The Anna Advantage

Anna Mowbray thinks fast, moves fast, talks fast. As one of New Zealand’s most influential business leaders, her infectious enthusiasm not only permeates her entrepreneurial endeavours: it’s eminent throughout all elements of her life.

She uses the term ‘constructively dissatisfied’ as somewhat of a motivational mantra – and it clearly works. After all, by the young age of 30, Anna had achieved a level of success that most can only dream of achieving in a lifetime, as one of the founders of the global multi-billion-dollar toy company, ZURU.

But now, as she settles into a new decade and a new chapter of life, Anna is out of the toy game and into the realm of HR. Specifically, cultivating Kiwi talent and connecting it with the right businesses. Although in its infancy, ZEIL – an innovative digital job marketplace – is already on the Mowbray trajectory for world domination and is injecting some ingenuity into the previously stale job marketplace.

“After 15 years living and working in China and Hong Kong, I wanted to come back to NZ and make a difference,” she says. “I wanted to add value to society, so I started looking into the broad spectrum of HR tech and discovered there were some exciting things happening in that space.”

During her time at ZURU, Anna interviewed the first 500 people to work for the company: finding the right skills base and cultural fit for the brand was deeply important to her, and Anna considers it to be one of the most challenging aspects of business.

The fact that NZ’s youth unemployment rate was over 300% higher than the national average confirmed to Anna that something meaningful needed to happen in the HR space.

“One of the big goals I had going into this project was to help democratise the path to employability for everyday Kiwis,” she explains. “If you look at the divide that we have between a child growing up in South Auckland compared to a child going to more privileged schools in central Auckland, you’ll see there’s a massive cavity of differential between those kids and their ability to get into employment. I wanted to build a platform that could help break down some of those barriers in one place. It was one of my guiding lights.”

More than 150,000 people have downloaded the ZEIL app and six million roles have been viewed, but there’s still another mountain or two to climb before Anna is ready to introduce ZEIL to the global market.

“We’ve got some of the best technicians in the world at ZEIL and I’m keen to ensure that talent is part of building something exceptional, something that does go global and opens up a world of opportunity for our team,” she says. “But it’s important to us that we do the best job we can by Kiwis first.”

Impressively, and with no formal business training, Anna’s leadership skills were honed on the job while she and her brothers built their toy empire. She has a degree in food technology (“mainly to get one up on the boys, as my brothers never got a degree”) which came in handy with the manufacturing side of the business. But it’s clear that working with people has always been Anna’s happy place.

Approachable and ever the optimist, Anna has a natural knack in obtaining the best-possible results from people, whether on the factory floor at ZURU in Guangzhou, China, or the ZEIL office in Freemans Bay, Auckland. Although, she says, her leadership style has evolved in line with the size of her staff. With less than 100 people, she knew everyone by name and what they were working on. But by the time ZURU grew to 10,000 employees, it became more about empowering other leaders within the business through a shared vision and aligned goals.

“You get the best from people by bringing them on the journey with you – evoking a level of transparency, and even vulnerability, enables people to do their best work,” she says. “It’s important for a business to be run by ideas and not hierarchy, as well as staying curious and being constructively dissatisfied; we are always asking ourselves, “What can we do better? How do we delight this week? What can we try?

“The culture at ZEIL is one of trusted psychological safety. If you want to disrupt the big dogs and do something different, you need to have a team that’s well positioned to unlock that potential in a safe and supportive environment.”

Setting people up for success is Anna’s modus operandi. Originally a country girl from Tokoroa, she has a genuine desire to see others achieve, particularly on the global startup stage.

“Kiwis have got great ideas and a huge amount of ability,” she says. “We have seen some amazing tech businesses across agritech, fintech and the likes of Xero and Rocket Lab making waves on a global spectrum. We’ve got the talent, we’ve got the entrepreneurs, we’ve got the desire to get ahead as a nation. But it’s about investing, and the Government investing in the startup space and not being afraid to get outside of the comfort zone. It’s also about international entrepreneurs coming to NZ and feeling safe to set up here, as well as retaining our own talent. We’ve got some great software engineers doing amazing work in AI and blockchain and a lot of emerging technologies, and we want to keep that talent. But that’s difficult to do when companies in NZ aren’t always as well positioned to pay the international salaries.”

Most of all, however, she wants to see her children succeed – in whatever way, shape or form that may be. Anna and her husband, former All Black Ali Williams, share five children in their blended family, but the couple are conscious of instilling good values and a strong work ethic, rather than handing them life on a silver platter courtesy of their parents’ success.

“My biggest legacy in life is going to be my children and I want to ensure that I raise them to find their passion and survive and thrive in a world that is not fair,” says Anna.

The Mowbray-Williams household, although strikingly beautiful, is busy, homely and relaxed. One non-negotiable they have is a family dinner at 6:30 every evening. All devices are turned off and stories of the day are shared.

“It's about understanding each other and the nuances and what matters to each of us or each of the children at different points in their life, particularly as they enter the teenage years,” she says.

Anna’s ability to be wholly present in any situation – whether it’s family life, work or even a rare media interview – is one of her many admirable traits as a leader. She’s learnt to forgive herself for not being everything to everyone, something she wrestled with in her early days as a leader. Instead, she focuses on being present for the task at hand; if there’s a critical meeting at work, she is there, 100% engaged. On the contrary, if she’s at a school sports day, she’s enjoying the moment as a mum.

A venture where the lines are slightly blurred, however, is Anna and Ali’s investment into Auckland FC. Their family is passionate about football (perhaps nearly as much as rugby) and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be involved.

“Auckland was one of the last major cities in the world without a professional football team,” she says. “There are four billion football fans and 2.2 million people playing the sport across Australasia – so there is a huge opportunity there. And, as a distinctly multicultural city, Auckland was primed for it.”

Auckland FC has been an instant sporting and commercial success, with tens of thousands of football fans filing into stadiums for game days.

“It truly has changed the sporting landscape in NZ and how Kiwis look at sporting fandom,” says Anna, who co-owns the club with Ali, and American businessman Bill Foley. “It’s on us now to make sure we harness that and keep on delivering the family-friendly experience that we’ve been able to build so far.”

It’s more than enough to keep Anna busy – but with that unwavering entrepreneurial streak, she’s always on the lookout for the next opportunity.

“Every story and every journey is completely different but I always hold a lot of pressure within myself,” she says. “A fear of failure and a fear of not doing as well as I have previously is always there, and it’s one of my biggest motivators. I will always have that desire to do something great again.”