Category Archives: Business Profiles

Strata set up to ride the construction boom

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Strata Group is well placed to be at the forefront of the ongoing economic growth of Hawke’s Bay, which is seeing massive investment in commercial, industrial, residential and infrastructure builds.

With a healthy current and future pipeline of work, Strata Group director Duncan Bruce says there’s been a stronger focus on retaining talent and providing career pathways through to shareholding in recent years.

The business was established by Duncan, Russell Nettlingham and Guy Lethbridge in 2008 and since then has accumulated an impressive portfolio of construction projects both in Hawke’s Bay and beyond.

Having previously completed the engineering design of the Porters Hotel and Village Exchange and more recently the Joll Road commercial development in Havelock North, leading the Sunfruit Orchards Distribution Centre development, Strata Group are currently involved in the construction monitoring for the strengthening of the Hawke’s Bay Opera House as well as civil engineering for multiple residential developments in Hastings, Napier, Havelock North and Central Hawkes Bay.

Prior to COVID-19, director Guy Lethbridge stepped away from the business, opening up shareholder opportunities for three up-and-coming team leaders Dan Joblin, Luke Price and Philip Wilkinson.

“We’ve had a business mentor involved in the business strategy, helping us set the future strategic direction and as part of this, we wanted to provide a pathway for key members of the team that included having some ownership in the business.

“This would help us retain talent, and gives both Russell and I the opportunity to step away from the day-to-day hands-on role of working on projects to instead focusing on client relationships and developing new opportunities and innovation.”

“Lastly, it also creates a legacy business; a business that started in Hastings over 12 years ago and can stand the test of time and continue to be involved in the development of commercial and industrial buildings, residential developments and infrastructure projects across the Bay and beyond.”

Duncan says there’s also strong desire to recruit more woman into the business, with a new homegrown Civil Engineering graduate set to start in the new year.

In May this year, Strata was part of the local contracting team that handed over the 20,600 m2 (2.06 hectares) multimillion-dollar Rockit Global facility in the Irongate industrial zone. It was Strata’s second large-scale packing facility project in the area.

Rockit Global chief executive Mark O’Donnell says the company was pleased to partner with a number of companies that have been committed to delivering the project. While I can give credit to all those we’ve been working alongside, Strata and MCL are two local businesses that have performed extremely well.

It’s well reported that there’s a construction boom both in Hawke’s Bay and across New Zealand and Strata is looking to make the most of that boom.

Russell is leading one of the largest industrial building complex projects currently in New Zealand with the $400 million Winstone Wallboards new state-of-the-art plasterboard manufacturing and distribution facility in Tauriko, Tauranga, which will open in 2023.

Other current projects include the $70 million pet food factory for Ziwi in Awatoto, which is a major economic boost to Napier, employing 125 workers in the 12,000 m2 facility.

Duncan says the business is also excited to be involved in Foodeast, a foodhub in Elwood Road, Hastings, that will provide significant opportunities for up-and-coming food processing businesses.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to further position Hawke’s Bay as the food bowl of New Zealand, creating new innovations and food products that will showcase the food growing attributes of the Bay.”

Rockit facility sets new benchmark

The Rockit Global packhouse and storage facility has set a new performance benchmark for the horticulture sector, says Duncan.

Rockit had well outgrown a light-industrial building converted into a packhouse, cool store and administration complex in Cooper Street, Havelock North.

Strata was first engaged in 2016 to look at the design requirements of a modern packing facility.

The first step was to identify where would be the best place for the large facility.

Hastings District Council had created the industrial zone in Irongate, and Strata had already been involved in the development of the first post-harvest facility in Irongate for Sunfruit.

Duncan says the layout of a packhouse was driven by maximizing the use of the site given the site boundaries and fire regulations which on site incorporates a full sprinkler system that protects the entire site.

The complex build and a condensed build time due to COVID-19 added pressure but with a close working relationship with the Hastings District Council consenting team, building consents were able to be staged and more openly and efficiently managed.

“Overall this facility has raised the bar and importantly, we had a good working relationship with the council who appreciated us giving them an early heads-up for when to expect Consent documentation.

“MCL did a great job as construction lead and one key decision to pre-order building materials before COVID-19 ensured that downtime was kept to a minimum.

“Special mention must go to key Strata Group team member Andrew Murphy our Industrial Projects Leader who was involved from the start and who has been a big part of this projects success.

“Every business involved worked hard and gave it their all. It was fantastic to work with the likes of Worleys, MCL, Redsteel, Active, Almak and everyone else involved.”

www.stratagroup.net.nz

How shared spaces slash office running costs.

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Office lease rent accounts for only around a third of your total cost of occupancy, so you can see there are some hidden costs in leasing your own office. Costs that you may not understand upfront, but be locked into for at least three years, sometimes much more.

So before you make up your mind between leasing an office, or renting in a shared space, have a look at our comparison, which shows that serviced offices in a shared space are around half the total occupancy cost.

Furthermore, in a shared office you pay for the space you need and when it comes time to grow – you can up-size by taking a larger serviced office, or expand into the interconnecting office next door.

And if you need to down-size? That’s just as simple, move to a smaller office or even a dedicated workstation in our co-working area. Recent COVID-19 lockdowns demonstrated how important rental flexibility is for small and large businesses.

Now your business might only need a small office for four or more staff, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make a big impression with your clients or new staff.

You might only need a 20 or 40m2  serviced office but this comes with full use of over 512 sqm of beautiful architect designed shared facilities, for you and your staff to enjoy.

This is a major benefit of co-working spaces, that provide unbeatable sqm occupancy costs, when compared with leasing your own office.

At Hastings HIVE this works out around $75 per sqm for an eight person private serviced office, which includes all outgoings (like rates, maintenance and landlord insurance) and most of the OPEX items like IT and networking services, power, cleaning, rubbish, office and kitchen supplies and so much more.

As well as getting an affordable workplace, you will also get the best of what an office should have with fantastic break-out spaces and meetings rooms, superior internet fibre connectivity, luxury style bathroom with showers, and a well equipped kitchen/cafe with free espresso coffee.

All of this with only your printing as an additional cost!

New Zealand’s leading engineering firm Beca are recent arrivals at Hastings HIVE. Matt Sanders, Beca Hawke’s Bay Market Leader says the HIVE ticked the most boxes as a suitable office.

“We wanted a space that was going to be quick and easy to set up with all the facilities we needed.

“The Hive has this and more! We have our own serviced office with the flexibility to scale as we need, ultra-fast fibre and IT server capacity that we can utilise as we grow and fantastic break out areas including a café/kitchen and all the meeting rooms we could need. For a detailed comparison please see: https://www.hastingshive.co.nz/servicedofficecosts

A new era for MCL Construction

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MCL Construction has built hundreds of commercial, industrial and residential buildings for others in Hawke’s Bay but for the first time in 72 years, it will commence building its own purpose-built construction facility.

It will also be the first time MCL will move from the site in Kaiapo Road it has occupied since 1949.

MCL Construction managing director John Bower said the company will move its factory and offices  2.5 kilometres south down Maraekakaho Road to a 1 hectare greenfields site near Tumu ITM and the new Irongate industrial zone.

This is another significant milestone for the business, following the introduction of new directors Philip Mitchell, one of the firms project manager/quantity surveyor, and Michael Bush, the financial accountant, in 2017.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for MCL to design and build its own modern construction facility that will include a joinery factory and offices.

“Our current site was once surrounded by orchards but is now very residential and I’m sure many of our neighbours will be happy to see us move on,” says John Bower, managing director at MCL.

MCL will commence construction of the 2,100 m2 joinery factory this month (June) with the 350 m2main office, which will be designed around a central open atrium, starting in November.

John says there’s a strong focus on attracting more females to the business.

Leading the way has been Sarah Mason, who’s been with MCL for 18 years, and for the first time in the company’s history, a female – Denise Otto – has been appointed to lead the joinery division, which offers high-end commercial and residential joinery.

Denise moved with her family from South Africa to New Zealand in early 2019 and she and her husband had previously owned a joinery business. Denise has a diploma in architecture with a specialist interest in joinery design, delivering the complete package with manufacturing and install management.

“It’s great to see the transformation of the business with a greater female presence. Having a joinery manager who’s a woman is really refreshing.”

Another trail-blazing female in the industry is Hastings-born construction project manager Kayla Oughton who has a Bachelor of Building Science with majors in Environmental Science and Project Management.

If MCL’s track record is anything to go by, you can expect Kayla and Denise to be around for many years to come, like John at 30 years, who still pales in tenure  to John Caccioppoli who has been with the company for 60 years, recently retired Mark Adams for 44 years and many other project managers and site managers.

John says MCL is particularly proud of the many tradespeople who have undertaken apprenticeships over the years. Presently there are 4 apprentices at varying stages of their time. We take great pride in having long serving loyal staff who train further into site management.

“There have been hundreds that have completed their time at MCL, many of whom are still with us today. We take great pride in retaining long-serving loyal staff.”

MCL’s presence can be attached to many prominent buildings across Hawke’s Bay including the new Eastern Region Police headquarters, the New Zealand Gold Architecture Award winning Iona College’s Performing Arts Centre and Information Resource Centre, Pak N Save Tamatea, the KiwiBank customer service centre in Hastings and the shared work space Hastings Hive, Business HQ and Club Hastings.

John says the Hawke’s Bay construction scene is riding a wave with projects on stream for at least the next 12-18 months with projects such as The Crossing – a retail hub in Taradale Road and a new building for Ministry of Social Development in Napier and new Petfood Factory in Awatoto.

 

“There’s significant forward work, which is great. There is pressure though around building supplies and labour but we’re well positioned to continue growing.”

MCL employs over 110 staff, from labourers, apprentices and carpenters to site managers and administration staff.

The MCL banner also features MCL Interiors, which specialises in suspended ceilings, office partitions and passive fire.

MCL is proud to be actively involved in the community supporting the likes of the MCL Construction Triple Peaks Challenge, Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter, and Havelock North junior rugby.

Visit www.mclbuild.co.nz

Focus on team culture gives business duo the edge

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When Erin Maloney was six months pregnant, husband Jared announced he was leaving his job in the meat industry and launching a start-up. Catalyst Fuel Refunds was born soon after, as was son Jack.

The business captured a niche market, with staff and customer numbers growing fast. Being new to business ownership, Jared looked around for options to develop his management skills.

He joined The Icehouse Owner Operator Programme and eight years later, the Catalyst team is still heavily involved with The Icehouse, alongside the couple’s second start-up business Tiny Nation, commercial property interests and a separate entity offering shared services across all businesses.

Anyone operating off-road petrol machinery should know about the opportunities to recoup excise tax for their vehicles. The offering applies mainly to farming and forestry businesses but anyone fitting the criteria can apply. Catalyst makes it a simple process with their bespoke software that integrates with fuel companies and NZTA.

When the business was first born, there were no other agents in the industry with their own software helping business owners to claim refunds so, not surprisingly, Catalyst took off. Jared joined The Icehouse with a view to developing his leadership skills to support him in creating the best team culture as staff numbers grew.

“For me it was about building my skills in finance and administrative processes but also I was managing a wide range of people. We were focused on building the team to get them through the growing pains of being a start-up and we have learnt a lot. Back then, we were working off the smell of an oily rag and we had some challenges but now, we have grown an amazing team.”

Erin was able to join the one-on-one coaching sessions as part of The Icehouse programme. She was fully involved in the strategic development of the business and her focus was always on the people.

“We were starting a family at the same time and so were increasingly aware of the pressure of juggling the work/life balance. It’s been really important for us to look at how to engage people – still with the high levels of accountability – but also inspire them to want to be here and do the mahi as well as having the time they need to spend with their families.”

In 2019 the couple decided to implement a four-day working week for the team. Staff work four days to be gifted the fifth. Jared adds that while the results are great, it’s more rewarding to hear about the extra things people can do for their families on that day off, “like grandparents taking their grandchildren to swimming lessons”.

“We’ve seen a 10 percent improvement in productivity in 20 percent less hours, and an 81 percent reduction in absenteeism, but for us it’s more about the recognition that everyone has a life outside of work.”

General manager Donna Braddock says the four-day working week has seen loyalty to the business grow significantly. “It takes time to recruit and develop a new team member – we want them to stay.”

Donna has also had a dose of The Icehouse, enrolling in the Effective Leadership Programme post Covid-19 lockdown. In the last year Erin has been able to switch her time focus to her new start-up childcare business, Tiny Nation.

“It’s been pretty seamless and from a set-up point of view, having the systems and processes embedded with Catalyst over the years gave me the launchpad for Tiny Nation. While we needed specific early childhood education skills, a lot of the general business functions we already had in-house and were able to share.

“We have team members in Catalyst who have been with us since near the start and they are looking for the next opportunity, so diversifying our business platforms provides points of interest for them that allow us to retain and grow our people across the board.

From my point of view, Tiny Nation wouldn’t have been able to scale nationally as quickly as we have without the shared services resource.”

Erin says having the access to shared resources that a start-up wouldn’t normally be able to afford has planted the seed as to how the shared services entity could help other small start-up businesses.

“That’s a major strength of the whole organisation in that we are always asking, how can we do things better? It’s about working smarter, not harder.”

School student lands key governance role on YES – Sam Wixon

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A “transformational experience” has not only propelled former Havelock North High School student Sam Wixon into the business world but landed him a key governance role.

Having competed in The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) for the past two years, the 18-year-old has been elected as the youth trustee for 2021–2022 on the Board of Young Enterprise Trust, which provides strategic direction and governance for the organisation.

“One of the biggest reasons that I applied for the youth trustee role was because I’ve had such a transformational experience with YES and I really want and hope that other people can have that same experience,” Sam says.

He hopes to have a positive impact on the bicultural side of Young Enterprise. “I want to make sure there is a strong voice for the students and a good understanding of what the students are after and what it is like going through the

programme currently.”

During his final two years of high school (2019–2020), Sam’s business Te Kete ō Tangaroa developed an alternative to polystyrene bins, drawing inspiration from the mātauranga of his tūpuna to do so.

Passionate about business, design and te ao Māori, Sam was inspired to take polystyrene out of circulation, offering an alternative with his own bins made

from a biodegradable material that could also be industrially composted.

Te Kete ō Tangaroa received three National Excellence awards, the He Kai Kei Aku Ringa Award for Rangatahi Entrepreneurs two years in a row, and the HSBC Award for Environmental Sustainability in 2020.

It was also one of the five YES businesses selected for the Global Kaitiakitanga Project in collaboration with New Zealand at Expo 2020. In 2019, Sam was in the Uprise digital team at Entrepreneurs in Action (EIA), which took out both business challenges.

Sam says he “never would have thought” he would be able to achieve what he has, but YES pushed him and showed him his potential. “It made me a lot more open to taking and grasping at every opportunity, pushing myself and being resilient, and

I think that’s really transformational for myself and most people.”

As well as his trustee position, Sam has recently begun a Bachelor of Design Innovation majoring in Design for Social Innovation and minoring in Public Policy at Victoria University of Wellington.

His experience with YES has meant he now has a “really good tool belt of abilities and understandings that are more than what we just get out of the stock standard school experience”.

As for his business, he is unsure what the future holds.

“I have been in contact with different organisations and groups about it and the overall conclusion I’ve come to is that it’s going to take a really large amount of money to be able to get

it to a point where it will be market-ready, which is something I can’t do by myself.”

Sam’s success is the latest in a long list of trailblazing Rangatahi from Hawke’s Bay who have achieved national success through YES. Most notably, former Karamu High School student Jeriel Sajan, who was the first to hold the youth trustee position for 2019–2020.

The end of Jeriel’s term has seen her take up the newly created position of Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne regional coordinator – a role she is looking forward to diving into headfirst.

A YES alumna who participated in both 2015 and 2016, Jeriel developed a passion for both business and the work of Young Enterprise and is excited to now be a regional coordinator.

Jeriel has continued her keen interest in business and is currently completing a Bachelor in Business Studies at the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT).

“When the opportunity to be the national youth trustee came up, I thought I would love to give back to the organisation; and then actually being involved at these different levels, I just fell in love with it, so this is like my dream job,” Jeriel says.

She not only hopes to increase participation for the region – already at 450 students – but also see students place at nationals as well as win a sponsored award.

“We certainly give the rest of New Zealand a good run for their money and we would love to show that we are actually leaders in this area, so I’m going to be pushing for that in the coming year.”

Despite the disruptions faced because of Covid-19, more than 4,000 senior secondary students took part in YES last year, setting up over 1,000 companies between them. Only 21 of those companies made it to the national final, including Te Kete ō Tangaroa.

Hawke’s Bay also won three sponsored awards – the same amount as Wellington and just one less than Auckland, who has almost three times the number of students participating.

Jeriel believes Hawke’s Bay’s success is down to people seeing the value that YES has on a young person’s life.

“I think people get onboard with the momentum and they can see how a young person becomes more confident and more resilient after they’ve had a chance to give this a go, and the more the region gets on board the more our Rangatahi can really thrive.”

As part of the programme, Jeriel is looking for people to consider being a mentor for a team. “These young people would really benefit from having an older person who is more experienced in business or other sectors.”

If you want to find out how you can be a part of YES here in Hawke’s Bay, contact Jeriel on jeriel@hbchamber.nz

Investing in local businesses part of private equity strategy

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The Hawke’s Bay economy has been built on the success of the primary sector for many years, but with an emergence of savvy technology businesses, local investors now have the chance to have a stake in privately owned businesses like Te Mata Mushrooms and AskYourTeam.

With term investment rates at traditional banks as low as .75 percent for 12 months, local investors are turning to other investment opportunities as part of the investment portfolios.

Boutique private equity investment company True North, based in Havelock North has two investment funds that include a mix of local and national businesses, with the door open for both new investors as well as local businesses needing capital and business nous to support growth opportunities.

True North launched its first fund, NorthWest in 2015 and $10,000 invested then, is now worth $26,000.

The NorthWest fund has a 55 percent shareholding in Freedom Internet, a leading specialist provider of high quality internet networks into apartment buildings and the accommodation sector throughout Australia and New Zealand; 25 percent in grocery clearance business Reduced to Clear, 51 percent in Havelock North based SaaS company Ask Your Team and 30 percent in MindHive, a technology business that captures quality data for AI purposes.

In 2019 True North launched an Agri-fund, DueNorth, to take advantage of the considerable agricultural opportunities on offer in Hawke’s Bay and further afield, this fund has a 45 percent investment in Te Mata Mushrooms, a company that last year announced a $40 million expansion project including a $19 million government loan.

True North chief executive Ian Black says they’re keen to not only find local investors but also up and coming local businesses to add to the two portfolios, saying that it’s a win- win for business owners and investors as well as the region’s economy.

“Private equity performs a key role in accelerating a business owners business plan, as often they don’t have enough capital to take advantage of rapid growth opportunities and outpace the competition and instead they end up struggling from milestone to milestone.

“if we use Te Mata Mushrooms as an example. We injected new capital from investors as well as government money via the Provincial Growth Fund and this has allowed the business can invest into a new facility and get into job creation far more quickly.

Dean Prebble, a Venture Partner with True North adds that there is a focus on adding other Hawke’s Bay businesses into the funds, especially agri-tech and food businesses due to Hawke’s Bay’s natural advantage in the primary sector.

“Investing in a portfolio of private businesses is great for local economies, if you can get some of that money that’s sitting in relatively passive equity funds and get it working and creating jobs, all of a sudden there’s growth in the region. “

Ian says True North looks to invest in privately owned growth businesses that have transitioned from start-up and early expansion mode with a preference for technology businesses as well as agriculture and food production, sectors that are

driving New Zealand’s exports, and which will become more important to the economy in the post-COVID-19 world.

“There is no guarantee of performance. Returns will vary during the period that new investors are brought into the syndicate, as new businesses are acquired, and as each business takes advantage of the opportunities in the market. Our target for each syndicate is to achieve a return of 20 percent per annum.

“While such investments carry risk, we endeavour to spread the portfolio over a range of businesses, to mitigate specific company risk. NorthWest and DueNorth follow a transparent and accountable process, providing full access to the accounts and regular investment updates.

As well as injecting new money into these growing businesses, the company also provides governance and operational expertise. A pre-requisite of each investment is a highly performing chief executive that has also invested in the business, a compelling and competitive product or service with proven demand and market opportunity and a scalable business model.

True North was established by former PWC partner and co- founder of Ask Your Team Andrew Bayly, now a non-executive director alongside Paul Yortt, an experienced early stage investor and company director.

Andrew and Paul were later joined by Rob Wheater who returned to New Zealand after international roles with Schneider Electric. They have built an experienced team including Ian who has had an extensive international career in software and Dean, a former New Zealand Trade Commissioner based in Taiwan.

“We provide investors with a high level of confidence in a strong return. This is founded on our due diligence approach, our extensive business experience and ability to bring further capital to the table.

Ian says this reduces the risk and enhances the opportunity for success in their our chosen investments.

“We have a proven track record of growing business to provide superior returns to investors, and by always taking a seat on the Board of our investments we can provide good governance support.

“The Hawke’s Bay region has tremendous growth opportunities ahead and we are privileged to play our part in supporting the local economy.

Drainways – from supporting role to lead position

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Hawke’s Bay has been a sea of traffic cones and fenced- off infrastructure work sites as large-scale civil projects such as the Hastings District water network rebuild and the many residential subdivisions and industrial projects take off.

At the heart of some of these private enterprise projects and local and central government work is local civil and commercial infrastructure business Drainways, which has shed the sub- contractor role to become lead contractor in recent years.

Drainways managing director Mark Currie said the time was right to come out of the shadows of other businesses and step up to lead contractor status on the confidence of a strong regional economy that has attracted people to move to Hawke’s Bay; a housing shortage; and local government securing Covid-19 recovery funding from central government for ailing infrastructure and upgrades of roads and pathways.

A licensed drainlaying and certified water reticulation company, Drainways was established in Hastings in 1976 by Owen Currie, who today remains active in the business but has handed over the day-to-day reins to his sons: Mark (managing director) and Brendan are responsible for business development; Jaydon is the training administrator and H&S coordinator; and Carlton is a project manager.

Experts in underground life support systems, Drainways specializes in civil and commercial water and drainage systems, working with water pipe sizes from 20 mm to 500 mm and drainage from 100 mm up to 1,200 mm plus.

“We had built a strong reputation as a sub-contractor but we weren’t in charge of our own destiny. In 2012, we decided it was time to step up as a lead contractor and we haven’t looked back.

“Like the projects we usually do – which are below ground – that’s what you could say about us as a business, that we’ve operated out of the spotlight, but now we’re front and centre.”

Since then, Drainways has been pre-qualified by Hastings Council as a ‘Complex A’ contractor, which enables it to undertake large council projects, and it is also a preferred supplier to the Napier City Council.

As a result, Drainways has been involved in leading some of the projects within the Hastings District Council’s $65 million water network investment, and has secured civil works and town house service connectivity on two large-scale retirement villages for the likes of Ryman Healthcare and Oceania Group.

These days you’ll see Drainways branding on safety fencing on major projects across Hastings, Napier and beyond.

At the heart of the business is a culture of inclusion for its growing staff, something that both Mark and Brendan say sets them apart from the large national firms.

“Our staff all know what’s happening with the business, what our targets are, our sales and how projects are tracking. We celebrate our successes together and we also invest in our staff to continue upskilling and progressing their careers within the business.

“We’ve recently had several of the team complete their tickets, either for reticulation, which is outside the land’s boundary, or drainlaying, which is inside the boundary.”

Brendan says it’s been great to work on two high-profile commercial projects and says this is an area where Drainways hopes to secure more residential and commercial development work across the region.

He says the Gracelands project was Drainways’ first major commercial job as lead contractor and involved all the civil works for 50 retirement apartments and dwellings in Pakowhai Road.

Soon after, Drainways was awarded lead contractor for all civil and town house drainage, earthworks, roading, surfacing, paving and topsoil on the $100 million Ryman Healthcare retirement village in Havelock North.

Beca takes up permanent residence in Hawke’s Bay

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“It’s awesome to be able to return to Hawke’s Bay, have a positive impact within the community and strengthen Beca’s involvement across a wide range of construction and infrastructure projects,” says Matt Sanders, Beca Hawke’s Bay Market Leader.

Matt attended St John’s College in Hastings before completing an engineering degree at Canterbury University. After an OE in the UK, Matt joined Beca in 2005, spending most of that time in Wellington, apart from a three-and-a-half-year stint in Brisbane, where he was involved in the design and construction of a new runway for Sunshine Coast Airport.

Matt heads up a Hawke’s Bay team of eight consultants. Most of the team will be based at Hastings Hive, a shared business hub in Queen Street, Hastings, while other team members are based full-time on key projects such as Napier Port’s new 6 Wharf construction project and with contractor Higgins, as part of a partnership for the delivery of the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency roading contract.

The decision to establish a greater physical presence in Hawke’s Bay was based on a strong record of project delivery over many years, a robust local economy with a good pipeline of public and private projects, and well-established relationships with local clients and contractor partners.

Matt says Beca will focus on markets and areas that will make an impact on people and communities throughout Hawke’s Bay – with a particular focus, at least initially, on roading, ports and transport infrastructure, alongside land development, housing, water and food and beverage facility projects.

“One of the key motivators or reasons for opening our office here in Hawke’s Bay was the strength of our connections and relationships, having worked with the likes of Kraft Heinz, T&G Global, Ravensdown, Rockit Apples, local councils as well as major roading and infrastructure projects for Waka Kotahi, Napier Port and Hawke’s Bay Airport.”

“Our clients in Hawke’s Bay do incredible things every day. They are transforming our community and changing lives, and we are right there alongside them.”

At a national level, investment in three-waters infrastructure (drinking, waste- and stormwater), as well as Government reform, is underway across New Zealand – with Hawke’s Bay at the forefront.

Beca is presently working with Napier City Council and Central Hawke’s Bay District Council on responding to the reforms and optimising their three-waters assets.

“Water is a challenge right across the country at the moment. We have a huge amount of experience in the water space and we’re committed to helping councils with this very critical asset.”

Matt says Hastings Hive has proven to be the perfect solution for establishing a permanent presence in the region. The Hive is a mix of individual office suites and an open plan shared workspace, that creates a vibrant business community under one roof.

“We’ve been able to set up really quickly, it’s pretty much been walk in, plug in our computers and hit the ground running.

“It’s got some great facilities such as meeting rooms, a concierge area and café/kitchen area as well as ultra-fast fibre and IT server capacity that we can utilise as we grow or add new services such as 3D modelling which uses larger data capacity.

“We’re really excited and positive about being involved in a wide range of exciting projects that will come up over the next few years. Hawke’s Bay is certainly on a roll – COVID has had an impact in other regions but so far the Bay has been relatively protected, due to the buoyant primary sector as well as local and central government investment in major infrastructure projects.”

To find out more about how Beca is making everyday better, visit: www.Beca.com

An ultra-partnership based on sound foundations

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Nothing gets in the way of true love. Despite not seeing each other for over 25 years, what was a high school romance has not only been rekindled, but has created an exciting business partnership.

Jody Dawson and Rohana Sergent have established Havelock North’s first independent ultrasound practice.

For Jody and Rohana timing is everything and they are certainly making up for lost time after living separate lives on opposite sides of the Tasman for many years.

They’re now putting their experience, skills and obvious passion to work, establishing Ultrasound Hawke’s Bay in the red brick building in Porter Drive, Havelock North.

Jody has close to 30 year’s experience as a Radiographer and Sonographer, much of that spent in Victoria, Australia, while Rohana’s skills in administration management are a great foil.

“Ro was also the one that gave me the push along to do this after moving home from Victoria last year and settling into life in Napier, she said let’s set up our own practice,” Jody says.

The couple’s story could easily be on the big screen. They lost contact for over two decades and during that time both had married and had children, then gone through break ups. They had often thought about each other but had never connected.

However, Jody’s brother went to Melbourne to visit him over Christmas 2019 and they got chatting about Rohana. Long story short … but Jody’s brother was a facebook friend of hers and out of the blue Rohana sent Justin a Christmas message.

Next thing, Jody responded and after the initial shock decided to facetime each, after both giving their life stories and realising they were both single, within two weeks were catching up in Nelson (after facetiming daily).  “Our connection was instant – we knew it was meant to be” they both said.

However, another barrier got in the way. COVID19 struck and the couple, having just got back together had to endure another nine months apart, with all planned visits cancelled, together they made plans for Jody to return home.

“There certainly were tears. This was the best thing that had ever happened to both of us and then Covid hit,” she says.

Now, they’re going full speed making up for lost time, living and working together. They’re excited about creating a successful business that utilises their complementary skills.

“We are creating a very personalised service that puts patients at ease. It can often be a pretty scary situation going to get an ultrasound and it’s really important that we care and that the atmosphere and character of the practice is very personable and comfortable.  Some people are experiencing fear and the unknown, so to come in and feel at ease is really important,” Rohana says.

Jody, having returned to New Zealand, says there are some significant differences in the health system of both countries. Unfortunately, one key observation has been the time some people spend on waiting lists in New Zealand.

“It’s something that I wasn’t expecting and we want to provide a responsive service whereby we can perform the ultrasound, and provide a comprehensive report from our Radiologist as quickly as we can. Patient care is very important to me, and I provide the best care I can,” Jody says.

Jody and Rohana also have plans to expand their ultrasound clinic further, and additionally to create an Allied Health facility that can be shared with likeminded healthcare professionals.

To find out more about Ultrasound Hawke’s Bay visit www.ultrasoundhb.co.nz or contact them on 06 650 6744

Creating successful business owners in the Bay

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Creating successful businesses across Hawke’s Bay is behind the change of name for well-known Hawke’s Bay accounting firm enablebusiness to +MORE.

“+MORE’s core purpose is to create successful business owners,” says Sam Ogle, owner and director of +MORE Hawke’s Bay.

Over the past 12 months, Sam’s Hawke’s Bay team have been on a journey and COVID-19 has highlighted how important it is to them to deliver and support their clients in more than just an accounting capacity.

“Providing great accountancy services to our clients remains a big part of what we do, but when it comes to solving cash flow issues, supporting debt restructuring, working through due diligence processes or any areas our clients need our support in, we are here to help and deliver more,” says Sam.

While their name has changed, their people, values and services remain the same.

“We care about our clients and for many we have become an extension of their business; their go-to advisor for all aspects of their business, not just accounting.

“COVID-19 lockdown really highlighted this for us, and it really cemented our client relationships. We have been adding more to our client’s businesses for years now, it made sense to us to have a name that was able to reflect who we are and what we do best.”

+MORE supports their clients through a range of advisory services that include business planning, cash flow forecasting, coaching, succession planning, governance, HR, people management and more. If there are areas where they can’t provide the specialised advice their clients need, they work with their trusted network of professionals to ensure their client receives the best support possible.

As an addition to their core service offerings, +MORE host complimentary webinars each month on a range of relevant business topics that are open to all to attend, not just clients.

What is +MORE?

+MORE is a business advisory and accountancy firm.

“We guide business owners through planning, forecasting and coaching with a suite of tools and strong partner connections to help our clients grow their capability.”

The team at +MORE believe every small and medium New Zealand business deserves access to practical business advice, and they are passionate about helping Hawke’s Bay business owners feel supported through their advisory and accountancy expertise.

The +MORE team truly care about the success of their clients and they understand that success looks different to everyone. Whether it is spending more time with family, growing a business or achieving financial freedom, whatever success looks like for the business owner, +MORE listen and work with their clients to help them achieve their business goals.

Jess Tietjen becomes a new Hawke’s Bay owner & director.

Jess joined the Hawke’s Bay team almost two years ago and most recently she became a director and co-owner of +MORE Hawke’s Bay with Sam Ogle.

The re-brand has been exciting for Jess: “The firm and I are starting our new chapter at the same time and I am helping shape the +MORE story.”

“We’re a modern firm with a vibrant high energy team and that’s why I jumped at the chance to become an owner and director.”

“It is great having Jess as a business partner,” says Sam. “She lives our core values daily. She is passionate about her work and has a healthy commercial view of the world.”

It is a partnership that works and will support +MORE towards their vision – fuelling the ambition of business owners in the creation of time, mind and financial freedom.

For Jess it made sense to come on board this journey with Sam. The firm’s values, purpose and vision resonated with her and when offered the opportunity to become an owner, it was a no brainer to accept.

“After spending years advising business owners, it feels great to be one myself. From starting out as a graduate accountant all those years ago to becoming a director of a firm feels like a huge sense of accomplishment.”

Jess has always had huge respect for business owners, always appreciating it certainly isn’t easy.

Becoming a business owner helped her further relate to the challenges her client’s face, the hard work that goes into it and, most importantly, the rewards that come with business ownership.

“We have a fantastic team along with awesome clients doing exciting work, which makes for an enjoyable work life for our team.”

The future of +MORE in Hawke’s Bay.

Sam, Jess and the Hawke’s Bay team are passionate about helping business owners achieve both their business and personal goals. Working alongside clients who have the drive to be the best that they can be and achieve their goals year on year is what gets them out of bed in the morning.

“Hawke’s Bay is a great place to do business and is filled with driven and innovative business owners. Being able to support them to achieve their successes is what we love doing and will continue to do in the future.”

Contact

Sam Ogle 021 802 882

Jess Tietjen 021 444 869

Office: Level 1, 33 Havelock Road, Havelock North 4130