Reasons for setting up companies can be as varied as the companies themselves – to commercialise a great idea, be able to dictate your own destiny, fill a perceived gap in the market, or follow a lifelong passion.

 Malcolm Ngatai has an even simpler explanation for his journey. The owner of Christchurch underground services firm Suck It Up explains why he began in business 10 years ago: “It was to finance my stock car racing. I did it on wages and salary for a long time, maxxing out my credit card every season and spending the winter paying it off. It was painfully obvious I needed something more.”

At the time Malcolm had been managing Canterbury Waterblast Ltd, a company he had worked with since leaving school 24 years before. Choosing the somewhat esoteric world of drain clearing as opposed to more conventional careers was mainly down to happenstance, he reckons: “I wanted to leave school, but my mother said I couldn’t leave without a job. A friend of a friend worked for Canterbury Waterblast and arranged a job for me.

“I was with them for 20 years. Then the Clark family that owned the company wanted to sell up, and it was bought by the Peter Diver group in 2006. I should have bought it myself, but I didn’t think I was quite ready to take on a business. In the event, Divers needed someone to manage the operation, so I stepped up.”