When you use our services you don't just get our practical experience on the job but you'll also get our passion for the job.
We are a small team who have worked alongside thousands of businesses and organisations to achieve results.
Clare Nolan, Director
Miss Small Business...that's what we call her, as if anyone can claim to know the challenges that small businesses face in New Zealand then Clare can.
Not only has Clare started and run her own hospitality, horticultural and training ventures but she has spent the past twenty years helping thousands of other small and start-up businesses to succeed. Clare has been involved in all stages of a business's life cycle working with everyone from the self-employed builder through to the international film company.
From providing advice to businesses, Clare's elevation to managing Wellington City's Economic Development Unit meant that she then changed to providing advice to the region's civic leadership on how to grow Wellington's key industries.
Many of the initiatives she put in place subsequently became the blueprint for national programmes in employment training, business incubation, capital raising, business training, clusters and sector facilitation. She was even contracted to replicate the model in the Pacific Islands, though Clare insists to this day that she didn't get much time sunbathing.
All of this expertise was recognised through Clare's appointments including terms on the Small Business Enterprise Centres of New Zealand, Australia and New Zealand Association of Business Incubators, Economic Development Association of New Zealand and on the Ministerial Panel on Business Compliance Costs for Small Business.
After implementing the vision of a regional economic agency, Clare left the public sector to get back to 'having face time with those whose hearts and dreams are in their business'.
That's because if you ask Clare what makes it all worthwhile she would say letters, like today's from a newly self-employed client, whose last words were "I couldn't have done it with out you".
Mark Blumsky, Director
If you see someone standing on the sidewalk advocating the importance of businesses having a 'point of difference', then that will be Mark.
Mark's interest in business began with his role of National Sales Manager for New Zealand's largest footwear chain, Hannah's, with 100+ stores and 1,000+ staff.
However Mark knew he could do it better and so he set up his own footwear company, Mischief Shoes. Innovation and clever marketing proved the key to his company's success and were also the traits Mark took to his next role as Mayor of Wellington.
Mark believed that a city should also create points of difference and actively market these. That was why Mark was so passionate about creating a significantly funded Regional Tourism Organisation in Wellington and implementing his vision of the 'Send Yourself to Wellington' marketing campaign. It was also why Wellington wholeheartedly embraced 'The Lord of the Rings' under his mayoral leadership.
Since then Mark has been a Member of Parliament, a director (sales and marketing) for Norsewear and was the founding director of Creative HQ - Wellington's business incubator for high-growth start-ups.
Now Mark is back where his heart is, helping nurture entrepreneurs and, as Mark would put it, 'seeing the spark in the eyes of people with an idea'.
Everyone who knows Mark would say that he puts unbounded energy and passion in to everything he does. As a client, you get this commitment whether he is helping brainstorm ideas, facilitate meetings, provide introductions, manage relationships, discuss leadership or tackle business opportunities.
Elliott Kirton, Director
The suspicion is that somewhere inside Elliott lies a novel waiting to get out. However, until that day, he concentrates his writing, research and consultation skills on the needs of our government, business association and non-profit clients.
While Elliott may have graduated in marketing, and worked in marketing roles for international organisations such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), most of his career has been in the economic development field.
His first day out of university saw him helping new Wellington businesses in to Council-run small office units and responsible for managing Wellington City's business visitation programme where liaison staff would assist existing companies in identifying and removing barriers to growth. For a new graduate he quickly saw the challenges faced by small businesses and how appropriate expertise could help grow a business. This got him hooked.
Now, with his economic development experience spanning fifteen years, he can say that he has covered the entire spectrum. He has developed and managed projects around investment attraction, employment training, export readiness, small business advice, franchising, economic analysis, incubation, sector facilitation and infrastructure development.
And he even came home from London specifically to manage a range of projects designed to leverage off 'The Lord of the Rings' being produced in Wellington. Though getting to walk the red carpet hasn't seen his face appear in any of the weekly celebrity magazines yet.
Elliott then helped establish the inaugural Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency and took on the Marketing Manager role within it.
Setting out to create his own business, CDA, meant that he could finally practice what he had preached for so long. Now you'll normally find him juggling multiple projects at any one time, and pushing community development as a key factor in economic development.
We are a small team who have worked alongside thousands of businesses and organisations to achieve results.
Clare Nolan, Director
Miss Small Business...that's what we call her, as if anyone can claim to know the challenges that small businesses face in New Zealand then Clare can.
Not only has Clare started and run her own hospitality, horticultural and training ventures but she has spent the past twenty years helping thousands of other small and start-up businesses to succeed. Clare has been involved in all stages of a business's life cycle working with everyone from the self-employed builder through to the international film company.
From providing advice to businesses, Clare's elevation to managing Wellington City's Economic Development Unit meant that she then changed to providing advice to the region's civic leadership on how to grow Wellington's key industries.
Many of the initiatives she put in place subsequently became the blueprint for national programmes in employment training, business incubation, capital raising, business training, clusters and sector facilitation. She was even contracted to replicate the model in the Pacific Islands, though Clare insists to this day that she didn't get much time sunbathing.
All of this expertise was recognised through Clare's appointments including terms on the Small Business Enterprise Centres of New Zealand, Australia and New Zealand Association of Business Incubators, Economic Development Association of New Zealand and on the Ministerial Panel on Business Compliance Costs for Small Business.
After implementing the vision of a regional economic agency, Clare left the public sector to get back to 'having face time with those whose hearts and dreams are in their business'.
That's because if you ask Clare what makes it all worthwhile she would say letters, like today's from a newly self-employed client, whose last words were "I couldn't have done it with out you".
Mark Blumsky, Director
If you see someone standing on the sidewalk advocating the importance of businesses having a 'point of difference', then that will be Mark.
Mark's interest in business began with his role of National Sales Manager for New Zealand's largest footwear chain, Hannah's, with 100+ stores and 1,000+ staff.
However Mark knew he could do it better and so he set up his own footwear company, Mischief Shoes. Innovation and clever marketing proved the key to his company's success and were also the traits Mark took to his next role as Mayor of Wellington.
Mark believed that a city should also create points of difference and actively market these. That was why Mark was so passionate about creating a significantly funded Regional Tourism Organisation in Wellington and implementing his vision of the 'Send Yourself to Wellington' marketing campaign. It was also why Wellington wholeheartedly embraced 'The Lord of the Rings' under his mayoral leadership.
Since then Mark has been a Member of Parliament, a director (sales and marketing) for Norsewear and was the founding director of Creative HQ - Wellington's business incubator for high-growth start-ups.
Now Mark is back where his heart is, helping nurture entrepreneurs and, as Mark would put it, 'seeing the spark in the eyes of people with an idea'.
Everyone who knows Mark would say that he puts unbounded energy and passion in to everything he does. As a client, you get this commitment whether he is helping brainstorm ideas, facilitate meetings, provide introductions, manage relationships, discuss leadership or tackle business opportunities.
Elliott Kirton, Director
The suspicion is that somewhere inside Elliott lies a novel waiting to get out. However, until that day, he concentrates his writing, research and consultation skills on the needs of our government, business association and non-profit clients.
While Elliott may have graduated in marketing, and worked in marketing roles for international organisations such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), most of his career has been in the economic development field.
His first day out of university saw him helping new Wellington businesses in to Council-run small office units and responsible for managing Wellington City's business visitation programme where liaison staff would assist existing companies in identifying and removing barriers to growth. For a new graduate he quickly saw the challenges faced by small businesses and how appropriate expertise could help grow a business. This got him hooked.
Now, with his economic development experience spanning fifteen years, he can say that he has covered the entire spectrum. He has developed and managed projects around investment attraction, employment training, export readiness, small business advice, franchising, economic analysis, incubation, sector facilitation and infrastructure development.
And he even came home from London specifically to manage a range of projects designed to leverage off 'The Lord of the Rings' being produced in Wellington. Though getting to walk the red carpet hasn't seen his face appear in any of the weekly celebrity magazines yet.
Elliott then helped establish the inaugural Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency and took on the Marketing Manager role within it.
Setting out to create his own business, CDA, meant that he could finally practice what he had preached for so long. Now you'll normally find him juggling multiple projects at any one time, and pushing community development as a key factor in economic development.
OUR DIRECTORS
Clare Nolan
Miss Small Business... that's what we call her, as if anyone can claim to know the challenges that small business face in New Zealand then Clare can ...more...
Mark Blumsky
If you see someone standing on the sidewalk advocating the importance of businesses having a 'point of difference', then that will be Mark ...more...
If you see someone standing on the sidewalk advocating the importance of businesses having a 'point of difference', then that will be Mark ...more...
Elliott Kirton
The suspicion is that somewhere inside Elliott lies a novel waiting to get out. However, until that day, he concentrates his writing, research and consultation skills
...more...
The suspicion is that somewhere inside Elliott lies a novel waiting to get out. However, until that day, he concentrates his writing, research and consultation skills
...more...
TM & © 2009, Capital Development Agency Limited. All rights reserved.
ABOUT US
"We'll use the principles we put in to all out work - innovation, creativity, realism and passion."
