The Most Inspiring Entrepreneur

Richard Alexander - 30 September 2024

Imagine the honour of being selected as one among the “10 Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs from New Zealand Accelerating the Growth of Economy in 2024” by Apac Entrepreneur, and featured in a Special Edition of their magazine.

For some of us this is not just a dream but a reality. I am the General Manager of a small design and manufacturing company, and while our products have achieved a reasonable reputation within our industry, it was still quite an honour to receive an email in early November 2023 notifying me that I had been selected. Although, quite frankly, this sort of honour is something that I felt was perhaps a little long overdue!

The benefits touted were that it would further enable us to establish our “brand presence in the digital world. By being part of the special edition, you are not only establishing your identity as the most inspiring entrepreneur from New Zealand but are also imparting your success story to your target audience through our brand journalism”. The award provided:

1. That their “senior writers will write a three-page exclusive story on your leadership journey covering the key aspects that make you unique in New Zealand’s entrepreneurial landscape”.

2. A “Certificate of Recognition & Award” declaring “The Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs from New Zealand Accelerating the Growth of Economy in 2024”.

3. “Media Ready Content” to allow us to “reach outside the confines of typical marketing channels and gets your business the attention it deserves”.

This all sounded pretty good to me - and all I had to pay them was $2500 for the privilege!

With so many other things seeking my attention, I didn’t respond to their email offer very quickly, and they sent me a follow up early the following month saying “Hope you are doing great!” and asking for me to confirm my participation. Unfortunately, with so many accolades under my belt already I was forced to reply:

Thank you, yes I am doing great.

Please note that I am unfortunately longer able to accept awards with less than a $15000 cash prize. Sorry.

I hope you can understand.

But I would be pleased to accept an award in the future should your vibrant publication be able to secure adequate funding.

Cheers

Richard

It’s interesting that this scam uses people’s pride in their work to extract money from them, however in my case, if my gamble pays off, I’ll still be $12,500 in the black!