Fabien Maisonneuve
Position: Former Quality Control Manager, Zealong Field: Horticulture.
Fabien Maisonneuve
Fabien is part of the strong team culture at Zealong where employees share a passion for the quality of the product.
Key skills, attitudes and values for innovation
Fabien is part of the strong team culture at Zealong where employees share a passion for the quality of the product. Fabien believes the following attributes are important for working in innovation:
Passion
Persistence
Thinking outside the square.
Why innovation is important: Fabien Maisonneuve
Fabien Maisonneuve explains the importance of innovation for enabling New Zealand businesses to compete in the global marketplace and help drive the country’s economy.
Background knowledge and experience
Innovative projects draw on a range of people with diverse knowledge and expertise. Each person involved contributes a unique knowledge and skill set, which is determined by their particular educational background, the range of experiences they have been involved in through their work, as well as their life outside of work.
Skills for innovation: Zealong
Innovation draws on a broad range of personal skills and attributes. Fabien Maisonneuve of Zealong discusses how persistence and a strong belief in his product helped Zealong’s founder Vincent Chen achieve success in the market.
Thinking deeper:
Explore other Innovation stories to find other examples of where persistence has been an important personal attribute in innovation.
Have students consider what sort of school and life experiences may help individuals to develop persistence.
Fabien’s background knowledge and experience is diverse. He grew up in France and has travelled a lot, both as a child (with his parents) and as an adult. Travel has given Fabien a wide range of experiences including different cultures, cuisine, products and people, and he considers that this has developed his interest in experiencing new things. At university, Fabien majored in international business before specialising in web design. Fabien credits his French background with giving him a passion for good food and quality products and how they are produced, and this has influenced him in his travels.
It’s more about passion than skills. I do believe that, if you’ve got passion for something, you’ll inevitably do your own research and commit to your everyday work more than you would with particular skills without so much motivation.
After leaving France, Fabien travelled through India and Asia, where he visited a number of tea plantations before coming to New Zealand. Here, he worked on farms and vineyards before becoming involved in quality control at Zealong.
Fabien left Zealong in late 2016.
Related content
Find out more about Zealong and their innovative processes in Zealong: a unique New Zealand tea. Discover more about the Science of tea.
In the activity tea tasting – learn about tea tasting and compare different types of tea by conducting sensory testing.
Useful link
Find out more about the Zealong tea estate on the Zealong website.
This article is based on information current in 2013 and updated in 2018.
