiative to help support exporters.

Businesses coming to town have a choice of co-sharing work spaces in the area including Mahitahi Colab and The Bridge Street Collective both in central Nelson.

Two tech businesses on why they chose Nelson

At SquareKicker founders Hannah and Nick Ippolito, have made a set of design tools that designers can use in the website development platform, Squarespace.

The couple came back to Hannah’s home town in 2009 and launched SquareKicker during Covid.

“It was important to have a place that had enough opportunity, where we could enjoy that small town vibe, have easy access to the outdoors, where there were lots of casual interactions where we could learn from each other,” says Hannah.

The SquareKicker team of 13 operates from an office in a converted warehouse in Stoke.

“We have hired a mix of people who are professionally trained and not. It’s good to get creativity and problem-solving and that’s easy in Nelson,” says Hannah.

The co-founders have had a few employees move from Auckland and people have been excited to move to Nelson, she says.

The great outdoors was the draw for this founder

Rowan Hick, founder of GlobalWorkshop, whose software helps people keep service records on work done to their high value, sought-after cars, boats and warbirds, moved to Nelson three years ago from Auckland.

His company won the Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce startup business award this year.

“We moved here because of the outdoors. I like mountain biking and walking the dog,” says Hick.

The GlobalWorkshop founder plans to hire someone locally for his team next.

“We know that there’s a good developer community here where we’ll likely find our next person,” says Rowan.

When you’re in startup mode certain things are really critical, says the entrepreneur.

“One is your time, and having places to decompress,” he says.

He likes mountain biking and motor sports events and to visit the Nelson Classic Car Museum.

For another version of this article find it here on Stuff.

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