MEET THE KIWI BUSINESS HEAVYWEIGHTS JOINING FORCES TO MAKE LIFE SIMPLER THAN EVER FOR NEW ZEALAND BUSINESS OWNERS

Growing a business is increasingly hard in New Zealand. Thankfully, a group of Kiwi business leaders have come together to form OneHQ, where they can find the core business services they need – accounting, IT, lending and business advice – all under one r

New Zealand is one of the easiest places to start a business, but the failure rate of small businesses is concerningly high.

“The complexity around managing multiple relationships and services is one of the factors that stands in the way of business success and longevity in New Zealand,” says Hamish McLachlan, former head of small business at KMPG, now chief executive of OneHQ.

“When a business brings on a new supplier, that can have a huge dampening effect on the whole business. It increases workload and most suppliers don’t have an overview of your business, so they simply respond to single requests as opposed to taking a proactive approach or holistic view and how they can improve every aspect of your business.”

That’s why a group of Kiwi business leaders came together to form OneHQ, so that for the first time in New Zealand, businesses can find the core business services they need – accounting, IT, lending and business advice – under one roof, managed by one point of contact, who acts like a silent partner to your business.

OneHQ is the brainchild of a group of Kiwis with formidable business experience, including Harry Ferreira, former general manager of small business at BNZ.

“We’ve all worked for large businesses, but we’ve also owned small businesses ourselves. So, we’ve been on the other side of the fence,” says Ferreira. “The idea for OneHQ came from our experience. We noticed businesses have much broader needs than just one service.”

With the founders having strong backgrounds in business advice and lending, they expanded into IT and accounting by bringing on board already established businesses, carefully selected for their similar values and approach to the way they engage their clients.

“It’s about bringing the best that already exist in these sectors under one roof to create a new customer experience,” says Ferreira. “We handpicked those companies because we liked their fresh thinking and proactive approach – and the service quality was extremely high.”

Each of the businesses that have come together to form OneHQ are heavily connected in their areas of business. Clients are able to benefit from this networking group to leverage this collective intelligence, with the objective to make it easier for businesses to survive and grow. Running a business can be a lonely journey, so OneHQ wants to encourage businesses to network together to raise the bar.

“It’s incredibly complex to run a business, so we’re making it easy to get the services you need. Working with one company and one point of contact within that company is so much more efficient. Businesses lose valuable time searching through hundreds of service providers and then managing those individual relationships,” says Ferreira.

One of the keys to the OneHQ’s business model is having specialists, called navigators, who build strong relationships with clients. More than account managers, navigators are chosen for their deep business knowledge.

“They have the expertise to give sound advice and identify what services businesses need, at the same time, having specialists in several areas helps us provide cutting-edge services across the board,” says Ferreira.

Ultimately, OneHQ’s mission is to make New Zealand businesses more profitable and keep them in the game. To find out more about OneHQ, visit onehq.nz.