Category Archives: Pro Features

Profiling successful Hawke’s Bay Businesses and business leaders

How YES crosses the business boundaries

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Today’s high school students face a world where technological change makes it much harder to plot out a career path. That’s one reason Woodford House has embraced the Young Enterprise Scheme.

Woodford House is one of 15 schools across Hawke’s Bay participating in the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) this year and has five teams competing in the challenge.

Woodford’s head of business studies and director of innovation Toni Dunstan views the scheme as an exciting initiative and a vital component in the school’s mission to prepare its students for an evolving career environment.

This year Woodford House introduced a Level 3 (Year 13) business studies course – incorporating YES – into its curriculum. The course is aimed at providing students with experiential learning in a business context and Toni says she has been delighted by the positive elements YES is delivering.

“What I love about this course is the experiential learning and the interdisciplinary nature. It’s not just the silo of business studies,” she says.

“Take Bayuble for example [one of the Woodford YES teams profiled below]. They have spent just as much time in the science lab and in the food tech room developing their product and are going to enter it into the local science fair.

“That crossover of business and science is really exciting because in my personal view, that’s an example of the future of education – we have to break down silos and understand that learning is about crossing boundaries.

“The Young Enterprise Programme is a wonderful vehicle for business education because with elements such as its competitive nature, the deadlines and the outside audience, it puts a real-world scaffolding around what the girls are learning. It’s not just me setting an arbitrary date for an assignment, there are people outside the school who they are accountable to. I also love the interaction with their mentors, which brings the community into what we’re doing.”

MYTAPP: linking students and tutors

For their YES business, Sophie Svenson, Monique Way, Bridget de Latour and Francesca Arlidge are developing a web-based application designed to connect students with freelance tutors.

Users will sign up either as a tutor or a student, and they will then be connected with people in their local community to arrange tutoring sessions through the platform.

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The group got off to an excellent start in developing their business by successfully securing seed funding from EIT and Waikato University. They say they have benefited greatly by working closely with their mentor, Georgina Miller, the co-founder of local digital agency Mogul.

One of the lessons learnt in the early months of the project, they say, has been the importance of ensuring the service meets the needs of its target market. To do that, the group interviewed a range of people including parents, students and tutors to find how they thought current tutoring options could be improved to offer a better service.

“The message we got from that was that while a lot of web-based services only offer online tutoring – because it’s easy and accessible – students really want face-to-face tutoring, so that’s what we’re focusing on.”

They say their target market of high school students is likely to be exposed to the service through social media, so that will be a major focus for the project.

“Marketing, particularly through social media, will play a big part in drawing users to the platform.”

Bayuble: a better way to label fruit

Sarah Wixon, Rylie Bensemann, Zoe Rookes and Maggie Peacock have been hard at work in the lab working on the development of a water soluble, environmentally friendly fruit sticker that will reduce waste and encourage consumers to wash their fruit.

They hope their plastic-free, biodegradable sticker idea will revolutionise how fruit is labelled.

The make-up of their sticker material is a trade secret but it involves using a by- product of apples, and the concept was good enough to win seed funding from Waikato University.

“Europe has recently introduced a target to be rid of unnecessary plastic, and we see the fruit sticker as being in that category.”

The team’s mentor is Dean Prebble, a former New Zealand trade commissioner in Taiwan who recently set up the Hawke’s Bay Angels investment group. The students say Dean’s input and feedback has been priceless and he has provided them with valuable contacts as they have researched their project.

“We’ve built up a lot of connections in the industry through our research, which has included discovering there have been alternatives to fruit stickers, including a fruit tattoo (done through lasering). We looked into that and discovered that lasering the fruit can leave it blemished, which detracts from its visual appeal. In many markets, they want the ‘perfect apple’ and our stickers would allow the fruit to remain in top condition, whereas the current stickers can leave a bit of a sticky residue that can detract from the look of the fruit.”

Teens building a business from behind bars – Young enterprise

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As the Young Enterprise Scheme grows in popularity across Hawke’s Bay, a team with a difference has taken up the challenge of learning to run a business from inside the region’s prison.

The walls of the training room inside the youth unit at Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison are plastered with colourful sketches and handwritten rap lyrics. Notes and business strategies cover a whiteboard.

Five teenage prisoners sit around a table drawing and chatting to their tutor about marketing plans and promotional opportunities.

This is the nerve centre for one of the 64 Hawke’s Bay teams competing in this year’s The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) – but it’s a team with a difference.

YES is a nationwide network enabling senior high school students to set up and run their own businesses as part of a year-long programme where they learn entrepreneurial skills and compete for prizes.

Whereas all the other 63 Hawke’s Bay teams are groupings of students from the region’s schools, team Letz Lead is the first ever made up solely of serving youth prisoners.

The initiative follows on from last year when students from St John’s College in Hastings formed a joint team with youth prisoners. The merger proved successful, with leader Jake Dunn of St John’s winning the prestigious CEO of the Year award in the 2017 competition.

Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce’s Karla Lee, the local YES regional coordinator, says it’s an exciting development to have a full team based at the prison for the first time, given the valuable skills and experiences gained by participants in the scheme.

These include everything from creating a product, developing and executing a plan to sell it, through to pitching the idea to judges in a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style environment.

Letz Lead’s business idea is a book and music CD called Can You Relate?, which they plan to sell online.

Through their music and writing, the group hope to “start a discussion about bullying and to help individuals cope with bullying,” they say.

“It is made for youth to connect in a way where they can find the answers and help to solve their matters using our product.”

We can’t identify the members of the team, all aged 17 or 18, but when we met them they all spoke passionately about the project and the lessons they had learnt through being involved.

Their motivation to take on a project that addressed bullying was partly driven by US rapper Hopsin and his song Fly, a commentary on the huge role marketing and persuasion play in modern life.

“I did business studies at school in Year 9 but I didn’t think I’d get this far with business stuff,” one said.

“It’s really helped me a lot to understand how business stuff works.”

The same team member is currently combining the YES training with study toward a Certificate in Foundation Skills through the Open Polytechnic and says he wants to apply what he learns to a future career as a personal trainer.

Other team members also said they wanted to pursue business interests when they left prison.

“I’ve learnt it’s easier to work together as a team – you get things done that way,” another said.

The team got off to a good start, scoring 10 out of 10 in the assessment of the first task of the YES programme: conducting market research.

They surveyed fellow prisoners and secondary school students to establish how much interest there would be in a book on

bullying, who would be prepared to buy it, and how much they would be willing to pay.

When we visited the teens in July they were gearing up to promote their project through a campaign involving the distribution of 600 yellow anti-bullying bracelets to three highs schools.

Hastings Boys’ High School, Hastings Girls’ High School and Flaxmere College students would be encouraged to “make one, share one, wear one” with the aim of driving interest in the group’s Facebook page, where they would take orders for the book and CD.

Prison tutor Nic Scotland says being in prison means the group faces some unique challenges.

Nic says it’s hoped the team would pioneer the prison’s ongoing involvement with YES in future years.

“It’s not just a one-product business model. There’s so much that our young people can talk about, teach and get information out about. If this year is a success and we’ve got national buy-in, it makes it an easier platform to work on next year.”

Lawrence Ereatara, a residential manager at the prison, said being involved in YES was a chance for the young men to be exposed to opportunities they had never had before, as well as a chance to “dream big”.

He said the education they receive through the programme would help give them the knowledge and practical skills they needed to fulfil those dreams.

“Learning about business, and what it takes, is hard work. It’s about learning what the need is, how to promote it, what they want to achieve from their work – and it’s something they are passionate about as well.”

The group have been supported by YES’s Hawke’s Bay tutor Colette Mintoft and, like all teams in the scheme, the group have a mentor to call on for guidance, help and business advice. Theirs is Hastings District Councillor and long-time Flaxmere community advocate Henare O’Keefe.

He said most of the group would have been both perpetrators and victims of bullying.

“In the journey they’ve undertaken thus far, they’ve learnt a few lessons and they’ve received a few revelations – someone’s turned the light on. They feel a deep urge to share that with people and I really salute them for that.”

Henare said he knew some cynics would say the benefits of the programme would only last as long as the teens remained in prison.

“I hear all that but I say live in the moment. While they’re there, they’re passionate, they’re working on it. I’m 110 per cent behind them.”

HB Young Fruit Grower of the Year Makes History

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Ask Hawke’s Bay Young Fruit Grower of the Year Lisa Arnold what the future holds for both her and the region and the first word that springs to mind is – Wairoa!

At 27 years old, Lisa is about to invest in her own small plot of land to build “tiny” houses in a district, which she sees as being on the cusp of exciting opportunity and growth.

“For horticulture there’s so much untapped potential in Wairoa, it has great soil, weather and access by road and rail is improving, locals are friendly and there’s available land with affordable housing, not to mention the weather and being close to the beach!

“Growing up in Gisborne and now living in Napier, it’s a perfect spot to realise my longerterm vision. Wairoa’s on the move, it’s going to be the place to be.” Lisa, an orchard operations assistant with Bostock New Zealand, created history in July as the first woman to win the prestigious and strongly contested local title.

Up against seven other finalists(including five who were EIT graduates) and a record number of entrants representing the growing number of rising stars in Hawke’s Bay horticulture, Lisa says it’s a privilege to represent women and organic growers.

It was also a strong showing by Mr Apple NZ work colleagues, foremen Tom Dalziel and Anthony Tuaeki who placed runner up and third respectfully, along with Anthony winning the speech competition. Anthony says the competition stepped up a notch this year.

“It’s fantastic to compete with young growers who enjoy a challenge, believe in our industry and what we are achieving, while showing our industry is not just a picking bucket and a ladder – everyone gave it their best. “Lisa is a great young grower, she put up a strong performance and came out on top – well deserved.”

This week Lisa will compete in The Young Grower of the Year finals, along with other regional winners up and Young Vegetable Grower of the Year winners in Napier. When Lisa entered for the second time, having come fourth last year, she wanted to better her result and knew the areas she need to work on. Her homework paid off as did her decision to enroll with Toast Masters.

“One of the greatest personal benefits is the competition hasbrought me out of my shell, I’ve learned that to grow in this job you needed get out and meet people. “I love the diversity, networking, making connections with different cultures and it’s good to see more women entering the industry.”

Lisa’s “green thumb” comes from her family’s lifelong dedication for growing organics. So on graduating with Bachelor of Science she set her sights on working in the field where she could build a career and follow her dream. Today one of her specialist areas is compliance and she’s passionate about sustainability including reducing and recycling plastic use on orchards.

She’s also managing the Bostock NZ Karamu Stream restoration project, which she would like to help encourage others to follow. But it’s bees that are her favourite pastime, having launched a small business Helia Bees a year ago, she’s managing 30 hives organically which are placed on Bostock orchards. “I like to be busy, keep active and focus on meaningful work”.

Mr Apple’s HR Manager Rachelle Hayes says with three finalists, the Mr Apple Horticultural Apprenticeship program is thriving as the company continues to invest in the future.

“We do this to help meet the growing demand for skilled staff within the orchard industry in Hawke’s Bay. All full time students will have permanent jobs which will continue after their training has finished. Graduates have the opportunity to take promotions throughout the business and also to undertake further study such as leadership and personal development courses or further study at diploma level.

Training includes both on the job and in class learning and includes working in various parts of the business including Packhouse and Coolstore operations. Topics cover all aspects of Orchard Work, including planting, pruning, pest and disease control, tractor driving, harvest management and staff supervision.

“The qualifications and experience gained during this training is extremely beneficial to both the employees and the company. Employees are our most valuable asset and we pride ourselves in our ability to grow and train people to be the best they can be,” says Rachelle.

Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association president Lesley Wilson says the competition continues to show the quality of young people entering the horticulture industry. “Lisa has a bright future ahead of her, and shows that there is an influx of clever young people into growing”.

 

Roosters: 2 decades of brewing at the red shed

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From a business perspective, craft beer and coffee have a lot in common, says Chris Jarvis.

As the long-time owner of Hawke’s Bay’s Bay Espresso cafés and now also the proprietor of landmark Hastings brewpub Roosters, he should know.

Chris and his wife Jonelle bought the Roosters business – on the industrial fringes of Omahu Road, where it’s been brewing its own beer since 1994 – from founders Chris and Jill Harrison in early 2017.

“It’s an iconic place, it has history, it just needed some TLC,” he says.

And as he set about administering some of that TLC, he discovered the connection between running cafés and pubs.

“The brewpub business is very similar to the coffee business. You’re trying to create an environment where anybody can just come in and find a space for themselves. That’s how we’ve always tried to operate. That starts with how the place looks and feels when you walk in – your staff, how they meet and greet; your food offerings; your pricing. Like coffee, beer is a liquid, it’s an environment and you’ve got customer service, so there are a lot of synergies.”

He also sees the recent rise of craft beer as being similar to the growth of the coffee culture a decade ago.

“When we took over Karamu Rd [the original Bay Espresso café] there was one other coffee roaster in Hawke’s Bay – Hawthorne’s. No one else was roasting coffee to any degree, nor was the café scene even remotely what it is now. The pubs have gone through the same thing.”

Roosters’ beer production figures over the pub’s 24-year life tell a story about the evolution of the industry, Chris says.

“You can see a dip in production when the first change in drink-drive law occurred;

then you see the next dip when the global financial crisis came along; and then you can see another dip when the next drink-drive change was introduced. So as beer producers with a brewpub, you have to change your model because you just couldn’t survive on selling beer alone. Even excise tax 24 years ago was nothing compared to what it is now – it’s like having three extra staff members from a cost perspective.”

Since taking over, Chris has worked on making the Roosters environment more appealing to a wider base of customers and focused on introducing quality food.

“Hawke’s Bay is not big enough to say, right, I’m only going to focus on this particular market. You need a multi-functional kind of a place,” he says.

On the beer side, Chris says Roosters’ offering has always been about providing an approachable range of pure beers “made the Bavarian way – just water, malts, hops and yeast, that’s it, no additives or preservatives and nothing silly”.

Initially the range comprised a lager, a draft and a dark beer, later expanding to include Weissbier (wheat beer) and then an IPA, along with a seasonal beer (a dark one in winter and a light one in summer).

Roosters’ popular naturally brewed, ‘old school’, ginger beer has also always been a big part of the brand.

Since taking over, Chris has introduced a pilot brewing kit “giving us 100 litres to play around with”. This allows long-serving head brewer Darryl Tong, who has been with Roosters for 12 years, to experiment with new brews “which may or may not lead to becoming larger volume beers on our main taps”.

While Roosters beer has been available off- site in a limited way – the lager is on tap at Shed 2 in Ahuriri and the Common Room in Hastings generally pours the lager and IPA – Chris says he plans to start selling 330 ml bottles into local retail outlets.

As his plans to boost the Roosters brand take shape, Chris says Hawke’s Bay is well served by what he describes as an eclectic bunch of independent brewers.

“The region’s got an abundance of offerings, not just beer but also wine, food and coffee. I just think it’s awesome, considering how small the population is, it’s over-hosted; but that level of competition is exciting because you have to get your offering right and therefore customers get a really good choice of places to go, things to drink and experience.”

www.roosters.co.nz

Hawke’s Bay Brewing Co: from beer tankers to boutique bottles

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Craft beer wasn’t a big thing when Hawke’s Bay Brewing Co started out way back in 1996.

In fact, the company’s CEO Greg Forrest jokes that in those days, “craft” was probably a homebrew beer and drinkers didn’t even know how to spell the word.

It was a time when the brewing industry was all about volume production of a very limited range and style of brews.

Hawke’s Bay Brewing Co, or Hawke’s Bay Independent Brewery as it was previously known, was initially established to take on the big producers at their own game – in a small way.

The company built a new brewery in Onekawa, Napier, where it pumped out draught and lager under the Mates brand, which it distributed to pubs and clubs around the region via a small fleet of beer tankers and kegs.

“Back then you could only buy take-home beer from a wholesaler or bottle store and people would take their flagons in to be filled. That was the market when our brewery was built so that was the market we had to be in,” says Greg, who joined HBBC in 1998.

“We had to make beer styles equivalent to Tui and Speights. That was the style of the time and if we hadn’t made something in that vein we wouldn’t have stayed in business.”

Over the past 22 years the company has developed a strategy for surviving in what has been a constantly changing industry.

“We had to change our business model when supermarkets began selling beer,” Greg says.

“The whole scene changed in a short period of time. We lost a large percentage of our sales volume in the first six months after supermarkets got beer. People could pick up a variety of bottled beers from the supermarket, and we weren’t players in the packaged beer market.”

So by necessity, HBBC began to evolve. The brewery moved from Onekawa to the Ballydooley Cider brewery site on Awatoto Road, Meeanee, in late 2006 and opened The Filter Room in 2007. It also began producing bottled beverages.

“We had to be different to take on the big boys, hence the direction and investment in the bottle style – something Lion and DB weren’t doing.

“We also targeted a market they weren’t targeting: high-end restaurants and cafes.

Those establishments took on our products because it worked alongside what they were already selling – it complemented wine without affecting wine sales.”

Initially, the company feared the new strategy of packaging its products, in what people now recognise as its distinctive green bottle, may have been a disaster.

“While running The Filter Room, we had purchased 120,000 bottles and in the first month we sold one dozen. I wondered if I’d committed financial suicide. But then the craft evolution started and beer that had been $20 a dozen was suddenly selling for $60 a dozen and that helped us immensely. All of a sudden, we were in that price bracket. It made people start looking at our products more.”

The company also benefited by having a ‘cellar door’ next to the brewery. HBBC initially ran The Filter Room itself but it is now leased to an independent operator.

“Prior to moving to Meeanee we never sold direct to the public, but The Filter Room educated us about the market. Over the three years we ran it ourselves, we found out what the public were wanting, what styles were popular, what were not, and through that we developed a lot of our non-beer products that we found the public accepted.”

Like Greg, HBBC’s chief brewer Geoff Edwards had years of experience working for the major breweries before joining the Hawke’s Bay company.

HBBC is always looking for new product ideas and new formats for its existing products, which includes a range of ciders, ginger beers and sangria.

“We have recently released a new non- alcoholic sparkling apple juice and we are currently moving forward to a bigger size option from our 330 ml bottle that will fit nicely to satisfy our retail demands,” he says.

While there is always a need for innovation, don’t expect any “radical change” to HBBC’s business model, which Greg describes as solid.

“Our sales are consistent. We don’t change the world, but we want to be around for at least another 22 years to see what happens when the world does change. We’re about conservative brewing. Maybe that’s because Geoff and I, as a team, have been around a long time – we don’t operate on a whim or the latest fad.”

It’s a strategy that “comes with having a few miles on the clock” and it’s an approach that’s seen a major Hawke’s Bay brewery survive in an up-and-down industry for more than two decades.

“We are very lucky to have a team in the brewery and in sales that have been with us for a very long time and are all involved in our long-term development, from manufacturing to branding, as and when we feel a change is needed.

www.hbbc.co.nz

EIT Hastings – a huge hit with students

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Tailored to meet student needs, EIT’s newly-located Hastings Regional Learning Centre has become a drawcard for learners since opening ahead of the academic year’s second term.

Light-filled, spacious and welcoming, the new centre exudes inclusiveness, which is encouraging students of all ages and backgrounds to engage in tertiary education.

The relocation to a single-storey building on Heretaunga Street West has also been well-received by surrounding businesses who appreciate the extra foot traffic generated at their end of the downtown shopping strip.

EIT has had a long-time presence in Hastings, initially establishing in 1982 in leased rooms on the corner of Queen and Hastings streets.

More recently, it operated out of the Tower Building in Railway Road. However, as centre coordinator Tania Kupa points out, the first-floor centre put it at somewhat of a remove from pedestrian traffic. Access could also be challenging for less mobile students.

EIT was keen to secure a site that generated more foot traffic, provided better access, was close to public transport and boosted the institute’s public visibility.

The search for a suitable location focused on providing a centre that reflected EIT’s belief that a high quality tertiary education should be available to all.

The existing building was purchased last year and an extensive renovation and refit followed, providing a flexible, largely open- plan layout which is allowing for more collaborative learning and an expanded list of programmes.

Fronting the street is the marketing area, furnished with desks, sofas and iPads so students can, for example, access StudyLink information. A step up to the side of this information hub are interview rooms and administration offices.

Opening off the generous central thoroughfare are several computing classrooms. In these collaborative learning spaces, students can move computers around on wheeled tables to work in groups.

There are also two discrete classrooms, both soundproofed for teaching purposes – one seating 25, which is the maximum number for a programme, and another accommodating 15 students.

Any EIT student, whether enrolled in a programme offered at Hastings or at any other centre or campus, can use the open-plan computer space, which is equipped with 12 computers and a printer.

The all-purpose meeting room was recently used by third-year nursing students to study for their exams.

As at the former centre, retail, computing and business are core programmes that have proven their worth in preparing students moving into the Hawke’s Bay workforce. Horticulture is also a The staple, with students learning hands-on skills at community gardens in the Hastings district.

New to the centre are food and beverage (hospitality), Mãori studies and skincare and makeup.

The three core staff who relocated to the new centre are steeped in EIT’s learning culture and have well-honed people skills.

Tania, for example, has had a lengthy involvement with tertiary education. Walking the talk, she started at EIT as a Bachelor of Computing Systems student in 2001.

She then tutored for EIT as a final-year degree student in 2003, and has since completed a Diploma in Business, the Bachelor of Business Studies and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business.

Last year, she and Lisa Turnbull, the centre’s programme coordinator and tutor for retail programmes, studied the Level 2 Certificate in Te Reo Mãori and this year Tania completed the centre’s 12-week short course in Mandarin.

“I’m a lifelong learner,” Tania says. “I just can’t stop.”

Lisa also is a highly-qualified tutor. Originally with Tairãwhiti Polytechnic based in Onekawa, she has continued in her teaching role since the merger with EIT seven years ago – a total of 16 years.

Tony Martin, the learning facilitator for computing, was one of the first students to work for the EIT community computing programme when it ran in three classrooms in the Hetley Building on the Hawke’s Bay campus.

These permanent staffers are joined by other tutors teaching short courses and a growing list of qualification programmes.

Located at the rear of the building, where a service lane allows for deliveries, the well-equipped training kitchen and customer service area have allowed EIT to add hospitality to its Hastings offerings.

A well-patronised pop-up café runs at the end of food and beverage courses, honing students’ skills in dealing with the public and handling eftpos and cash transactions.

fare is prepared by the students and a sample menu might include pumpkin soup, sausage rolls, butter chicken, beef panini, pork bao buns, quiche lorraine, quinoa salad, savoury scrolls, cream-filled buns and carrot cake.

Pricing is great, with nothing over $6 and espresso coffees costing just $2.

Taught by café service tutor Fliss Pullman and chef tutor Courtney Sanders, the hospitality students learn about food safety and first aid as well as cooking and barista practices.

Hands-on practical experience is also embedded in other programmes. Retail students, for example, are offered placements in stores.

Other offerings that are new for the centre include theory for 25 Level 3 carpentry students, who will proceed to building a cottage on a Maraekakaho site, make-up and skincare, employment preparation and horticulture – fruit production.

“A lot of other organisations are utilising the centre,” says Tania, “and we are able to make rooms available for teaching purpose.”

The centre operates five days a week and is open late on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. The evening hours are attracting students beyond Hastings in suiting those who work regular hours.

EIT sees the centre as a gateway for students who may want to progress to higher-level programmes.

“Would-be students can drop in completed enrolment forms,” Tania says, “and we can check them before sending them on.”

Chief executive Chris Collins says the new centre underscores EIT’s ongoing commitment to serving the needs of communities throughout Hawke’s Bay.

He points out that while Hawke’s Bay’s main campus is in Taradale, EIT’s reach extends well beyond that, into towns and rural settlements throughout the region. Nearly 1800 students study programmes off- site from main campuses, right across Hawke’s Bay and Tairãwhiti, Gisborne region.

Bursting onto the global scene

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When disaster strikes, a growing number of air-borne emergency responders around the globe are fighting fires with helicopter fire buckets designed and built in Napier.

Fourteen years after starting a Hawke’s Bay engineering company with a $20,000 loan, Richard Lane now runs a specialist helicopter equipment business with a growing list of international customers.

“In 2004 I started off with myself and my toolbox, and I borrowed $20,000 off my auntie,” says Richard, a fitter and turner by trade.

“At that time I had three dependants, so starting a business probably wasn’t the smartest idea. I don’t know why I did it, other than that I must have had the confidence that it would work out.”

The business, Industrial Manufacturing Services, picked up work from local industries, with a focus on food processing work. Richard’s confidence proved to be well placed. In a short period of time he was able to pay back the original loan and start employing staff.

“Through hard work and long hours, including working weekends and doing jobs others didn’t want to do, we got ourselves established in the engineering business in Hawke’s Bay,” he says.

The company also gave Richard the opportunity to “start building products I’d always wanted to build”, with a focus on the helicopter industry. Progress was assisted by having a friend, Paul Greene, who owned a helicopter company and was willing to help with product testing.

“We started building products for people we knew, and people they knew. Our reputation grew and we attracted aviation clients around the country. The products were often designed by me at night and built in whatever spare time we had.”

The company exported its first Cloudburst firefighting bucket in 2007 and the following year Richard established a second business, IMS New Zealand, to focus on the international sales and marketing of the aviation products produced by Industrial Manufacturing Services.

The two companies now have a combined staff of 16 working across three workshops in Onekawa, with construction of a fourth workshop on a neighbouring site about to get underway.

On top of its Napier base, IMS also has an office in Auckland and is exporting around the world with representatives in China, Canada, the US, South America, Europe and South Africa.

Aside from its Cloudburst fire buckets, the Civil Aviation Authority-approved company’s other major product is the Ground-Effect spreading bucket, a bucket used for fertiliser spreading and grass seeding. IMS also manufactures aerial concrete skips under the Ground-Effect brand and sells a full range of related aviation products to support its buckets, including long-lines, swivels, remote hooks and specialist loading trailers.

Richard says the international reach the company has achieved is demonstrated by the fact that some of the helicopters it builds equipment for internationally have never been flown in New Zealand because they’re too big for local requirements.

IMS is currently selling about 40 fire buckets and 60 fertiliser buckets a year, along with associated equipment. Its Cloudburst customers include a number of militaries around the world.

The company’s latest growth strategy has involved sending a large shipment of its equipment to the US on consignment, enabling it to have a stronger presence with product on the ground in its largest market.

“It’s the first time we’ve invested a significant amount of money holding stock in America. For a small company it’s a huge financial commitment,” says Richard.

It’s a move intended to boost sales as IMS continues to grow its share of global markets.

“We’re doing pretty well in the marketplace. We believe that the Ground-Effect spreading bucket would be the most popular spreader in the world based on sales and technology, with the Cloudburst bucket definitely in the number-two position on sales only,” Richard says.

“That puts us behind a competitor in the fire bucket space who’s currently selling ten times what we sell, but they’ve been in the market since the 1980s and we’re cracking into that market now and starting to make some serious inroads. That competitor’s product is built in North America and we’re now selling a lot into North America so we’re offering an alternative – we’re excited.”

About 18 months ago IMS received a buyout offer from that same competitor, but after serious consideration, decided not to accept it – a decision Richard remains happy with given the company’s growth since then.

“We’re already looking back now and saying we’re possibly getting close to making their offer now every year,” he says.

www.imsheli.com

Getting our share of the Provincial Growth Fund lolly scramble

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The government has a billion dollars a year to dish out for regional development initiatives, so will this region get in on the action?

Hawke’s Bay is in line for tens, or possibly even hundreds, of millions of dollars’ worth of funding through the government’s $3 billion Provincial Growth Fund (PGF).

Local councils and other backers of several large projects aimed at stimulating economic growth in the region are hoping for multimillion-dollar contributions from the PGF. But no firm commitments have been made yet – other than $5 million to re-open the Napier–Wairoa rail link.

That’s because in most cases, the government wants to see comprehensive business plans ahead of backing the regional initiatives and the Hawke’s Bay projects that could be candidates for PGF funding are still in the process of drawing up their plans.

As part of the Labour-New Zealand First coalition agreement, the government has committed to investing $1 billion a year for the next three years into economic development initiatives aimed at lifting productivity in the provinces.

The PGF’s priorities are to: “enhance economic development opportunities, create sustainable jobs, enable Maori to reach full potential, boost social inclusion and participation, build resilient communities, and help meet New Zealand’s climate change targets”.

While all provinces (outside Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch) are eligible for funding, Hawke’s Bay is one of six ‘surge regions’ prioritised for early investment. (The other surge regions are Northland, Bay of Plenty, East Coast, Manawatu- Whanganui and the West Coast.)

The flow of PGF applications for this province is being overseen by the governance group for Matariki – Hawke’s Bay’s Regional Economic Development Strategy (REDS).

While the writing of multimillion-dollar cheques for Hawke’s Bay initiatives isn’t going to happen until detailed business cases are prepared and deals signed off by the government, the good news for the region

is the preparation of those business cases can also be funded through money from the fund.

An early recipient of business case funding is the proposed Hawke’s Bay Food Innovation Hub – a project identified by REDS as a regional priority – which in June received a $215,000 grant from the PGF.

The grant will help fund a feasibility study and business case for the project, which has the support of the Hastings District Council, Napier City Council, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and businesses.

The councils and 13 other organisations engaged in the food, beverage and agri- tech sectors have contributed an additional $35,000 towards the study and business case.

The project also has support from other entities including Business Hawke’s Bay, Food Innovation Network (FINZ), Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Central Hawke’s Bay District Council, Wairoa District Council and the University of Waikato.

If it goes ahead, the hub – expected to cost about $20 million and involve a further

application for substantive funding from the PGF – would bring together businesses and stakeholders in the food, beverage and agricultural technology sectors to collaborate and conduct research and development.

Hastings District Council’s economic development team is leading the current phase of the project, reporting to the REDS governance group. The council’s group manager, economic growth, Craig Cameron described the project as a “unique opportunity to potentially establish a food innovation hub facility that will ultimately facilitate business growth and innovation, drive investment and economic growth, and create jobs”.

The food hub is one of the council’s ‘Big Six’ focus areas for regional growth and prosperity, along with more social and affordable housing, industrial expansion, the relocation of government services to the district, residential growth, and improving rural productivity and roading.

In a recent call for government co-funding to promote the Big Six initiatives, Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said the six broad areas of investment opportunity are all interlinked to enable rapid regional social and economic growth.

“Important in our social priorities is the increase of sustainable employment options for our community, with a focus on youth. By working closely with government, agencies and our neighbouring local authorities we can unlock and bring forward delivery on these investments in short-to-medium time frames (one to three years).”

Meanwhile, Napier City Council is also lobbying for its slice of the PGF pie. The council is working on plans for a $53 million upgrade of the National Aquarium through a partnership with Weta Workshop, Waikato University, Air New Zealand and others.

The council would contribute $102 million to the project, provided it can secure the remaining funding from other sources, and it says the government has indicated it is looking to contribute $20–25 million through the PGF.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said the potential to move ahead with the aquarium development and other significant regional development projects made for exciting times, but it was important that the PGF application process was managed “properly and professionally” as was happening through the oversight of the REDS governance group.

“We have our systems in place and we have some applications ready to go, but we’ll prioritise them in the governance group and they’ll go down to the government in the correct form.”

Mana Ahuriri announces $100m of New Developments for Napier

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Mana Ahuriri Trust has set out a bold vision to become one of Hawke’s Bay’s largest commercial property and asset owners announcing new developments worth over $100 million, as part of the first phase of a growth strategy following its Treaty Settlement.

Kerry Avery (left), director of Avery Team Architects discusses plans for the development of the “gravel pit” site on Napier’s Monroe Street with Mana Ahuriri Holdings Limited directors Warren Ladbrook (centre) and Barry Wilson (right).

Directors of the Trust’s subsidiary, Mana Ahuriri Holdings Limited, Barry Wilson and Warren Ladbrook, who is also project manager, today launched a visionary plan that will transform the commercial and retail landscape in Napier.

Mana Ahuriri was established as the post settlement governance entity to receive and manage the Ahuriri Treaty of Waitangi Settlement and represents the Ahuriri and Napier areas with 2500 members. The Trust’s settlement was signed in 2016 and the majority comprises over 90% of Crown land assets along with $19.5 million cash.

Mr Wilson, who was the lead negotiator of the Settlement and worked closely with the Crown, said until now commercial growth in much of Napier City had been stalled because there has been limited land for development in key areas.

“Through our Treaty Settlement, Napier’s retail and commercial sectors can expect to see a great improvement in the overall offering. This will attract business and more investment, enabling economic growth and new jobs.

“The new developments are part of building a strong investment portfolio with a solid revenue base and on-going cash flow, representing long-term business partnerships and sustainable growth to support and benefit the Trust’s 2500 members.

“This is an exciting time for everyone in Hawke’s Bay. We will be creating great opportunities for our members and also for the people of Napier and the wider region. The first ten, of up to 50 different projects, have the potential to create more than 1000 new jobs alone,” he said.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said Mana Ahuriri’s plans are robust, progressive and will breathe new life into Napier.

“Our region is already in good heart, and Mana Ahuriri’s vision will help to ensure that the growth we are enjoying now is sustained well into the future.

“I’m particularly pleased at the many opportunities for employment these projects will afford our community – they’ll not only bring new blood into Hawke’s Bay, but ensure our top local talent find reasons to stay, work and live here,” Mr Dalton said.

The first project, Napier’s 65 Munroe Street Large Format Retail (LFR) development is planned to start in September.

Mr Ladbrook said the $20 million project of almost 6000m2 will turn the unsightly “gravel pit” into an impressive large format retail strip. It will house high profile retail chains including Briscoes and Rebel Sport, along with over 150 customer carparks.

“The aim is to centralise and consolidate LFR in Napier and is part of our vision of providing a better retail offering and experience, with greater employment opportunities.”

The next area for development is Napier’s Prebensen Drive industrial zone, where the Trust will own two sites covering 30ha and 6ha. Already there is strong interest in this $40- $60million project from blue chip, long-term clients, he said.

Over the next decade, Mana Ahuriri Trust will develop a wide and varied asset portfolio representing a range of investments.

It will include high profile retail and industrial zoned sites, significant residential development, commercial investments across Napier, forestry and the Ahuriri Landcorp Farm.

Mana Ahuriri Trust will also have a 50% shareholding in Ahuriri Airport Hawke’s Bay and will own the site which has a $4.5 million shipping container depot, which opened last month with new tenants ContainerCo.

Mr Wilson said the Trust would lead by example and as the first Mana Ahuriri Trust project, the Munroe St development would feature the latest waste and water treatment technology, including a new filtering system.

“We would like to see our actions as the beginning of Napier working towards this becoming standard in terms of new building consents.”

Mr Wilson said Mana Ahuriri Trust is fully committed to working towards cleaning up the Ahuriri Estuary, and protecting the ecology of the area, which holds significant cultural and historical value to Trust members, for everyone to enjoy.

“Another highlight of all our new building developments will be the introduction of subtle but important Mana Ahuriri Trust influence in both look and feel, projecting the connection and cultural values on both the architecture and landscape,” Mr Wilson said.

Local artist Jacob Scott is working closely with the Trust and his influence is already featuring in the design of the Watchman Road roundabout and the corridor to the airport terminal as well as the new airport terminal expansion by projecting the story of the Kuaka (Godwit Bird) which is significant to the land, sea and air of Ahuriri.

As with ContainerCo, Munroe St tenants are entering into a goodwill agreement offering jobs for Trust members along with opening up opportunities for everyone through career training, development and permanent employment, Mr Wilson said.

The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is also pleased to be working closely with Mana Ahuriri on the future management and restoration of the Ahuriri Estuary. Chairman Rex Graham said the development on Napier’s Prebensen Drive presents an opportunity to showcase best practice commercial design and storm water management.

ENDS

 

Central Hawke’s Bay – all set to Thrive

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Central Hawke’s Bay is defined by its boundaries, from the base of the 200-million-year-old Ruahine Range out to the Pacific Ocean on the East Coast. State Highway 2 runs through the centre of the region, with Napier’s port and airport around 70 kilometres away. Central Hawke’s Bay (or CHB as it’s usually referred to) is also well served by rail, with a station in Waipukurau en-route for trains running from Wellington to Napier, via Palmerston North.

Waipukurau and Waipawa are the largest townships, with many other settlements dotted around the region including Elsthorpe, Tikokino, Takapau, Otane and Porangahau.

CHB’s economy is largely based around the primary production sector, with the largest contributor being agriculture, along with its related food processing facilities and supporting agribusiness. Although accounting for only five percent of Hawke’s Bay’s regional population, CHB produces 20 percent of its exports. The Takapau freezing works Ovation’s processing facility provides vital employment for CHB residents as well as the greater Hawke’s Bay population, with many employees from Hastings and Napier making the daily trek to CHB for work.

Tourism is also a big earner for CHB. Mayor Alex Walker reports more than $26 million is brought in each year through events, cycling and walking trails and beach-related activities.**

While agriculture and tourism may be prosperous, economic indicators for the 2016 calendar year show CHB was the only

district in Hawke’s Bay to record a decline in the value of both consented new dwellings and new non-residential buildings.

The good news is that in general, CHB is experiencing increased capital value growth for properties. The median residential property value in Waipukurau lifted from $215,500 in April 2017 to $281,000 in June 2017.

Andrew Chambers is a registered valuer and owner of the Property InDepth franchise for Hawke’s Bay, covering CHB. He says the residential property markets in Waipukurau, Waipawa and Otane are active and steady.

“Purchasers include those trading up in property (second and third homebuyers), investors and first-time homebuyers, including those who commute to Hastings or Napier for work. The lower capital entry levels have allowed a number of first homebuyers to get their foot on the property ladder and the lower fuel costs and current interest rate environment have contributed to making the first home purchases possible. I think CHB will continue to be a steady and stable market due to affordability issues in Hastings and Napier and any slowdown will likely come from interest rate rises and upward pressure on fuel pump prices, the latter being in the spotlight at the moment,” he says.

Andrew notes there appears to be less vacant retail space in Waipukurau than there has been for some time, with commercial rents stable and the uptake of space a reflection on the improved farm-gate returns experienced for the past few years. Likewise, domestic housing rents have been stable for a number of years, with modest growth over the past 12 months.

Primary production accounts for around 95 percent of CHB’s land use. While the residential sector in New Zealand is in the spotlight at present, Andrew says the rural property market has a dynamic of its own with different drivers.

“The CHB lifestyle property market tends to mirror the residential market and has seen a lift in sales volumes and general appreciation in capital values. The sector including large farms has seen a steady number of transactions. New Zealand is at a crossroads of sorts though; with the average age of the New Zealand farmer around 65, succession plans for these properties can be somewhat difficult if ongoing family ownership is desired versus selling on the open market.

“There has been a trend to increase the size of farming operations over the past 10 to 15 years, but the capital required along with the element of ‘fairness’ in some family situations has meant that the next generation has opted out as they do not wish to carry large debt burdens. As a result, there has been an increase of company farming operations and syndicated farm ownership.”

Business Hawke’s Bay reports that there is a large area of rural land in CHB that has “untapped potential” and that the district could benefit from “increased employment opportunities”.

Andrew agrees that CHB is not thriving but holding its own.

“Waipukurau provides a vital service centre to a large farming community. There has been huge uncertainty around the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme (the dam). It is my personal opinion that the dam would have provided a much needed injection for CHB, but I am not sure that particular soap opera is over yet.

“If house prices in Hastings and Napier continue the current upward trend, I think you will see more first homebuyers looking more closely at the CHB towns and commuting. If the dam is ever given a green light, I envisage this would create a quick, above-average level of growth in the short term, levelling out to a moderate level of growth.”

With the dam issue now out of its hands, it’s a case of wait and see for CHB.

With a brand new council comes a bold new vision that will see Central Hawke’s Bay thrive well into the future.

Less than a year into the new triennial and with a drive to understand what their constituents want for the future of the district, the newly elected councillors of CHB ventured out into the community.

As part of the annual plan or ‘Thrive’ process, the council held 10 separate meetings in a format where people could discuss their ideas as opposed to the more traditional method of lodging written submissions.

Mayor Alex Walker says this method was chosen because there was confusion between public engagement and public consultation.

“As a new group of councillors we knew coming in that we had a community that felt a bit disconnected from what council is doing,” Alex says.

“The traditionally described methods of consultation end up being quite combative and confrontational, which is actually not conducive to solving problems.”

According to Alex, councillors knew that CHB needed to have plans in place that not only allowed current generations to prosper today but well into the future.

“It is a move away from councils doing things for you to councils doing things with you, where good engagement is feeding good decision-making,” she says.

“It is a subtle shift in the way local democracy could and should be working and that is a really important driver for me.”

It seemed to have worked for council, which Alex reports received great feedback from its constituents.

“A really positive thing that came out of it was the sense of pride that people have for CHB,” she says.

“They are really committed and really love everything that we have here, what we stand for and our sense of community.”

So effective was the engagement approach, Alex says it produced a two-part report that will be used by council as a cornerstone document to guide not only their annual plan but the long-term plan’s budgets and policy frameworks.

“It’s going to feed into all the key documents that we have and also into the business plan that council operates under,” she says.

“The next step is council working through the priorities and what the big transformational moves are and what we need to do to make some of these come to life.”

The first-time mayor admits that one of the things that surprised her was how strong the common themes were that came out of the 10 meetings held in different parts of the district, such as connectivity, prosperity and respect for the environment.

“I think the amount of consensus there was on what was viewed as important for CHB, it probably shouldn’t have surprised us but it did,” she said.

On the other side of the coin, Alex says that while a strong sense of identity as a district came through in the common themes, each of the smaller communities such as Porangahau and Tikokino have their own clear identity.

“So, one of the initiatives that will come out of this is the idea of doing community plans for each of our settlement spaces so that they own and drive the way that council works with them,” says Alex.

So how does ‘Thrive’ support local businesses?

“Thrive benefits the whole community – schools, families and businesses. It is for everybody,” says Alex.

“When it comes to business, it is about creating a positive space; what benefits the community will benefit business.”

What started out as a values-based discussion amongst elected representatives has become a concept embraced by the CHB community.

“Thrive turned into a term that clearly encompassed our vision for the district, being able to thrive and grow and be successful,” Alex says.

“This is not just my vision, it is not just the council’s vision, it is the vision of the whole community.”