An owner and director of a 150-year-old Auckland iconic business, an Auckland accountant who has been building, guiding, and governing businesses for at least 35 years, and two second-generation (G2) owners who, through tragic circumstances, suddenly found themselves at the helm of their family businesses. They all walk into a bar… Well, not into a […]

Eighteen months ago, I became 25% owner of a business… and guess which one? I was given the opportunity to join three of my colleagues who I had worked with for the previous eight years. I respect and admire all of them in different ways. We are also fortunate in that each of our key […]

So, you have been working on a bright business idea for some time, one which could change the world, or at least some part of the world, and now it is time to make it a reality. At some point this will require financial investment, with either personal savings, or it may mean sacrificing the […]

Whilst the lockdowns of sixteen months ago affected everyone’s lives differently, it gave us time to gain perspective and adjust our priorities (and no – this is not another Covid article). For many, being required to physically distance ourselves from our families, friends, and generally others has reminded us how important human contact and connection […]

Revisiting the dynamics of raising capital for start-ups and growth companies over this series of articles, has reminded me of the low statistics of women led businesses able to obtain venture capital (VC) funding. Less than 5% of VC funding worldwide are to women led businesses, and even less for women of colour. On the […]

This series started with The history of Gilligan Sheppard Capital Raising. GS has been active in the property syndication and start-up capital raising space for quite some time. There are many that know us well. However, there are also many more that do not realise that GS ‘do’ this. The reason many may be unaware […]

We all know New Zealand is a country with a high number of small to medium businesses (SMEs). This may mean we are entrepreneurial, value working on our own terms rather than those dictated by employers, wish to utilise our skills or turn our ideas into action or a myriad of other options.  How then […]

I have been confused by the theme of ‘diversity in the workplace’. Especially it’s identified as culture or gender – so I thought, why not put pen to paper and try and articulate my confusion… The dictionary defines diversity as: The state of being diverse; variety Showing a great deal of variety, very different Including […]

The three partners Yi Ping Ge, Richard Ashby and Bruce Sheppard, and indeed the whole team at Gilligan Sheppard, celebrate and welcome a new partner this week. Joshna Mistry has been offered and has agreed to join the three existing partners as a full equity partner with immediate effect. Joshna joined GS nearly eight years […]

Available to business owners, are many services who advocate that numbers beyond historical end-of-year compliance is important for your business. Some providers will delve into why these are important citing profitability, cash flow management, ability to fund growth, keeping overheads under control, etc. Some of these will go further and offer book-keeping / virtual CFO […]