7. 6 Things We Learned About NZ SMEs in 2025

What Comes Next

Shifting Ground series
This article is part of our Shifting Ground series, where we’ve been sharing what we’re seeing and hearing from SME owners across Aotearoa in 2025. The landscape is changing fast, and through this series, we’ve explored some of the key issues and opportunities shaping New Zealand’s small business community right now.

When we began this Shifting Ground series, our aim at RegenerationHQ was simple - to reflect back what we’re seeing and hearing every day in our work with SME owners across New Zealand.

Not to catastrophise. Not to lecture. Just to offer an honest, human picture of the challenges and opportunities shaping business life in 2025, and to spark conversations that help us all move forward with a little more fairness, compassion and hope.

Six articles later, here’s what we’ve learned, and what’s sticking with us most.

1. Uncertainty is the backdrop, but resilience is strong

Financial pressures, shifting consumer behaviour, tight margins, these are real and ongoing. But we continue to be amazed by the adaptability of NZ’s SME owners. They are rolling with the punches, finding new ways to serve customers and staying connected to their communities.

 That said, uncertainty is wearing. Many owners tell us they’re tired, not giving up, but tired. Support and stability matter more than ever.

2. The people puzzle is now a strategic issue

Attracting and keeping great people is no longer just an HR challenge, it’s shaping the very viability of many businesses.

 Owners who can build workplaces rooted in flexibility, fairness, purpose and genuine care will have an edge. But making this happen takes time, skill and energy, and that’s a stretch for many right now.

 The wider SME support ecosystem can and should play a role here, not just by providing recruitment support, but by helping build more human and regenerative leadership.

3. Digital capability remains uneven, but progress is happening

The gap between “digitally fit” SMEs and those struggling to adapt is widening. But the desire to learn and modernise is strong, and many owners are making great progress when given the right support.

 Peer learning, simple language and trusted advice make all the difference. We also see a big opportunity here for the ecosystem to provide more grounded, owner-friendly digital support, not just generic training.

4. Sustainability is moving from niche to mainstream, carefully

Owners increasingly want their businesses to be part of a better future, not just a financially viable one.

 But they need practical, affordable pathways, and reassurance that progress is valued even when it’s imperfect. We see this as an area where shared learning and collaborative local action can be incredibly powerful.

5. The mental load on owners is real and under-supported

If one message came through most strongly in this series, it was this behind the resilience, many owners are carrying a heavy emotional load.

 Isolation, fatigue, decision pressure, these aren’t side issues. They affect business performance, community wellbeing and owner health.

 Supporting owners’ mental wellbeing should be a central part of the SME support conversation, not an optional extra.

6. There is huge appetite for better collaboration and support

Across all six articles, one thread kept surfacing SME owners want clearer, more connected, more human support systems.

 Right now, the landscape of government, agency and association support often feels fragmented and confusing to them. Owners tell us “I don’t know who to talk to, or when.” Or “I’ve been sent to three different people this week.”

 And they say this not with anger, but with weary resignation.

What Comes Next, A New Conversation

As we’ve written this series, we’ve also been working quietly with partners and clients on a question that we believe is critical for the next chapter of SME support in Aotearoa.

 What would it take to create a truly collaborative, regenerative support ecosystem for SMEs, one where central government, local government, economic development agencies, Chambers of Commerce and local business associations worked together happily, with a very different mindset?

 Not from fear of duplication. Not from territorial thinking. Not from compliance mindset, but from a shared purpose to genuinely help business owners thrive, as people, as leaders, as contributors to their communities and to a better future. We believe this is not only possible, it is urgently needed.

 In the next phase of our work, and in the next series of articles we’ll be sharing here, we’ll be exploring this in more depth. We’ll be offering practical ideas for a more connected support system. We’ll be highlighting models that already work and we’ll be inviting others across the ecosystem, public and private, to help shape this conversation with us.

 Because here’s the simple truth. The SME community is one of Aotearoa’s greatest assets. It deserves a support system that matches its care, creativity and resilience.

We hope you’ll stay with us for that next conversation.

Stay Connected

If you’d like to follow this series and be part of the conversation about building a better SME support system for Aotearoa, or you’d like a quiet conversation about how to impact your business results now,  here’s how to get hold of us –

📞 Phone +64 275 665 682
✉️ Email john.luxton@regenerationhq.co.nz
🌐 Contact Form www.regenerationhq.co.nz/contact

If you’d like to read more RegenerationHQ thinking on SME business and other things, go here – www.regenerationhq.co.nz/articlesoverview

🔹 RegenerationHQ Ltd - Business Problems Solved Sensibly.
Supporting NZ SME Owners to Exit Well, Lead Better and Build Business Value.