Leadership is not a job title you are given at 40. It is a set of habits you start building now.
The Business South Emerging Leadership Academy brings two small cohorts into a room with four people who have built genuinely interesting careers and asks them to talk honestly. Not the polished version. The real one, including the parts that did not work.
We run two parallel series across the same week, each with twelve places.
Choose your series:
Tertiary Students and Graduates Series | 18 to 29 | Mornings For university and polytechnic students, recent graduates, and those in the first years of their working life. Four 90 minute morning sessions, Monday 5 to Thursday 8 October, plus the
Accelerate South Conference on Friday 9 October.
→ SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION FOR THE UNI AND GRADUATES SERIES: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R5Q5BBZ
Secondary School Series | 16 to 18 | Afternoons For senior secondary students across Otago and Southland. Four 90 minute afternoon sessions, Monday 5 to Thursday 8 October, plus the
Accelerate South Conference on Friday 9 October.
→ SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION FOR THE SECONDARY SCHOOL SERIES: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/D92YZVD
How it works:
Format: Four 90-minute sessions per cohort, in person at the Business South office in Dunedin. Small groups, conversational, with a light structure and a food break midway through each session. These are discussions, not lectures.
The finale: On Friday 9 October, both cohorts attend the
Accelerate South Conference at the Dunedin Centre, alongside hundreds of business leaders, innovators and professionals from across Otago and Southland.
Cost: There is no cost to participants.
Selection: We have twelve places in each series, and we select participants from the applications received. We are looking for curiosity, willingness to contribute, and people who will make the most of the room. You do not need a leadership title, a CV, or a particular set of grades.
Applications close Sunday 27 September, 10pm. Successful applicants will be notified by 5pm Thursday 1 October via email.
Your speakers:
Amos Breyfogle: Advanced manufacturing, 3D printing and product development. Co-founder of Pivot Innovation, board member of Advanced Manufacturing Aotearoa, and leader of a Queenstown based accelerator helping founders build physical products. He has worked with hundreds of companies worldwide, from startups to major manufacturers. Before that, six years on the professional paintball circuit in Europe, which taught him a good deal about high stakes environments and about committing years to something with no guarantee of payoff.
Kim Cadzow: Three-time New Zealand national cycling champion and Olympian. Kim took up cycling at 19 and was on the New Zealand team at the Paris Olympics three years later, finishing seventh in the world in the time trial. She raced at the highest level in Europe for teams including Jumbo-Visma and EF Education-Oatly, with a sixth place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and three Grand Tours to her name. In 2026 she made the decision to step away from professional sport. She will talk about ambition, sustained pressure, and the underrated skill of knowing when to change direction.
Tony Pleace: Digital Intelligence Capability Owner at Telstra, with close to two decades in the technology industry. Tony leads the development of digital intelligence strategy using AI, data and automation, and is co-founder of Pick a Path, a platform built to help people navigate a changing job market. He chairs the AI Working Group at Business South. He will talk about what is happening to work, and how to position yourself in it.
Yvette Shum: Yvette grew up in Dunedin and built a career in visual effects and postproduction across London, Singapore and Shanghai before deciding to come home. She founded Coralcone, a sustainable period care company, developing it through the Startup Dunedin incubator and taking it from concept to market. She will talk about international careers, returning to a small city on purpose, and what it takes to start something on your own.