Financial discipline, sound knowledge of the market, courage to take risks and long-term vision are among the factors that have helped a young entrepreneur to head one of the fastest growing companies in New Zealand.
Thirty-three-year old David Kelly has done himself and his team at ‘Zeald’ proud with his leadership and human qualities of perseverance and friendliness.
Massey University recently honoured its former student with the ‘Distinguished Young Alumni 2013’ title.
The website designing is currently finalising plans to open its offices in Christchurch and Sydney.
Back to Australia
The office across the Tasman would appease Mr Kelly as much as the Massey Award did last fortnight.
“We set up an office in Sydney about two and a half years ago, but we decided to pull back because the more we examined it, the more we realised that we weren’t quite ready, that there were some foundations we had to lay first,” Mr Kelly said.
Armed with experience, expertise and a team of qualified and highly motivated staff, he now believes that the company is ready to move into the Australian market, which has been showing signs of improvement in recent months.
“In the beginning, we did everything wrong. We chased our tails with no business plan. Our biggest learning from those years was the need for discipline. You must be focused and turn away things that might distract you from your goal,” he said.
Learning curve
He said that his qualification as a graduate (BA) in Information Sciences helped him to understand the corporate and market environment, understand economic realities and prepare for the future.
“We grew very rapidly and we needed to take stock and make sure our management structure and systems could cope with that growth. Before taking the business international, we had to introduce an extra layer of management. It is one thing to manage a team directly, but managing a team of managers is quite different and we had to learn that skill,” Mr Kelly said.
Acknowledging the support and guidance provided by Massey University’s e-centre, he said that its onsite business incubator was a learning curve for five years.
“That time was critical for the company. The team at the e-centre, including Chief Executive Steve Corbett (who is a member on the independent panel of judges of the Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards) really mentored us. They accelerated our personal development and the development of our business acumen,” Mr Kelly said.
Profitable websites
According to him Zeald has reached ‘the middle segment of website creation,’ a position that describes his company’s ability to cater to the needs of small and medium-sized businesses with a high quality website at a reasonable cost that generates business.
“A website should be a tool, designed to generate a return. It is not there to just look cool or be quirky, but makes people pick up the phone and call, or to buy your product online. Everything about a website should support that goal,” Mr Kelly said.
“We get efficiencies in automating what we can, in areas where automation does not detract from the value. The result is a customised website without a lot of additional cost,” he added.
