Are you young, female or Māori? A new study of businesses by Westpac NZ says leaders in these groups are amongst the most optimistic in the country.
In the Grow NZ report, 40 per cent of women showed business growth in recent years, compared to 32 per cent of men.
Meanwhile, Māori, Indian and Asian respondents were more confident about the future than those identifying as European.
Looking to the future, 55 per cent of under 35-year-olds expected business conditions to improve, compared to 41 per cent of 35 to 59-year-olds.
Westpac NZ chief executive David McLean says reports of positive growth were higher than ever before but expectations that business conditions would improve have tapered off.
“That thinking is consistent with the view of Westpac economists, who believe we are now past the peak of the business cycle."
McLean says as a nation, New Zealand needs to “up its game” when it came to supporting small businesses that wanted to grow.
"It would be great to have more small businesses feeling equipped to expand, as we know large businesses employ more people, earn more income and have more consistent growth aspirations.”
The nationally representative online survey of 1269 business owners and senior managers was carried out by Nexus Research in February 2018 on behalf of Westpac NZ.