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The promotion of Nikhil Ravishankar to Air New Zealand's top post has broken something of a glass ceiling for migrant communities seeking greater representation in senior corporate roles.

India-born Ravishankar formally replaced Greg Foran as the airline's chief executive in October.

Still, Ravishankar's rise to the national carrier's top job is a rarity in the New Zealand's world of business and one needs to look further afield to find other Asian faces involved in the upper echelons of the corporate world.

Veteran angel investor Danny Chan is a recognisable name working in the startup sector.

Now in his 70s, Chan has been investing in New Zealand startups for four decades, helping more than 30 companies grow and mature over this time.

Saying he was "happy" with the returns he had received from his investments, Chan remained hopeful about the startup ecosystem in the country.

"New Zealand is famous for always finding new ways of doing things," said Chan, who is of Chinese descent.

"In terms of per capita, we rank very high for being innovative. The oft-repeated phrase 'working from the garage' well and truly applies to this country."

Following in Chan's footsteps are several relatively young Asian venture capitalists who have expressed confidence in the country's startups in recent years.

These executives regularly support Asian and non-Asian founders grow their businesses in a bid to help New Zealand transform itself from a commodity-driven economy to one that is knowledge-based.

Photo: Supplied

Vignesh Kumar, co-managing partner at venture capital firm Global from Day