Plans to spur economy from top Kiwi minds 

Source: ONE NewsPoster from NZ Enterpreneurial Summit

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The idea of giving up a day's work to share ideas with potential rivals might seem odd, but that is exactly how over 100 entrepreneurs spent Thursday in Auckland.

"We wanted it to be the good old Kiwi roll your sleeves up, get on with it and make some decisions in a hurry," says entrepreneur Tenby Powell.

Like all of them he is giving his time for a chance to work out how to get the economy growing.

The problem is you can have all the good ideas you like, you can hold a summit like the jobs summit or the G-20, but what you need at the end is buy in.

Entrepreneur Graeme Wall has had it. He gave John Key the idea of a national cycleway.

Now he is floating a plan to bring the rich to New Zealand. He proposes New Zealand give them free flights, on the condition they spend $10,000 during their visit.

"I figure that if you spend $10,000, one ninth of that is GST. The GST could pay for the ticket so it's almost like a no cost promotion," says Wall.

The Prime Minister wasn't so sure.

"Originally at the job summit they came up with the idea of potentially free flights to New Zealand for a period of time. We looked at that as an idea and it was rejected by the officials," he says.

The top five ideas presented to Minister of Commerce Simon Power were:

1. KIWICARD TRAVEL
In order to boost both tourism and education, giving visitors free a Air New Zealand flight to New Zealand from any Air NZ departure point in the world, if they bey a $10,000 Air NZ special edition Visa debit card, which can only be spent on goods and services within NZ.

2. FLYING KIWI FUND
Creating a "flying kiwi" fund to attract investors with a view of funding the "growth phase" of exciting New Zealand business opportunities. The $50 million fund would create jobs and provide business mentoring. It could be funded by retail investors, rich individuals and possibly the government.

3. POSSUM ECONOMICS
Harvesting New Zealand's 70 million pest possums for economic benefit through selling fur, which would create jobs, protect native animals and improve the environment.

4. RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Foster the future success of New Zealand intellectual property. Make intellectual property (IP) available to entrepreneurs and commercial users.

5. ATTITUDE CAMPAIGN
Running an attitude campaign with the slogan "Give it a go bro!", from Jan 2010. The aim of this would be to engrain the slogan into New Zealanders' psyche, in order to help create a sense of national pride and identity.