New Edmund Hillary Fellowship for entrepreneurs strengthens NZ start-up scene

Wednesday, 1 February 2017

A new fellowship will bring foreign entrepreneurs and investors to New Zealand to incubate new businesses over the next three years.

The Edmund Hillary Fellowship in partnership with Immigration New Zealand will support 50 global and 10 local entrepreneurs, investors and startup teams every six months to incubate ventures from New Zealand that will have a global impact. 

A special Global Impact Visa will be issued to the fellows nominated for the three-year programme.

After 30 months in the programme, the fellows will be eligible for residence.

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The fellowship had already received more than 350 expressions of interests from 74 countries ahead of Tuesday's launch. 

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said he was glad the visas could create opportunities for young people to make a difference from New Zealand without the restrictions of previous visa criteria. 

Deputy chief executive of Immigration New Zealand Nigel Bickle said the idea has come a long way from its conception on a farm in Whiteman's valley.

That farm will soon host Edmund Hillary Fellows in Mongolian nomad tents called yurts, though fellows will choose where to base themselves in New Zealand. 

'Entrepreneurs who are concerning themselves with what the world will look like in 30 years with a larger population, and the energy implications, environmental implications and border implications that come with that world are the people New Zealand should want to attract now,' Bickle said.

Edmund Hillary Fellowship chief executive Yoseph Ayele is no stranger to the global entrepreneurship.

Born in Ethiopia, he subsequently lived in six countries, earned a degree at Harvard University, worked for a start-up in Silicon Valley, studied New Zealand entrepreneurship during his Masters at Victoria, and founded his own start-up called KiwiConnect.

He said his own experience has taught him the value of bringing creative minds together and giving them an opportunity to turn their ideas into reality. 

'What I've learned from that is networks and communities of entrepreneurs is a big part of an attraction for creative minds.'

Ayele hopes the fellowship will allow New Zealand to lead at a time of uncertainty and a time of unknowns. 

'We're sending out a message to the world saying that New Zealand is open to new ideas, new perspectives, and new ways of doing things.

It's open to listen, but also open to take action, which gets me very excited.'