Migrants discuss challenges of diversity

Tuesday, 19 May 2009

Press Release: Euroasia

This week the prominent economist Philippe Legrain has been travelling around New Zealand talking  about the economic benefits of diversity. Whilst it is true that Google, Ebay and Yahoo were founded by immigrants, how do organisations and individuals in Auckland make diversity a practical reality?

Kenneth Leong and Justin Zhang will talk about some of the obstacles faced by Asian immigrants to NZ on Monday 25 May at Euroasia Auckland. They will suggest some practical ways to overcomes these barriers. They will also share some personal views on what people can do to better relate with Asian immigrants in business and social situations.

Both Kenneth and Justin arrived in NZ as international students and complete outsiders. They are now passionately involved with bridging the gap between native New Zealanders and other immigrants. Both are involved in the ongoing debate over the benefits of immigration and how ethnically diverse New Zealanders can better integrate.

Justin Zhang is Director of Skykiwi.com, the most-visited Chinese language website in New Zealand and Australia. Skykiwi.com has 100,000 registered users, and 45,000 unique visits (0.6m page views) every day. Skykiwi.com is highly influential, as one of the largest online communities in New Zealand.

Kenneth Leong is Director of Euroasia, a leading provider of foreign language training and cross-cultural consulting services. In 2007, National Business Review ranked Euroasia the third most exciting company in education, for innovative and pioneering endeavours in cross-cultural education. Today, Euroasia services many corporate and government organisations, providing a range of language and cross-cultural services to help clients connect across cultures. Euroasia has serviced over 2000 New Zealanders in the last 5 years, helping them bridge the language and culture gap.

Mr. Leong says: "There is now a high level of interest in immigration issues, particularly seeing New Zealand is going through such difficult times.  We know some quarters are calling for New Zealand to stop accepting immigrants. We figured it would be worthwhile getting together to discuss some of the challenges of cultural diversity and also some potential solutions to the issues we face."

ENDS