Kiwi Business Story – Katrina Jenner at Jenners Worldwide Freight

Katrina Jenner is the CEO of Jenners Worldwide Freight and an Owner Manager Programme alumni. 

This Kiwi Business Story is based on a podcast from 17 August 2023, and all figures quoted are from that time. You can enjoy the complete podcast here. 

The podcast includes more on Katrina’s career, her journey through the family business, company history, the current state of play of the New Zealand freight industry, and how Jenners is supporting NZ businesses. 



You’re CEO of the family business? 

Dad asked me to join 21 years ago! I joined and looking back, I do wish that I had chosen to do a few more stints and get a bit more exposure – or that I'd come and then gone, if that makes sense.

I've had to learn so much more, through other means. Often you learn on the job, how to do things, so I've just had to learn them through the  good old-fashioned way of just doing it. It's been a good journey. I've really loved it and I'm so grateful for all of those people for giving me the opportunities. 

What is your sense of purpose? 

It’s really about solving problems and helping. So when I can help people to grow and develop and solve those [challenges] for businesses. It’s not just looking at international freight, but the flow-on effect of that – how can [firms] grow their business by actually taking out some of that stress and chaos so they can do what they're great at, and we'll do what we’re great at! That just really fuels you – where you can see the passion in someone else's business and they’ve got this awesome story to tell. We get to be a tiny part of that. 

How was your Icehouse experience? 

I did OMP 49 – the Covid OMP and the longest OMP in history! We did our first block, then went into lockdown and came out thinking, ‘how is this going work?’ And it just worked. We did what we needed to do to get The Icehouse magic working and it was just brilliant! 

We had businesses that thought they might close, that were rapidly changing their models, but it was such a great time to be doing the course, because you've got all that extra help and knowledge to actually go, ‘alright, I don't have to do this on my own. What progress can we make?’ 

You get exposed to so many different areas of business and so many different experts come in and talk to you. The part I found challenging was going, ‘alright, I've heard this great story. Now, how do I implement it?’ So given all the supply chain challenges that we had at the time, we were pushed to the max. We have had to accept that a lot of the changes that we wanted to instantly make, we've just got to take our time. That's been a valuable lesson for me.

And looking back at OMP since Covid? 

For me, it's really worked. I loved that practical learning – where you got to talk and didn’t have the distractions of normal business. Because you go away for the blocks for three days at a time, you can really focus on what's coming up. But I wish I’d started a couple of years earlier. So get stuck in. Just do it! 

It’s funny how someone will be quite particular – that a part wasn't for them in block one… and then a number of blocks later they're: ‘alright, yes, guess what I’m doing?’ 

So you really have to open up your mind, not rule anything out and just take those courses and the chats and really listen. You’re just so privileged to have those conversations. 

What impact has The Icehouse community had on you? 

It’s had way more impact than I thought it would. I'm just so grateful to all The Icehouse team, who have been so brilliant. OMP was awesome, but the people were just insanely good. I couldn't have asked for a better OMP group. They are rock stars in their fields. 

I’m also so grateful to call them friends now. We catch up with a portion of the group… every couple of months. We go to a cafe or bar and there’s no one else in the world that's ever been able to say, ‘Katrina, you said you were going to do something? Is it done?’ 

You're just straight there and into that business talk. Someone will go, ‘I'm having a tough time with x’ and, between us [we can help] – we've all been through something and have got experience to share. You just can't put a value on that network.