Pro Features

Business Leaders Pro Features
Colin Shanley packs away the tripod after 63 years
In 2020 Colin will pack away his theodolite for the last time, drawing an end to a career that has spanned 63 years as a land surveyor. Over this time, he’s seen the emergence of Flaxmere as Hastings’ new suburb, the huge population growth of Havelock North, and the subdivision of lifestyle blocks and rural properties into more smaller parcels...
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Youth connectors paves way to the top for job starter
Topline Contracting managing director Taurus Taurima is leading from the front when it comes to upskilling and inspiring his 26 strong workforce. Taurus has gone back to school, joining 10 of his team, to do the EIT Hawke’s Bay’s Infrastructure Works course. “Many of the team don’t have formal qualifications from school or otherwise, so the EIT course was a...
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EIT front foots once in a generation sector change
Eastern Institute of Technology is pumping. 2019 sees an increase of 680 students up on last year’s record 10,325 people engaged in tertiary education through its three campuses in Hawke’s Bay, Tairāwhiti (Gisborne) and Auckland, across certificate, diploma, degree and post-graduate. “Relationships with our communities are strong,” says Mark Oldershaw, EIT deputy chief executive. Courses and programmes are constantly reviewed...
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Attracting high tech talent to the Bay
You’d be hard pressed to describe Hawke’s Bay as New Zealand’s Silicon Valley but Tom Wallace, the founder and CEO of fast-growing local software company Re-Leased, can’t see why it couldn’t be. Re-Leased is on a mission to double the size of its current team of 60 staff, and that involves doing all it can to attract software developers to...
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Earning and learning helps build career
Apprentices Jade De Har and Harry Algie both agree that learning a trade has been a great decision that will set up their careers in the construction sector. Jade is one of three female apprentices at Gemco, and the only one training to be a carpenter. A go-getter, Jade left school at 16 years of age and managed a restaurant...
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Leading construction firm builds future workforce
The construction industry is booming in Hawke’s Bay. It’s at unprecedented levels both in large-scale commercial projects as well as in the residential housing sector. In the November 2018 issue of The Profit we estimated there is about $600 million worth of commercial construction projects either currently underway or set to commence. Over and above this is the housing boom,...
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Legacy to give back creates career pathway
Skilled labour and the lack of it is a big issue that has received plenty of media headlines over the last 12 months. Across Hawke’s Bay, many businesses are calling out for skilled labour and one Hastings-based business has come up with an innovative partnership with Hastings Boys’ High School (HBHS). Patton Engineering’s trial last year with HBHS was so...
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2019 – innovation and entrepreneurship
At Business Hawke’s Bay we love BIG ideas and BIG themes. 2019 is Hawke’s Bay’s year of innova- tion and entrepreneurship. We’re starting a nationwide conversation that celebrates and draws attention to Hawke’s Bay as a place where people with bright ideas can flour- ish. We’re calling on everyone from across the Bay; from schools, from iwi, from councils and...