A heart for business

Murray Kennedy tells CAITLIN SYKES how making a profit can play a role in giving vulnerable people a second chance.

- CAITLIN SYKES

Farmers department stores' founder Robert Laidlaw was one of New Zealand's most successful business people. But he was also a man of deep faith who for most of his career gave half his earnings to charity.

Murray Kennedy recalls reading Ian Hunter's biography Robert Laidlaw: Man for Our Time in his 20s and says the entrepreneur's story still inspires him.

"I enjoy the challenge of making something profitable and making money, but that you can also make a difference," says Kennedy. "In some senses, that's frowned upon in the not-for-profit sector; it's like, 'You're a capitalist, you can't be this, too. But I think you can be a capitalist and a socialist, and that's what Laidlaw was. He made no excuses for making the most money he could make - but then he gave it away."

Kennedy is CEO and co-founder of the Pathway Charitable Group - a collection of social enterprise businesses and social services based in Christchurch. The group began in 1997 when "social enterprise" wasn't a familiar term, and Kennedy says some people still misunderstand the scale and success such businesses can achieve.

Pathway's central business, Alloyfold, is a prime example. The multinational commercial furniture business has sold almost a million chairs in the US and for a couple of years in the mid-2000s was ranked among New Zealand's fastest-growing companies. While it still sells about 40,000 chairs annually in the US, that market now accounts for about 20% of sales, with the rest split between New Zealand and Australia. For 20 years, Pathway has also run a business supplying labour for unloading shipping containers that, although slowing through the pandemic, still employs 30-40 casual staff at any one time. Combined, the firms have an annual turnover of $11 million.

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