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Speaker 1: Heller Duper se al rising level of optimism In a

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Speaker 1: survey that's just been done by two Degrees. They talked

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Speaker 1: to over seven hundred businesses. They found thirty four percent

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Speaker 1: of businesses are feeling optimistic. That's up from only thirty

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Speaker 1: two percent last year. Fifty three percent of businesses now

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Speaker 1: expect revenue to grow in the next year. That's up

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Speaker 1: from fifty percent last year. Andrew Fairgray is the chief

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Speaker 1: business officer at two Degrees.

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Speaker 2: Hi, Andrew, hither, how are you?

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Speaker 1: I'm well, thank you. Did this surprise you that there

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Speaker 1: are more businesses feeling optimistic than last year?

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Speaker 2: It was a very pleasant surprise. I think we should

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Speaker 2: look at it as marginally improved. When I looked at

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Speaker 2: it and reflected on what might be driving this. We've

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Speaker 2: had a change of government, and we've obviously got very

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Speaker 2: resilient businesses that are looking for some positivity to move forward.

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Speaker 1: What is going on here? How do we explain it

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Speaker 1: apart from obviously a change of government? Andrew, which is

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Speaker 1: fair enough, right, That's just that that's marginal stuff. Are

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Speaker 1: they seeing any green shoots?

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Speaker 2: I think we are starting to see some green shirts.

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Speaker 2: We're starting to see more businesses seeing the benefit of

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Speaker 2: using digital technology to support their businesses. We're seeing the

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Speaker 2: global environment is starting to improve. Hopefully people are starting

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Speaker 2: to realize there is an opportunity to move forward. Undoubtedly

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Speaker 2: the cross pressures are still there for all businesses, but

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Speaker 2: relative to we can put our heads down or we

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Speaker 2: can look up and leverage all the assets that we

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Speaker 2: do have to move forward. And we often talk about

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Speaker 2: the benefits that New Zealand can have for their businesses

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Speaker 2: as the witless economy and all the great things that

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Speaker 2: can be done. And you have to look at what

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Speaker 2: rocket Lab they've done with fifty launches. It's just phenomenal

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Speaker 2: what they've been doing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and then how do we explain the businesses reporting

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Speaker 1: their anticipating the increase in businesses reporting their anticipating revenue growth.

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Speaker 1: Is that because they think we are through the worst

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Speaker 1: of it when it comes to inflation and interest rates

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Speaker 1: and so on.

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Speaker 2: That's what I'm hoping, and they are also seeing opportunity.

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Speaker 2: It's been a long COVID hangover and now with a

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Speaker 2: change government, I really think they're starting to think there's

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Speaker 2: going to be some opportunities to move forward. This was

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Speaker 2: taken in April, So I'm hoping that this will transpire

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Speaker 2: now for next year because it's the fifth year we've

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Speaker 2: been running the survey, so it's a good opportunity for

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Speaker 2: us to get some real data to say this isn't

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Speaker 2: a one off, this is actually a real movement and

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Speaker 2: hopefully it's point in the right direction with some green shoots.

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Speaker 1: Are you seeing green shoots in your business?

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Speaker 2: We're starting to see more and more businesses wanting to

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Speaker 2: leverage the technology that we offer. So therefore, as a

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Speaker 2: player that's very proud to offer value in the market

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Speaker 2: and really been clear of what we're doing, the new

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Speaker 2: scale that we had since we merged in twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: two with Vocus, we're starting to see some real positivity

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Speaker 2: there as well.

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Speaker 1: Are you struggling still with employment? Is it hard to

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Speaker 1: find people who have the right skills?

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Speaker 2: That's something that came out in the survey Heather that

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Speaker 2: people with technology skills it's really really hard to find.

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Speaker 2: I'm putting it down to probably those people who held

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Speaker 2: back taking their overseas experience are now going overseas and

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Speaker 2: we quite haven't got the immigration settings or the environment

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Speaker 2: right to track the right level of schools that we

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Speaker 2: need to support businesses through this technology change.

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Speaker 1: How do we deal with that? How do we fix that?

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Speaker 2: I think we need to have a whole look at

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Speaker 2: the education system. How are we supporting people from primary

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Speaker 2: school to secondary school into tertiary organizations and what does

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Speaker 2: that look like. How do we give people clear pathways

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Speaker 2: so they know very early on what to do. How

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Speaker 2: do we work better with tertiary educations and tertiary educations

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Speaker 2: we're better with the commercial sector to drive outcomes. We

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Speaker 2: partner with the Chamber of Commerces throughout New Zealand to

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Speaker 2: look at leveraging their tools and library of resources that

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Speaker 2: they have. So it's really just about how can we

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Speaker 2: keep educating each other to move forward.

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Speaker 1: Mark, were you one of the businesses that actually participated

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Speaker 1: in the survey? No, everyone, If you were, would you

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Speaker 1: have said more optimistical or less optimist?

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Speaker 2: I would have said more optimistic, But I'm that type

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Speaker 2: of person. I think we have great assets in New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: It's about getting things right and focusing on what matters

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Speaker 2: and everyone doing their bit and looking to move forward.

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Speaker 2: We can't change the past, but we can definitely create

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Speaker 2: the future.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff. Andrew Listen Thank you so much, really appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Andrew fair Gray, the chief business officer at two degrees.

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