Cecilia Robinson is one of New Zealand’s most successful and inspiring entrepreneurs, an in-demand keynote speaker and an award winning business woman who founded Au Pair Link and My Food Bag.
Her first business, Au Pair Link, was started from her one room apartment in Auckland with her business partner and now husband - when she was just 20! In 2013, the couple teamed up with Theresa Gattung and Nadia Lim and started the multi award winning business 'My Food Bag', one of NZ’s most talked about and fastest growing start-ups.
They say, if you want to be successful, study someone who is - so we are thrilled to bring you some insights from one of our most successful business speakers Cecilia Robinson.
After co-founding one of New Zealand’s most successful start-ups, has it been hard stepping back from the day-to-day running? What do you miss most?
My Food Bag has been and continues to be one of the most exciting businesses James and I have been involved in and while we no longer are Co-CEO’s of the business, we continue in our role as Directors and board members. Our decision to step away from the day-to-day running of the business was something we’d been working toward for a long time and we were really happy that we were in a position to make that a reality. While the thing you miss the most are always your people, we are lucky to continue to work with a lot of our talent in our Directorship role.
Phable looks amazing, what inspired you to be involved with this particular product?
Phable is one of a few investments we have and I love the idea of being able to capture a video memory in a tangible format (Phable provides ‘playbooks’ e.g. photo albums that when used with our app, scans the image and plays the video).
Being an entrepreneur you must continually be coming up with new ideas and get approached by other people with great ideas also, how do you know when you have the right idea worth focussing on?
Yes, we absolutely do. But we continue to be guided by our core principals which are:
- Only create businesses that make a positive impact
- Work with people who you will learn from and who you admire and respect
- Do it for the country we love, New Zealand!
The difference between those who do and those who don’t is what makes an entrepreneur. Cecilia Robinson
Do you have any other projects on the go that you are allowed to tell us about? 😊
To be honest James and I have just closed a big deal to get a new company were starting off the ground. The idea that we’ve had has been playing on our mind for close to 4 years and so this has been cooking for some time (excuse the pun). Only problem is that we have the next big idea (after this one) ready too, so we have to make sure we prioritise properly and that we focus on the right opportunity first! Once it’s public you’ll be first to know! We’re lucky to be in a position where a lot of fun projects cross our desk and we’re also working on a book for entrepreneurs, as well as with the Princes Trust Charity and some cool other start-up entrepreneurs to keep us on our toes!
What would be your top tip for an entrepreneur just starting out?
It’s been said before but the sentiment never changes – just do it. The difference between those who do and those who don’t is what makes an entrepreneur, i.e. ACTION!
It's about finding a way to say yes, rather than a reason to say no. Cecilia Robinson
If you would like more information on Cecilia Robinson, please get in touch with the Celebrity Speakers team on 09 373 4177 or [email protected]
