"I always joke, when I first heard that I was going to be inducted and I told my wife ... the next thing she said was, ‘Oh my God, who’s doing that? What were they thinking?’."
The Dunedin businessman, innovator and former television personality was the last of seven laureates for 2024 inducted into the Business Hall of Fame at an event in Auckland on Wednesday.
Sir Ian, KNZM, CNZM, is the founder of Animation Research Ltd (ARL) — a Dunedin-based computer graphics production facility — as well as media company Taylormade Productions.
The company had worked on coverage for many America’s Cup regattas and nearly every major golf tournament around the world, was one of two companies allowed to operate the decision review system (DRS) for cricket and worked on about 3500 Major League Baseball games each year, he said.
He had travelled to Auckland for the event in the company of ARL staff, including Stu Smith and Craig McNaughton, who started working at the company with him back in 1990 and who were still with him more than 30 years later.
"The reality is, without those people and the people who are there today, I would not be there.
"I can’t do any of the stuff that I’m receiving this award for. I don’t do any of it — this team around me does it."
He recalled getting a loan of half a million dollars from bank manager Andrew Wilson on the basis of trust, which he used to lease TVNZ’s building to get Taylormade Productions started.
The pair walked "the full length of Dunedin and back again" before he agreed to give him the money, Sir Ian said.
He also acknowledged former University of Otago chancellor and pro-chancellor Sir Eion Edgar, who helped start a joint venture between the university and ARL "on a handshake", Sir Ian said.
"That’s a very Dunedin thing.
"I don’t think it would have happened anywhere else and it certainly wouldn’t happen today."
Sir Ian’s other accolades include being named Outstanding Maori Business Leader of the Year, in 2013; New Zealand Innovator of the Year, in 2019; and Deloitte Top 200 Visionary Leader of the Year, in 2020; and he received a knighthood for services to broadcasting, business and the community in 2021.
In 2022, he received an honorary doctor of commerce degree from the University of Otago for his contribution to business and Dunedin.
