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Icons of Change International Awards 2026

Sukesh Sukumaran

Founder & CEO, NexFrontier Logic Limited
Executive Director – Strategy & Innovation, Naumai Partners NZ Limited
Former Head of Business School, Unitec Institute of Technology
Former Head, Strategy & New Business Development, Manukau Institute of Technology
Former Interim Director, APAC COO & NZ Country Manager, Bolt Industries New Zealand (BoltNZ)
Former Director, Head - ICT, Business and Entrepreneurship, Box Hill Institute
Former General Manager, ATEED - West, Auckland Tourism Events & Economic Development
Former CEO, The Web Company
Former Director, Regional Business Development & Sales, Netpointers A/S
Former Consultant, Knowledge Management, KPMG New Zealand
Former Geophysicist - Seismic Exploration and Data Processing, Geco-Prakla, Schlumberger

Finalist AKL West Business Awards, Employer of Choice and Best Mid-Sized Business / The Web Company – Issued by Waitakere Enterprise & West Auckland City Council (2010)

SDG Focus: Goal 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Changemaker for Innovation, Renewable Energy, Economic Development, and Artificial Intelligence (New Zealand)

Sukesh Sukumaran is a Malaysian-born, New Zealand-based strategist, entrepreneur, investor, educator and author whose career has consistently connected innovation with economic opportunity, technology with human potential, and commercial growth with community progress. A geophysicist by training and an Executive MBA graduate, Sukesh has spent more than three decades working across science, technology, business, education, economic development, digital transformation and renewable energy.

His career reflects a distinctive ability to operate across different sectors and disciplines while maintaining a clear focus on the future. From geophysics and information technology to entrepreneurship, tertiary education, regional economic development, renewable energy and artificial intelligence, Sukesh has repeatedly identified emerging opportunities and built practical pathways for people, businesses and communities to participate in them.

At the heart of his work is a simple but powerful conviction: “We deserve a future we can imagine.” For Sukesh, imagining the future is not an exercise in speculation. It is a call to build the capabilities, partnerships, infrastructure and economic systems required to make better futures possible.

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Connecting Innovation with Opportunity

Sukesh's professional journey has been characterised by a willingness to work at the intersection of disciplines that are too often treated separately. His experience spans technology, business development, education, economic development, entrepreneurship, infrastructure and energy, allowing him to see relationships between trends that may otherwise appear disconnected.

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Transcript
00:00Kia ora, from Auckland, New Zealand. I'm Sukesh Sukumaran, Malaysian-born, business leader and strategist, founder of Next Frontier and
00:08Know My Partners, and author of the upcoming Strategy Before Strategy.
00:12My journey has taken me through science, technology, education, economic development, community progress, renewable energy, and now artificial intelligence.
00:22I'm honoured to be recognised as a Business Entrepreneurship and Innovation Changemaker at the 2026 Icons of Change International Awards.
00:31My warm congratulations to my fellow recipients. I'm privileged to stand in such a celebrated company.
00:37This recognition also belongs to the communities, colleagues, and partners who have all shared in the work and the belief
00:44behind it.
00:44Across every endeavour, my purpose is to align commercial growth with societal progress, enabling people to participate in creating and
00:53sharing its value.
00:55Thank you to Icons of Change for celebrating work that advances a more inclusive and sustainable world.
01:01I remain guided by one conviction. We deserve a future we can imagine.
01:07Go well, go strong. Thank you.
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