Emily Rutherford

Finalist - EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 New Zealand

Kiwi Water Park

Three years ago, Emily Rutherford was living in the UK, running her own successful entertainment business when overnight every event she was working on was cancelled with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Emily returned home, and in true entrepreneur spirit immediately got to work on her next business venture. She has always been a huge fan of water sports, growing up next to a lake, and decided to return to her roots writing a business plan to open New Zealand’s largest inflatable water park.

Despite numerous people telling her she was crazy opening up a water park in the middle of the pandemic, Emily trusted her instincts and when the park opened that December it was an instant success. The opening captured media attention and over 4000 tickets were sold in the first week, and 14,000 in the first year.

Since then, the park has gone from strength to strength. At the end of the first season the team reinvested the profits into the business and doubled the size of the park, and by the end of the next season the number of visitors had doubled too. From the very start, it was important to Emily that Mana Water Sports did things differently from traditional tourism countries, and produced no marketing materials that would end up in landfill. Instead, she focused on building a strong online community around the business which not only led to the increase in customer base but also resulted in a 30% return rate of customers.

Kiwi Park become a place of enjoyment for thousands of New Zealanders, including regular visitors with a wide variety of abilities, during a time of nationwide sadness and uncertainty. Now, Emily is looking to open Kiwi Water Park in more locations around New Zealand and the rest of the world, so even more people can experience that.