Mrs Yong Kim, MNZM, Auckland
For services to the Asian community and business. Since arriving in New Zealand in 1990, Mrs Yong Kim has made an outstanding contribution to the Korean community in New Zealand. During this time she has overcome many challenges to achieve commercial success, as well as working to assist Korean migrants to settle and integrate into the community. She pioneered the establishment of Korean banking services through encouraging banks to provide targeted services to Korean migrants through the setting up of Korean Banking units. She has since established a successful financial consultancy which has enabled New Zealand to take advantage of the Korean financial investment policies through increased trade. Mrs Kim has contributed to the Office of Ethnic Affairs' Migrant Women Entrepreneurship project, in order to encourage migrant women from all backgrounds to achieve success in New Zealand. As a philanthropist, she has assisted with the dissemination of information to the Korean community, and established an informal network of Korean businesswomen in Auckland.