CEO eager to get cracking

Steve Silvey enjoys making a difference. Mr Silvey, who started work this week as chief executive of Dunedin's Upstart Business Incubator, is excited about his new role.

He loved the challenge of working with interesting people on fascinating projects, saying it was "exhilarating" to see those projects take off.

Upstart has been helping high-growth companies get started since 2004, by providing incubation and angel investment services.

Successful graduates include award-winning technology start-up companies such as TracMap NZ Ltd, TracPlus Global Ltd and Innovative Learning.

A non-profit entity owned by the Dunedin City Council, University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic, it is one of only seven New Zealand Trade and Enterprise-sponsored incubators in New Zealand.

Upstart was all about taking smart people with smart ideas and helping them turn those ideas into successful and growing businesses, Mr Silvey said.

Entrepreneurs, who came from all walks of life, had the ideas, plans and visions. They just needed some support to help them realise those visions.

Start-up businesses with export and high growth potential were crucial to the future success of the region. They created jobs, economic growth and prosperity.

Upstart's role was to speed up the growth of the venture, while simultaneously reducing the risk, he said.

While times were tough, creating high-value growth industries would help with getting out of the recession of the past few years.

Being involved with growth businesses was nothing new to Mr Silvey. During his tenure as chief executive of Dunedin-based privately owned toilet tissue manufacturer Cottonsoft, the business grew three-fold.

Cottonsoft was sold to Indonesian conglomerate Asia Pulp and Paper - the world's fifth-largest pulp and paper supplier - in a multimillion-dollar deal in 2007. Being involved with the company was a great experience, he said.

Originally from the United Kingdom, where he was latterly working for a large government agency, Mr Silvey moved to New Zealand 11 years ago. He completed an MBA at the University of Otago before joining Cottonsoft. That was followed by a stint working for printer Wickliffe.

Most recently, he worked in real estate for few months before the opportunity to join Upstart came along.

"I thought I could make a difference here," he said.

There were three themes Mr Silvey wanted to focus on in the early stages of the job.

Upstart had to be relevant to all the stakeholders it worked with - entrepreneurs, investors, local government, central government and overseas experts. It needed to be seen as an attractive place for entrepreneurs to come and grow their business and it had to be seen to be providing the right environment and support. For investors, it had to be a source of investable opportunities.

It also had to be connected - there were lots of people, organisations and stakeholders involved, and they needed to come together to form genuine, solid partnerships.

Finally, it needed to be accessible. He wanted people to come and see what Upstart was doing and talk about their ideas.

Dunedin was a great place for entrepreneurs to get started. The university and polytechnic were important sources of intellectual capital, resource, and expertise, there was an active investment community willing to get behind great ideas and it was relatively inexpensive to have a high quality of life.

Local and national government were also supportive of young businesses. Upstart had an important role in fostering strong collaborative links between all those sectors and networks.

Mr Silvey is also a director of natural health company Artemis, which is locally operated and produces organic herbal teas and natural remedies.

He and his family loved living in Dunedin, which he described as "just a really enjoyable place to be".

Upstart Incubation Trust chairman Geoff Thomas said Mr Silvey brought a wealth of experience to the role. He would ensure Upstart "practices what it preaches" by being run as a successful business in its own right.