Just look at how much milk products have risen in price since the Fonterra payouts to their farmers. Export prices are much higher than local. Farmers work hard for their income and are entitled to a fair price. But at the expense of the local market, where we get substandard meats and more expensive dairy products. It’s all well and good to say if we didn’t export we would have cheaper local prices, but then we would have less farmers because the market would be too small to support them, so prices may not be any cheaper.

http://geniusnet.blogtown.co.nz/2008/01/21/funding-commercialisation-of-rst-a-balancing-act/

In the case of Humanware, the tragic death of the founder hastened it’s departure. But it might have happened anyway. The reality is that last year only a handful of NZ tech companies got growth funding. I can’t remember the last time I saw a press release from the VIF crowd.

What are these guys being paid to do all day?

We need a mix of local and well connected overseas capital flowing into our tech sector.

Most business sellers would love to see their business continue to be locally owned, but the reality is we have a dearth of local buyers, let alone buyers who’ll pay market price. What’s your solution for that?