About GEN NZ

GEN New Zealand is the national affiliate of the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN).  It was established in 2019 by the communities that celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in New Zealand each November to serve as a year round platform for coordinating and developing new programs and initiatives aimed at strengthening our entrepreneurial ecosystems.

GEN New Zealand's key initiatives include:

• GEN NZ Unconference: An annual participant-driven event where attendees set the agenda to solve ecosystem challenges.
• Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Awards: A ceremony that recognizes excellence among founders, mentors, and support organizations.
• Policy Work: It has contributed to the GEN NZ Manifesto Policy (2023) and the Startup Advisors Council.

GEN New Zealand's mission is to:

• Connect Kiwi Ecosystem Enablers with the talent and resources they need to thrive nationally & globally
• Provide education programs for aspiring ecosystem enablers to help them provide better support to their entrepreneurs
• Support NZ ecosystem enablers, especially outside the main centers, so that they can support the entrepreneurs and transform the NZ entrepreneurial ecosystem to be globally competitive
• Connect NZ entrepreneurship support organizations and ecosystem enablers with each other and to the resources, they need to thrive, locally and globally
• Grow the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in New Zealand through building partnerships with the Government, Ecosystem Enablers, Investors, Service Providers, and Academia

GEN NZ Board of Trustees:

• Dave Moskovitz - Executive Chair & Co-founder
• Katherine Blaney - Trustee
• Pascale Hyboud-Peron - Trustee
• Marwan Jamal - Co-founder
• Jonathan Ortmans - President of GEN Global
• Suse Reynolds - Trustee

GEN NZ Board of Advisors:

• Louise Aitken - Akina Foundation
• Terry Allen - NZTE
• Luke Ball - Lightning Lab
• Grant Carpenter - Service Innovation Lab
• Stephen Cummings - The Atom - Te Kahu o Te Ao
• Kay Maree Dunn - Ahau
• Pascale Hyboud-Peron - Venture Center
• Stefan Korn - Creative HQ
• Michael Murphy - Callaghan Innovation
• Mark Peterson - NZX
• Mitali Purohit - Arc Angels
• Suse Reynolds - Angel Association
• Terry Shubkin - Young Enterprise Trust
• Veronica Stevenson - Humblebee

Learn more about GEN NZ in this downloadable PDF