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Waikato Business Awards 2024 - Small Business of the Year - Brainchild

Waikato-based PR and content agency Brainchild celebrated a double win at the 2024 Waikato Chamber of Commerce Business Awards, taking home both Small Business of the Year and People’s Choice.And Brainchild founder and director Angela March has some simple advice for other small business owners contemplating entering the Awards next year: “Do it!”.“The entry and judging process is super valuable. As a business owner you get so busy working in the business, entering the Awards forced me t...

Waikato Business Awards 2024 - CEO of the Year - Pam Roa

A "kaitiaki of culture and leader of leaders”. That was the fitting description of Pam Roa by her team when they nominated her for CEO of the Year at this year’s Waikato Chamber of Commerce Business Awards.Pam took home the CEO of the Year gong and the metal fabricator and manufacturing company she and husband Les founded in 1992, Longveld, took out the People and Culture Award.And while Pam is the first to encourage her team to “step into your light”, she wasn’t so sure about entering...

Waikato Business Awards 2024 - Emerging Leader of the year - Ashley Mason

If you’d told Ashley Mason when she left school that in a couple of decades she’d be standing on stage accepting an Emerging Leader Award, she would likely have scoffed at you.But that’s exactly where Ashley was on November 15 – being handed the trophy at the Waikato Chamber of Commerce Business Awards.Ashley’s career path has evolved organically. When she left school she worked as an EA for about 15 years. At one point she did a year’s study to be a secondary school maths teacher. D...

Waikato Business Awards 2024 - Supreme Winner: Waitomo Group

With growth like Waitomo Group has seen over the past five years comes a lot of hard work. To the point where it’s rare for the team to stop, reflect and recognise what they’ve achieved.But that’s exactly what they did in November as they took out the Supreme Award at the Waikato Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. They also took out the Sustainability Award, and the Business Growth & Strategy Award.Group Manager Customer Experience Greta Shirley explains Waitomo didn’t enter the aw...

Creating Spaces of Comfort and Productivity: Waikato Chamber’s New Office Fit-Out with Cemac

In the heart of Waikato’s bustling business community, the Waikato Chamber of Commerce has always been committed to supporting local businesses, and now, thanks to an exciting partnership with Cemac, we’re taking that commitment to a new level—starting with our own office space!We’re proud to announce that Cemac, one of our “Powered by” sponsors, has masterfully fitted out our new office, transforming it into a space designed not only for productivity but also for comfort and functio...

Thank you Senga Allen

Members, Senga Allen retires today after serving her 10 years as a Director of the Waikato Chamber and it is a tribute to her leadership and guidance that the Waikato Chamber is in such good financial health and its mana is growing.In 2015 the Board did a Skills matrix exercise and recognised its governance deficiencies. Certainly, there was a lack of women on the board, and we lacked expertise in Human Resources, Tourism and Innovation.Reaching out to Senga to add some HR horsepower to you...

Welcome to the Chamber: Abby Hill

Hey Abby, welcome to the team, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?I was raised on a lifestyle block in Otorohanga, where I spent most of my life. Growing up in this rural environment gave me a strong sense of community and independence. At 18, I relocated to Hamilton to pursue a hairdressing course, which allowed me to develop my skills and begin my career in a larger city.When I turned 28, I moved to Auckland while my husband served in the defence force. We lived there for six years, a...

Waikato's Resilience: Navigating a Slight GDP Dip with Optimism for the Future

The Waikato Region continues to quietly get on with business despite a minor reduction in the region’s GDP in the last quarter.Given the recent rise in the Global Dairy Trade auction prices we see a more positive outlook for our economy running up to Christmas than we have enjoyed in the previous 6 months.Infometrics highlight issues in construction, retail, transport and manufacturing that contribute most to the small decline. This would not be news to Waikato business people, but it is margi...

Cautiously optimistic

The August OCR announcement has come and gone and with it a great deal of negative press on the Governor, the Monetary Policy Committee and the Reserve Bank whilst applauding the cut to 5.25%OCR 5.25% - Monetary restraint tempered as inflation converges on target - Reserve Bank of New Zealand - Te Pūtea Matua (rbnz.govt.nz)A respected economist once said:“When facts change, I change my mind – what do you do sir?” John Maynard KeynesFacts do change and it would not surprise us if non-trade...

Tangible Economic Development (TED) - What is it?

The Waikato Regional Council is trying to find out. Te Waka, the regional economic development agency has closed. Some Waikato councils have strengthened their own economic development staff levels amid allegations of not getting any benefit from Te Waka. A lot of what people call economic development seems to be reports, working groups along with connections to political parties and Wellington bureaucracy, but does it result in a tangible return on the ratepayers investment?Is this an...

Record number of entries for Waikato Business Awards

The Waikato Chamber of Commerce Business Awards, supported by Foster Construction Group, has received a record number of entries for 2024. There are 88 entries across different categories.“That’s the is the most we have ever had and is 11 more than last year,” said marketing and events manager Rebecca Aston.“We’re thrilled to see so many emerging and established businesses entering; it’s a great opportunity to focus on your business to identify strengths and competitive advantages as...

Long-Term Plan (LTP) Season

It's LTP season throughout the country as local councils rewrite their long-term plans. Most are going to the Bank of Ratepayers for double digit increases at a time when Kiwis are coping with a cost of living crisis.With the Consumer Price Index rising by 20% since the start of 2020, that has eroded households’ purchasing power. It’s been particularly tough for those households on lower incomes as much of the rise in living costs relates to necessities, like housing rents (up 17% since 2020...

The Future of Te Huia

The time has come to decide on the white elephant we call Te Huia. The data is clear: the number of passengers is not growing but the costs are. In a cost of living crisis, we have blown $100 million of taxpayer and ratepayer funds on a form of transport we knew was never going to be viable financially. With Councils increasing rates hugely and the country facing a big bill for fixing an infrastructure cliff, we simply cannot afford to fund an elitist commuter rail service for the small number o...

Amalgamation

Has the time for the amalgamation of the Waikato’s 13 territorial authorities arrived? Most Waikato councils are close to their debt ceiling and experiencing a downgrade in their viability. They are also facing really big costs to ensure their core services and infrastructure do not break.We are hardly the biggest fan of centralisation but there needs to be some rationalisation across the Waikato to get costs down. Saying “Bollocks” as one old Waikato leader did has not worked. T...

An electrifying gallop: A ride with the Chamber EV Mustang

In mid-November last year, the Chamber changed its fleet vehicle from a Ford Ranger diesel ute, the biggest selling vehicle in NZ, to a 2023 Ford Mustang. No, not the V8 but the Mach-E rear wheel drive version.Now a fraction under 10,000km later it is time to tell the journey from an oil burner to electricity. There are several layers to this; the car itself, driving an EV, recharging and its associated anxiety, and whether an EV is a suitable business vehicle to buy.When we picked it up and had...

Local government Long Term Plans (LTPs)

It is that time of the electoral cycle when Long Term Plans are laid out and rates struck. Local government across New Zealand is struggling. Encouraged by central government, they have had six years of myriad co-funded projects to deliver. Due to the fair pay initiative, there have been significant wage increases. This has resulted in local government salaries increasing as well, due to relativity claims. Meanwhile, the aging infrastructure has become a major concern and requires substanti...

What a great start to the year!

While some people and the media are doom and gloom merchants, the Waikato Chamber of Commerce has been buzzing since mid-January with events that have been running at or close to capacity.Business people are out and about, enjoying the sun no doubt but putting a lot of effort into networking. Typically, we would see several not turn up to events after registering but that has almost evaporated as business people are looking to connect face to face, get to know new contacts and keep in touch with...

A New Government

A change of government means a change of tack for the country and the opportunity for several Waikato projects to be advocated to the new team. So here is what we have been lobbying for and will continue to do so with the new Government.Cambridge to PiarereJust do it and do it properly. It is not a Waikato project; it is a Road of National Significance and remains a sad example of the previous government’s poor decision making as it stood as a silent but deadly witness to their inability to ge...

Local Government transparency and financial acumen

The Ombudsman, Peter Boshier, is a no nonsense ex-judge who has recently criticised several councils for their lack of transparency. We quote from his report of an investigation into their activities: “Conducting a great deal of council business behind closed doors, whether through workshops or public excluded meetings, can have a damaging effect on how open the community perceives a council to be. The appropriate use of meeting provisions and workshops is at the heart of openness an...

AgriSea Networking Tour

AgriSea hosted an informative site tour and networking for Waikato Chamber of Commerce Members earlier in October at their Paeroa site.The tour showcased AgriSea’s innovative techniques for developing horticultural, dry stock, dairy farm and bee nutrition solutions from seaweed. Members found learning about the sustainability and innovation of AgriSea products inspiring.Read Agrisea CEO Clare Bradley’s comments and guest comments below."Joining the Waikato Chamber of Commerce has opened up b...

Emerging Leader of the Year Jenni Falconer

When Jenni Falconer was working as a nurse along the three other co-founders of Emergency Consult in the late 1990s, they would see around 50 patients per day through the hospital’s emergency department. And patients weren’t waiting hours to be seen.Fast forward 20 years and Jenni and “the boys”, as she calls them, could see something needed to change. The number of patients presenting at ED and after-hours clinics had exploded, wait times were horrendous. So they came up with a novel so...

CEO of the Year Announced

When Lisbeth Jacobs joined Gallagher in April 2021, Covid-19 made some aspects of her role as the Global General Manager of Animal Management a bit tricky.“It wasn’t easy to see people offshore. In New Zealand, we were free to move around but it was quite some time before I managed to get a spot in MIQ which meant I could hop on a plane and see my teams in the US and Europe. But we were used to using Teams, so we made do. But nothing beats face to face.”Today, Lisbeth is Gallagher’s Anim...

Invivo wins Supreme business award, SMEs feature strongly

Invivo first began as an idea thrown around by two friends in a London bar in 2008. Fast forward 15 years and the Waikato-based company has wines and spirits in 43 countries and has been awarded more than 600 medals and trophies. And their latest win is that of Supreme Winner in the 2023 Waikato Business Awards, supported by Foster Construction Group. They also took out the international trade category.Founded by Kiwi school friends Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron, Invivo is behind the award-win...

Welcome to the Chamber: Rebecca Aston

Hi Rebecca, welcome to the team, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?Born and raised in Rotorua, I moved to Hamilton 16 years ago to study at the University of Waikato. Job opportunities and the close proximity of the Waikato to other cities in NZ, led me to purchase a house and settle down in Hamilton.Outside of my career, I enjoy cooking and gardening. I also hold several volunteering roles, including, being a Wish Fairy for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and a Trustee on the Hamilton Chri...

How to innovate with Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 (formerly known as Office 365) incorporates a multitude of different cloud services including well known examples such as Outlook (email & calendar)  and OneDrive/SharePoint (file sharing & collaboration).What many people don't realise is that there are many more applications and services available as part of the Microsoft 365 subscription that an organisation is already paying for but not fully utilising.Microsoft's intent with the 365 suite has always been to put mor...