That’s it folks - thanks for everything and goodbye.

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We were a New Zealand podcast (2014 - 2019) sharing behind the scenes of Kiwi tech, media, and startups - https://accessgranted.nz/

It was hosted by Mike Riversdale, Raj Khushal, and Vivian Chandra

Here it is, the final Access Granted interview and it gives us enormous pleasure that we have managed to ensure our very first ever guest , Victoria MacLennan long time friend and supporter of the show, bookends this AG run (June 2014 episode 3, Victoria MacLennan - Our First Ever Interview: https://accessgranted.nz/episodes/2015/8/31/ep-3).

We simply ask, “So what’s been keeping you happy since 2014” and boy-oh-boy do we get an answer to fill the airwaves, you can get a sense of how Vic’s life has grown into something quite spectacular by having a quick look at the links below - so many.

Enjoy the ever amazing Victoria MacLennan.

- https://nz.linkedin.com/in/victoriamaclennan
- https://twitter.com/optimalhq
- https://medium.com/@victoria.maclennan
- https://optimalbi.com/tell-me-more/victoria-maclennan/
- https://nzrise.org.nz/about-us/
- https://codeclub.nz/page/our-people
- https://www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/economic-development/digital-economy/ministerial-advisory-group/
- https://www.digitalfutureaotearoa.nz/our-people
- https://www.facebook.com/ElectricGardenNZ/
- https://www.digitalskillsforum.nz/the-forum/about/

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Behind the scenes of tech, media, and startups, hosted by Mike Riversdale, Raj Khushal, Vivian Chandra, and others - https://accessgranted.nz/

A discussion with Sarah Bickerton* about how we seem to focus on the commercial world led us to having a cracking chat with Dr Karl Löfgren who is Associate Professor at the Victoria University (of Wellington!) School of Government.

We asked about the speed of change within government, the hurdles to government adopting new technology, and why it seems that many give the New Zealand government (small 'g') such a hard time. This was a conversation we, especially Mike, could've continued well into the small hours.

- https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/sog/about/staff/karl-lofgren
- https://nz.linkedin.com/in/karl-lofgren-5741a639

* Sarah was a guest on the podcast back in October 2018
https://accessgranted.nz/episodes/2018/10/4/sarah-bickerton-kindred-spirits

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Behind the scenes of tech, media, and startups, hosted by Mike Riversdale, Raj Khushal, Vivian Chandra, and others - https://accessgranted.nz/

Shiffy Nayar is leaving a legacy and she’s not afraid if you’d like to do the same.

Chatting with Shiffy we discover her More Than Rubies initiative that has awoken from it’s slumber - get involved:
"... a movement for young women empowering them to make healthy and informed decisions by equipping them with the practical skills they need to achieve their dreams."

During her day job Shiffy is a senior manager at Tensing focusing her talents upon the crazy and wild world of "transformation" be that companies, teams, or people. Oh yeah, Shiffy is a people person but don't you dare think that's a set of "soft skills"!

- https://morethanrubies.org/
- https://nz.linkedin.com/in/shiffylal
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fulfillment-new-beginnings-shiffy-lal
- http://uncomfortableisok.libsyn.com/episode-007-taking-the-crumbs-of-intelligence-from-every-interaction-shiffy-lal-from-making-a-difference-skills

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Behind the scenes of tech, media, and startups, hosted by Mike Riversdale, Raj Khushal, Vivian Chandra, and others - https://accessgranted.nz/

The fifth of our birthday re-visits ("where are they now") has Mike and Dave catching up to discuss what has happened in the 3 years since our June 2016, "Brute force your way to success" episode.

How does Dave see the New Zealand startup/ investment 'scene', what's he been working on since 2016, and what would he love you to hear based upon his ever evolving experience - if there's one thing to hear, this is it, scroll to the end.

- https://dave.moskovitz.co.nz/
- https://nz.linkedin.com/in/davemoskovitz
- https://twitter.com/davemosk
- https://thinktank.co.nz/
- https://accessgranted.nz/episodes/2016/6/10/ep-91-brute-force-your-way-to-success-with-dave-moskovitz

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Behind the scenes of tech, media, and startups, hosted by Mike Riversdale, Raj Khushal, Vivian Chandra, and others.

Share and Like us on:
- https://twitter.com/AccessGrantedNZ
- https://facebook.com/AccessGrantedNZ
- https://linkedin.com/company/access-granted-podcast
- https://nstagram.com/accessgrantednz/

Tamara Buckland has experience to share and, as it all comes together, she is now teaching others how to ensure they too look after themselves and their teams.

With a discussion about diversity, wellness, and sustainability of teams within all types of teams, not just tech, we have someone that walks the walk as New Zealand evolves it's maturity away from the Silicon Valley view of what it is to be a startup.

Evolve with Tarama!

- https://www.tamarabuckland.co.nz/
- https://nz.linkedin.com/in/tamarabuckland
- https://twitter.com/ladygalaxynz
- https://coliberate.co.nz/about-us/tamara-buckland/
- https://www.sharesies.nz/about

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Behind the scenes of tech, media, and startups, hosted by Mike Riversdale, Raj Khushal, Vivian Chandra, and others.

Share and Like us on:
- https://twitter.com/AccessGrantedNZ
- https://facebook.com/AccessGrantedNZ
- https://linkedin.com/company/access-granted-podcast
- https://nstagram.com/accessgrantednz/

Today Viv ends her time with Access Granted by chatting with Chris McDowall. Chris and Viv first met at Kiwifoo earlier this year when he showed us a sneak peek of his latest project. If you haven’t seen the “We Are Here” book yet, check out the link below, it is beautiful and amazing.

Chris first got into maps playing Dungeons And Dragons and learning about geography at university and he hasn’t looked back since.

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-mcdowall-6057b427/
- https://www.masseypress.ac.nz/books/we-are-here/
- https://twitter.com/fogonwater

And so, we all say goodbye to Viv as she says goodbye to you:
"Well, thanks for listening once again, and this time, I’m going to say Heoi anō tāku mō nāianei, that is all for now. You probably already know, Mike, Raj and myself are wrapping this up and this is my last official stint with the crew. It’s been awesome talking to you across the internet, and if you ever bump into me, please come say hi. Ngā mihi nui me te ngā manaakitanga… thank you so much and best wishes"

♥

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Behind the scenes of tech, media, and startups, hosted by Mike Riversdale, Raj Khushal, Vivian Chandra, and others.

Share and Like us on:
- https://twitter.com/AccessGrantedNZ
- https://facebook.com/AccessGrantedNZ
- https://linkedin.com/company/access-granted-podcast
- https://nstagram.com/accessgrantednz/

In the penultimate Viv hosted podcast she gets to go and talk with Gavin de Steur at Uneeq, well in fact she gets to talk to Gavin AND an online virtual human.

Gavin, originally from South Africa, is interested in bringing back the emotional human-to-human connection and with UneeQ (formerly Faceme), started here in NZ, he has that opportunity. Uneeq has recently expanded out to Asia, Australia, Europe, and the USA which bring with it a challenging growth path because of the many different communication styles.

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-de-steur/
- https://digitalhumans.com/

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Behind the scenes of tech, media, and startups, hosted by Mike Riversdale, Raj Khushal, Vivian Chandra, and others.

Share and Like us on:
- https://twitter.com/AccessGrantedNZ
- https://facebook.com/AccessGrantedNZ
- https://linkedin.com/company/access-granted-podcast
- https://nstagram.com/accessgrantednz/

As Access Granted moves towards the end it is our good fortune to have started the wonderful "where are they now" series to celebrate our 5th birthday year. With Ben Kepes we not only catch-up on how the past 4.5 years have treated him since we last chatted in May 2015 on his "In the cloud" episode but also share some of his insights gained on the way.

Listen to the end, Ben has some gorgeous advice and insights to all taking their own "startup" journey.

- http://www.diversity.net.nz/
- https://twitter.com/benkepes
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/benkepes
- https://www.instagram.com/benkepes/

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Behind the scenes of tech, media, and startups, hosted by Mike Riversdale, Raj Khushal, Vivian Chandra, and others. See you at #WellyTech

Share, Follow and Like us on:
- https://twitter.com/AccessGrantedNZ
- https://facebook.com/AccessGrantedNZ
- https://linkedin.com/company/access-granted-podcast
- https://nstagram.com/accessgrantednz/

Kristen Lunman and Natalie Ferguson were last on the show just under a year ago and this the third of our 5th birthday celebration, and they are still “obnoxiously happy”. Of course Natalie is taking her third step into the AG limelight after being an early guest back in July 2014.

We find out what has changed, a lot with Hatch, what still makes them happy and where it’s all heading … catch up with 2 close show friends and amazing women in tech.

- https://nz.linkedin.com/in/kristen-lunman-32b3175
- https://twitter.com/KristenLunman

- https://twitter.com/natfergster
- https://nz.linkedin.com/in/natalieferguson

- https://www.hatchinvest.nz/

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Behind the scenes of tech, media, and startups, hosted by Mike Riversdale, Raj Khushal, Vivian Chandra, and others. See you at #WellyTech

Share, Follow and Like us on:
- https://twitter.com/AccessGrantedNZ
- https://facebook.com/AccessGrantedNZ
- https://linkedin.com/company/access-granted-podcast
- https://nstagram.com/accessgrantednz/

As part of our 5th birthday Owen Evans turned the tables on Mike, Raj, and Viv and interviewed us.
Of course with AG now closing down at the end of 2019 the sense of optimism about the future can been seen as unfounded.

We would still like to have this published - a moment in time.