Background and History
The big idea
New Zealand is the developed country with:
- The world’s highest percentage of its citizens living overseas
- The second-highest percentage (fractionally behind Ireland) of its highly educated citizens living overseas.
These facts are sometimes lamented in New Zealand’s popular and political cultures as signs of a regrettable ‘brain drain’.
Kea takes the opposite view. We believe that it is both inevitable and in the national interest for our most talented citizens to seek education, success and validation in the global marketplace.
Kea’s ‘big idea’ – and its key challenge – is that having the world’s highest ratio of successful and connected citizens around the world is a valuable strategic asset for New Zealand.
Thus Kea informs, inspires, connects and enables the global connections that will help our country develop its economy, academia, arts, sports and social wellbeing to their highest potential.
Kea's global focus on New Zealand and its economy, businesses, culture and society differentiates Kea from other expatriate organisations that are primarily local in focus, mainly ‘social’ in nature, or that support countries other than New Zealand.
A short history of Kea New Zealand
Kea was conceived and launched at the Knowledge Wave Conference in Auckland in August 2001, and announced by Sir Stephen Tindall and Prof David Teece, who were the principal funders initially. Dr George Barker is the third Founding Director.
After the organisation was formally established in New Zealand, Kea Silicon Valley was launched in March 2002 at an event at UC Berkeley. By the end of 2003, Kea Chapters had been launched in the UK (London), New England (Boston), Los Angeles, the Netherlands (Amsterdam) and Sydney.
In the early years, most funding was provided by private philanthropy, with some revenue from government and commercial sources. The New Zealand Government increased its commitment to the country’s offshore community with major funding that enabled Kea to improve its infrastructure and develop a world-class website, launched in July 2005.
In January 2006, the New Zealand office of HSBC became Kea’s main global sponsor. By that time, Chapters had also been established in New York, China (Shanghai) and the Middle East (Dubai). In March 2006, following a successful initial event in 2004, Kea and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise named six winners of the World Class New Zealand (WCNZ) Awards, honouring highly successful people who enhance New Zealand’s reputation and connections around the world. The WCNZ Awards are now an annual highlight of New Zealand’s social calendar.
Also beginning in March 2006, more than 18,000 overseas New Zealanders participated in Every One Counts, New Zealand's largest-ever census of New Zealanders overseas.
In June 2007, Kea won both the High-Growth Sector and the Supreme Awards at the Vero Excellence in Business Support Awards.
In mid-2007, Kea’s first paid Regional Manager was appointed in Shanghai, with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In the 2007 Budget, the Government announced its first multi-year commitment to Kea, enabling the appointment of three additional Regional Managers as well as staff to build and maintain Kea’s global infrastructure. New full-time Regional Managers were appointed in Australia, the UK, and North America by February 2008.
The four Regional Managers have hugely increased Kea’s contribution and profile across the world, organising and/or publicising hundreds of New Zealand-related events and adding thousands of people to our country’s global network. With the Regional Managers’ guidance, new Chapters have been added in France (Paris), Toronto, Brisbane, Washington DC, South Africa (Johannesburg) and Ireland (Dublin). Kea has also affiliated with local professional groups across Asia.
Beginning in early 2008, Kea and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise commenced a series of workshops around the world to build the World Class New Zealand concept into an active network producing tangible results for New Zealand.
Kea’s global campaign, Every Vote Counts, encouraged New Zealanders around the world to vote in the 2008 General Election. The campaign launch was associated with an immediate and sustained increase in voter enrolments from overseas, and with the highest number of overseas votes in any peacetime General Election.
Below video: Sir Stephen Tindall (Co-founder of Kea) explains how Kea started.
Kea was conceived and launched at the Knowledge Wave Conference in Auckland in August 2001, and announced by Sir Stephen Tindall and Prof David Teece, who were the principal funders initially. Dr George Barker is the third Founding Director.
After the organisation was formally established in New Zealand, Kea Silicon Valley was launched in March 2002 at an event at UC Berkeley. By the end of 2003, Kea Chapters had been launched in the UK (London), New England (Boston), Los Angeles, the Netherlands (Amsterdam) and Sydney.
In the early years, most funding was provided by private philanthropy, with some revenue from government and commercial sources. The New Zealand Government increased its commitment to the country’s offshore community with major funding that enabled Kea to improve its infrastructure and develop a world-class website, launched in July 2005.
In January 2006, the New Zealand office of HSBC became Kea’s main global sponsor. By that time, Chapters had also been established in New York, China (Shanghai) and the Middle East (Dubai). In March 2006, following a successful initial event in 2004, Kea and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise named six winners of the World Class New Zealand (WCNZ) Awards, honouring highly successful people who enhance New Zealand’s reputation and connections around the world. The WCNZ Awards are now an annual highlight of New Zealand’s social calendar.
Also beginning in March 2006, more than 18,000 overseas New Zealanders participated in Every One Counts, New Zealand's largest-ever census of New Zealanders overseas.
In June 2007, Kea won both the High-Growth Sector and the Supreme Awards at the Vero Excellence in Business Support Awards.
In mid-2007, Kea’s first paid Regional Manager was appointed in Shanghai, with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In the 2007 Budget, the Government announced its first multi-year commitment to Kea, enabling the appointment of three additional Regional Managers as well as staff to build and maintain Kea’s global infrastructure. New full-time Regional Managers were appointed in Australia, the UK, and North America by February 2008.
The four Regional Managers have hugely increased Kea’s contribution and profile across the world, organising and/or publicising hundreds of New Zealand-related events and adding thousands of people to our country’s global network. With the Regional Managers’ guidance, new Chapters have been added in France (Paris), Toronto, Brisbane, Washington DC, South Africa (Johannesburg) and Ireland (Dublin). Kea has also affiliated with local professional groups across Asia.
Beginning in early 2008, Kea and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise commenced a series of workshops around the world to build the World Class New Zealand concept into an active network producing tangible results for New Zealand.
Kea’s global campaign, Every Vote Counts, encouraged New Zealanders around the world to vote in the 2008 General Election. The campaign launch was associated with an immediate and sustained increase in voter enrolments from overseas, and with the highest number of overseas votes in any peacetime General Election.
Below video: Sir Stephen Tindall (Co-founder of Kea) explains how Kea started.
