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Export Academy of New Zealand - Source: ONE News -
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The Export Academy of New Zealand is readying for its first intake of students for its newly NZQA-accredited diploma course.
It is a milestone for the school which was set up in 2006 by two Hawke's Bay exporters, Mark Carrington and Murray Painter, who felt frustrated seeing exporters repeatedly make the same mistakes over the years.
"We sat there watching the same mistakes being made day after day and ... if you see that, you want to do something about it," says Carrington.
Painter says they saw an opportunity for education and upskilling rather than just focusing on the practical side of exporting and the Export Academy was born.
The Tindall Foundation helped to provide the first bit of funding and others have since come on board with the vast majority coming from the two men's own company, Go Group.
Business leaders like Xero's Rod Drury are also lending their expertise to the course which targets those already in the business of exporting, like Dean Smith, the marketing manager at Mission Estate Winery.
Smith was one of the Academy's guinea pigs and was impressed with the school.
"They packaged up I think what they intend to offer throughout the certificate and the diploma and sort of compressed it into a single day. We covered a lot in a short time frame, but I think in terms of the things they touched on (it was) certainly really beneficial," says Smith.
However despite gaining NZQA accreditation, the school has not received any government funding which disappointed the founders.
"It's surprising to us that they haven't come to the party but in the current financial climate I guess it's very hard for governments to come up with the funding for everybody," says Carrington.
Smith says that while New Zealand is already an established exporter of products like dairy, meat and wine, the whole sector could benefit from a more sophisicated approach.
"We utilise education in every other aspect of our business," he says.
"Export is such an important part of the business it seems very logical that you should be looking to draw down on education and the knowledge that brings in that part of the business."
Export New Zealand expects the Academy may also help to promote exporting as a career option.
"If we're going to live within our means we need to grow that sector, so if there's an educational pathway for people to go through then that's fantastic... because we want people to be inspired to get into business and make things and sell things overseas," says Catherine Beard of Export New Zealand.
The Academy hopes to expand the diploma to a bachelor degree course in the future and that the government may become involved in the future.
