What do you do when your passion is to create and build more great brands and global companies out of New Zealand?
If you are a Mowbray you throw a big party with a cool theme and put smart young people together to share ideas.
That’s what the three siblings did earlier this year when more than 300 people attended their Great Gatsby-themed party at their Coatsville mansion.
The idea was actually cooked up by Jake Millar.
Rest assured Nick, Mat and Anna Mowbray have some funky plans of their own as they look to build on their hugely successful Zuru toy business and diversify into other sectors.
However, according to Nick Mowbray readers will have to wait for the details of their next big thing, which Mat is taking charge of.
“We are doing quite a few things under the radar – our biggest one is definitely under the radar,” Nick told NBR before hinting it was something to do with automated building technology.
In the meantime, Zuru is powering on and is now probably worth more than a billion dollars with revenue in excess of $500m. (Last year’s NBR Rich List clearly undervalued the family on entry).
Zuru saw a 77% increase in sales year on year to the end of May, according to NDA data.
The result places Zuru as the world’s No 6 toy manufacturer, behind only Mattel, Hasbro, LEGO, Spin Master and MGA.
Zuru’s success is built on its Bunch O Balloons brand, which became the best-selling item in overall toys in the US.
It’s now the fifth-largest brand behind Marvel, Barbie, Star Wars and Nerf, according to Toy News.
Mowbray says Zuru is extremely profitable because of its low costs of production, having established factories in Asia.
Not even the collapse of Toys R Us has hurt the company, with Zuru taking only a $27m hit when the US company closed down.
Zuru has built four of its own factories with automated production lines and has recently set up in Vietnam.
Mat Mowbray was pictured meeting Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Vietnamese media reported Mowbray’s plan to build an "industrial centre" in Vietnam to launch several projects.
Reports said Zuru would use Vietnam as a regional base for further offshore engagement, taking advantage of the country's free-trade agreements.
Mr Phuc was reported saying "he will create all favourable conditions for [Zuru] to do business in Vietnam."
The Mowbrays started their company as Guru Toys in 2001, moved its base to China in 2005 and it became Zuru in 2008.
Nick told NBR the Vietnam project is “off the charts big” and has been in the works for a decade, set to finalise in the next year or two.
He declined to give any further details as the project is still under way.
The Mowbrays credit their parents, Linda and Harry, with much of their success. “They taught us the value of money and made us work hard for everything but also set us up with values and morals," Anna says.