Earlier last month, we hosted our second Movac Camp as part of the Leadership Chapter of our Community Engagement Programme.

The role of a CEO is an extremely challenging journey, one peppered with the expectation of presenting a positive front (when naturally things aren’t always going well) to everyone around them – employees, directors, investors, shareholders, customers, etc. This can be exhausting and very lonely. Movac believes that creating an opportunity for CEOs to engage in a vulnerable way in a small group setting creates deep bonds, which lend to an enduring support network.

Movac Camp 2023 homed in on grounding, connecting and strengthening our Portfolio leaders through their shared experiences. They wrestled with the most complex challenges they face in their roles, through in-depth mentoring and peer consulting, cross-pollination of ideas and experiences with members of their Camp cohort to amplify their visions, capacities and capabilities.

The programme was developed by Dr Alia Bojilova and Ben Anderson of Propel Performance Group, challenging our leaders to be vulnerable, honest, generous, empathetic and reflective. Alia is a psychologist, has served in the NZ SAS and now focuses her time on high-performance coaching, including developing similar programs for one of the most successful VC funds in the world.

This year’s venue was Glam Camping at Castaways, 60 minutes from Auckland on the wild and beautiful West Coast. The remote location allowed for the nourishment of the attendees’ minds and bodies, whilst participating in a range of activities – including:

  • A traditional pōwhiri upon arrival – Greeted by local iwi, our group participated in a welcome and grounding ceremony to amplify our appreciation for the land we were on. Thank you to Geoff Oliff for responding to the welcome on our behalf.
  • A global perspective – Our group were presented with powerful insights from global thought leaders including Movac Advisor Randy Komisar and Saurav Chatterjee from Precision Global Capital Management, who provided context on current and future global trends and their impact on business in New Zealand.
  • Yoga and meditation session – A post breakfast practice to calm and relax our minds and bodies for the day ahead.
  • Digging deep – An iterative series of experiential team building and peer consulting activities to deepen insights into each other and themselves, including time spent on the wild and wonderful Karioitahi Beach.
  • A gratitude ceremony – solidifying individual strengths with a peer-to-peer strengths badging ceremony.
  • Evenings around the firepit sharing stories and building friendships.

Feedback from our Camp 2023 cohort to describe what they gained from their Camp experience included:

  • “Ability to share leadership challenges with peers in a trusted environment; widening my view of personal and company purpose; helping others with their challenges; reflection and confirmation (or not) of your own superpowers; discussing the soft side of running a business.”
  • “Perspective, connection, a place to focus on the bigger things”.
  • “Meeting new founders and leaders. Networks. A moment to focus away from the business and on personal development.”
  • “Deeper friendship with last year’s cohort, chance to meet some of the new group. Reflection on what we did last year.”
  • “Connection & time to reflect. It also gave me an opportunity to reach out for the help that I needed, priceless.”
  • “A lot of great insights, and new connections with other CEOs/founders, people who I can reach out to in the future.”

Grateful for our Community

We owe much of the success of Camp to our Leadership Operating Partner, Alia. Thank you, Alia, for the carefully crafted experience and all of the wonderful people (Phil, Suze and Kaine) you folded into the journey!

At Movac we believe our success comes from investing not just in big opportunities but from backing the best people.  Every day we are grateful to be surrounded by the CEOs in our portfolio, working on amazing things. Thank you for taking the time out from your busy lives, your open minds, the courage to share and the support for you gave your peers at Camp. We’re proud to have you in our community.

What will next year bring!?