Our China Network

Our extensive Chinese network provides tremendous export growth opportunities for our growers and marketers.

For the past 20 years, SNZI's Calvin Pei has been building strong relationships at the highest level of Chinese industry. 

Our network includes a powerful range of industry icons. Among these are...

• Access to Online Distribution Network to more than 10,000
  high-net-worth individuals with total assets exceeding RMB 30 billion yuan.
  
• The major importer of high-end fruit.
• A senior consultant to the State Council of China
• An ex Minister of China's National Development and Reform Committee
• A General Manager of a leading asset management company
• Calvin’s MBA students from his guest professorship of China’s leading universities

Sino NZ Innovation Why It Was Created

It all started in 1998 in Auckland and it is a uniquely New Zealand - Chinese story about how the Maritime Silk Road connects this remote island paradise to the rest of the world.

Wen Pei (Calvin) was attending Auckland University studying for a Master of International Business. Allan Rutledge was Director of City Enterprises tasked with bringing his entrepreneurial skills to local government business units. Allan was asked to be Calvin's mentor.

There are many examples of Chinese - NZ friendships leading to where we stand in 2018:

• NZ first ‘western” country to establish formal diplomatic relationship with China;
• The first free trade agreement
• The first to conclude bilateral negotiations with China for China's WTO accession

There are also many examples of large Chinese investment in NZ:

• Yili Group’s dairy investments totalling over $800 million
• Huawei Technologies to spend $400 million in a cloud data centre

These investments (and many others) are made because there is a belief in the country, in agriculture and technology and NZ’s openness to others from different cultures.

The relationship is not just about Chinese money that is driving trade and cultural exchange between our two countries, it is one of mutual respect and recognition of our respective nations strengths and how they can benefit both parties.

China’s One Belt One Road Initiative is an ambitious project to create global trade corridors and is stretching further than anyone previously thought.

One of the early lessons of the OBOR strategy is to ensure there is an investment and understanding of the communities that the strategy impacts.

The community understanding is not always easy to achieve when doing multi-million dollar deals. The OBOR strategy needs relationships and investment at the grassroots - New Zealand is a country of small businesses that lack capital to grow.

SNZI has been created as a model of what can be achieved with Chinese vision, resources and capital and New Zealand innovation, world leading agri-science and abundant natural resources and knowhow.

Initially targeted at the smaller investment opportunities we believe SNZI has a key role to play in ensuring the OBOR strategy is available to all Chinese and NZ businesses whatever their size.

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