Invest NZ head Robert Wall on data centres, growth visas and incentives for foreign investment

Business Journalist·NZ Herald·3 Sep, 2026 05:00 PM8 mins to read‌In Invest NZ terms Robert Wall is repatriated human capital. A University of Canterbury engineer, he returned home after two decades in Toronto and London to take up the reins at the new government agency established to promote foreign investment. The is a year old after being carved out of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. It was designed to feed funds to domestic enterprises and establish more foreign firms here, to fuel stronger growth, lift the country’s lagging productivity, and strengthen the Government’s claim it is “going for growth” and successfully making the country better off.