EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022: Meet the finalists

In this episode of Entrepreneur of the Year ™ podcast series, Darren White is joined by an impressive and inspiring group of Kiwis who are finalists in the Services category - Brooke and Leighton Roberts, Co-founders and Co-CEO of Sharesies; Claire and James Fuller, Co-founders of Hnry; Brad Fraser, CEO of Senior Move Managers; Wendy Thompson, Founder of Socialites Group; and Wayne Zeng, CEO and Founder of Chancellor Construction.

“You know at the end of the day the customer and the investor are what we’re all there for and that’s what we’re trying to build towards.” - Leighton Roberts, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Sharesies.

Be inspired as finalists share their stories of why they are entrepreneurs, how they celebrate wins in the workplace and how they are addressing their biggest challenges

“I believe that every business that exists should be existing for social and or environmental purpose and that really drives me and I think the greatest way to drive that change is - through this mahi in terms of really looking at how you can disrupt the status quo to be able to create more opportunities for more people and that’s what, yeah, brings me a lot of joy and where I want to focus my efforts.” says Brooke Roberts, Co-founders and Co-CEO of Sharesies.

“For me entrepreneurship comes down to competing. My background was in the military and with American football of all things. I played American football professionally over in Germany. And then when I came back to New Zealand about six years ago got into business and it was the only place really where I could feed the hunger of competing on a day-to-day basis. And I think business is the ultimate full-contact sport”, says Brad Fraser, CEO of Senior Move Managers.

“A piece of advice would be to start building that network of other entrepreneurs as soon as possible. I just didn’t know. I just didn’t start investing in myself. I was investing in the business but not myself. But once I started investing in myself everything just came right. I’d say, look, you are the most valuable part of your business right now. Hopefully like now I’m not the most valuable part of my business but when you’re starting out you are everything and you need to look after that. So, invest some money on courses, just learn all the things.” Wendy Thompson, Founder of Socialites Group.