Biz News

At Xero, we ‘re passionate about empowering Kiwi businesses to grow and enabling business owners to unleash their full potential. We are proud to offer support, sponsorship and sponsorships for programmes that enable small businesses, bookkeepers and accountants to thrive. 

We offered business owners the opportunity to win one of three scholarships to take part in the Owner Manager Programme run by The Icehouse. 

The Owner Manager Programme consists of five 3-day sessions that are held over the course of five months. It is here where the winners of these scholarships will develop the ability to drive momentum and deliver better results for themselves and their business. 

The programme is geared towards owner-managers with more than 15 full-time employees and at least $3 million in revenue. Attendees will gain a better understanding of what drives business growth as well as learn the skills and techniques needed to carry out their

We’ve all heard the cyber security buzzwords – phishing, botnets, malware. You might be thinking, are these real and am I really at risk? The truth is, cyber criminals don’t tend to target businesses or individuals in particular. They target weakness. Cyber attacks are automated, they constantly probe for weaknesses, which is why it’s important to get into good security habits. 

In light of this month’s Cyber Smart Week in New Zealand and Scams Awareness Week in Australia, we’ve put together some practical tips on the basics of cyber security to help protect yourself and your business.

Password security

80% of web apps are using brute force to compromise passwords. Protect your personal information with unique passwords that are long and strong. 

Password managers are particularly useful in letting you use multiple strong passwords, as they can generate these for you and sync them across your devices to

This article first featured in: Rebuilding Australia: the role of small business. This report uncovers the impact of COVID-19 on different industries across the country. For more insights and help for small businesses check out our Behind Small Business page.

With an ecommerce boom already in full flight, delivery company Sendle saw a sharp increase during COVID-19 as consumers headed online to buy everything from bike parts to beauty products. 

Rush to online

As retail stores were forced to close amid the nationwide lockdown imposed in March, an enormous out-of-season online shopping rush followed. Across the country, people headed online to stock up on fitness equipment, home office supplies and educational items – all delivered to their homes.

“Each week was equivalent to a peak Christmas week. In April and May, our business was up 44 per cent on the previous Christmas period,” explains Eva Ross, Sendle’s Chief Marketing

I’ve been a small business advocate for well over three decades now, but, it is incredibly heartening to learn just how valued small businesses are across the UK in the wake of COVID-19. 

A new study released today highlights the outpouring of goodwill towards small businesses that has only grown in the UK since the pandemic began, and reinforces society’s dependence on them.

The community spirit we’ve experienced since lockdowns began has translated to consumers choosing to support their own local businesses. The findings show that 66% of consumers in the UK have pledged to buy more from small firms locally.

That support will be music to the ears of businesses like Manze’s Pie and Mash, where hungry punters have been lining up to buy handcrafted pies, green liquor and eels for more than a century.

With three branches across greater London, Manze’s is a stalwart in its local

At Xero, we’re doing all we can to help small businesses and their advisors to navigate these incredibly difficult business conditions. We’re all facing uncertainty at the moment, and we know many small business owners are looking for accurate information, practical tips and advice. 

To find out more about the impact of the pandemic on small businesses and identify the strategies that have proven successful in mitigating some of the impacts of COVID-19, we commissioned Forrester Consulting to investigate. This week, we launched their findings in a study called The next chapter for small business: How to thrive in a changed world.

The study is the result of over 2,000 surveys with small business owners and consumers across six countries: Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S. and the UK. Ten in-depth interviews with SMBs were also conducted. It gets to the heart of what’s hurting small businesses right

Kristen Buttress started up her ice cream business, Kristen’s Kick Ass Ice Cream, with a mission to be the little community scoop shop where everyone feels welcome. The brand has stores in Noordhoek, Constantia (near Cape Town) and a tropical outpost on the island of Mauritius.

When COVID-19 hit, she had to adapt the business to changing consumer behaviour by building a solid online presence and introducing home delivery services. We spoke to her as part of our annual State of South African small business report – and here’s what Kristen told us… 

How are you finding the impact of COVID-19 on your business and the industry as a whole?

I have been lucky in that both of my shop locations are in open air destinations, so thankfully my foot traffic has not changed much with customers wanting to be out but with the safety of space and fresh