What made us want to start this adventure?
Hi, my name is Summer Gunn and to the right of me is my boyfriend Ilija Jankovic and together we the owners and creators of The Local NZ.
Launched in June 2020 by two students that had big dreams, but didn't know what or how to start. Seeing family and friends' businesses run to the ground due to covid, we knew we had to do something to help.
We wanted to create and develop something that involved the community while also online so everyone could benefit from it, even while being in different locations around New Zealand.
Along came the idea of creating a directory where businesses could be gathered in one place for all to browse through. We knew this was the prefect idea as we both have different skill sets that work hand-in-hand. With Ilija currently studying in his third year of Software Engineering and recently beginning cross-platform mobile app development and with my social media, marketing, design and recently have started working for a website develop company, we knew this idea was going to work.
Using our skills to be able to connect and help small businesses in some way has definitely been our favorite part of creating this business. Having released our very own mobile app this year was a massive step to our business and we are looking forward to growing and developing it further throughout the year.
As Ilija and I do this business on the side, we are slowing building, developing and growing The Local NZ every day. We have lots of new ideas that we want to add and create to help make it easier for clients and viewers. We also appreciate feedback on new ideas and where we could improve on.
Ilija and I love to going on adventures together around New Zealand when we are not busy with study, work or developing The Local NZ. We hope to be able to connect with lots of our businesses in person and travel when The Local NZ grows so we can actually see your wonderful businesses and faces behind those creative ideas that have turned into successful businesses.
We want The Local NZ to be more of a family & community then just another directory. We didn't make this business to make money, we created it to give back to our community and country. We really appreciate everyone's support so far and we hope that we have made a difference to your business in some way. That is all from us for now but looking forward to some awesome improvements this year.
Thank you for reading :)
Written by Summer Gunn