Cecilia Robinson talks to Bruce Cotterill about leadership

5 min read
|
By
Bruce Cotterill

24 August 2023

As featured in New Zealand Herald podcast

Cecilia Robinson is a serial entrepeneur - but she is set to stick with her latest project, potentially for the rest of her career.

The Swedish-born businesswoman went from founding Au Pair Link after moving here to launching My Food Bag alongside Theresa Gattung and Nadia Lim.

While Robinson briefly thought retirement would be an option after the success of the meal-kit delivery service, she is now deeply embedded in Tend, a health start-up that aims to make it easier for people to see GPs, either in person or online.

Speaking to Bruce Cotterill on his NZ Herald podcast Leaders Getting Coffee, Robinson says she is in this for the long-haul.

“I thought maybe I’d need to dedicate 10 years to improving healthcare, and I’ve realised quite quickly that this is my life’s work. And never have I been more passionate about something in my life than what we get up to doing, but I also have never been in a more difficult industry, in every way, shape and form.”

In the episode, Robinson talks about how she got involved in the business world, her experiences with her different start-ups and creating new teams along the way, and how Tend has given her insight into some of the major problems in this country, but also solutions. Plus, she shares what she would do if she was Prime Minister for the day, and discusses her recent column on the health problems that stem from kids having smartphones.

Listen to Bruce and Cecilia’s full chat.