Waikato Business News May/June 2022

SPECIAL ADVERTISING WRAP 

ROAD AND SPORT HARLEY-DAVIDSON RIDING 

HIGH ON DEALER OF THE YEAR WIN 

Local long-serving business Road and Sport Harley-Davidson has out-gunned the big guns across Australia 

and New Zealand to win the Overall Dealer of the Year award for the second year running. In fact, Road and 

Sport has taken the title in three of the last five years over the other 56 dealers in the region! 

Owners and Dealer Principals Barry and 

Shelley Sproule are obviously proud of their 

awards success and their business. They 

joined the H-D Dealer network 32 years ago, 

in 1990, which now places the store as the 

oldest H-D Dealership in New Zealand. 

Barry emphasises that the lead given by the Motor 

Company – whether in new Motorcycles, new 

Apparel and Accessories, or new knowledge and 

technical training – is the store’s heart-starter. But the 

subsequent oxygen comes from Barry and Shelley’s 

genuinely caring and honest business ethos. 

“We ensure that the entire staff and management 

team is fully trained and totally immersed in bringing 

the brilliance of the H-D brand and lifestyle to the 

store’s friends and customers,” Barry says. “People 

know that we’ll be here when you want us here, that 

we’ll do what we say we’ll do, and that we can be 

trusted to answer all the questions… or to solve all the 

problems.” 

That adds up, Barry says, to genuine customer service. 

“Our team here in the dealership is the best asset 

anyone could have. Shelley and I ask them to learn, 

and to fit in, and then we let their enthusiasm and 

knowledge off the leash. And I think that’s what the 

Continues on following page

From previous page 

and dust-free. Quality matters, even out of 

the customer’s sight. 

customers feel… our enthusiasm and passion 

for Harley-Davidson.” 

All that H-D Factory training includes, of 

course, the three “outside the box” all-new 

models introduced into the Waikato by Road 

and Sport in the last two years. 

“Plenty of doubters didn’t believe it possible, 

but Harley has brought the LiveWire 

Electric, Pan America Adventure Tourer 

and the Sportster S into the market, and 

each one is utterly brilliant,” Barry says. “All 

three were, and still are, category sales and 

performance leaders, almost as soon as 

they were released.” 

Behind all that, a walk through the 

Dealership shows that there is quality 

everywhere! An immaculate Service 

Department with soft rubber flooring so any 

items accidentally dropped are undamaged, 

a Dynojet dyno, a fully capable machine 

shop and protective covers are placed over 

the motorcycles being worked on. 

And even though no-one sees them, the 

Apparel, Parts and Accessories back-room 

storage areas are impressively neat, clean 

As well as the Road and Sport team, Barry 

also acknowledges the massive part other 

local-area Hamilton and Waikato businesses 

have played in their award’s achievements. 

“Our success depends on the trust and 

reliability of our accountants, bankers, 

lawyers and suppliers of all kinds. We’ve 

partnered with nearly all of them for about 

40 years, they believed then – and now – in 

our vision and integrity, and we’ve become 

genuine business partners.” 

Barry’s knows full well that the dealership 

is nothing without its customers and the 

relationship they have is more than just 

business. 

“Getting to know the customers is our 

favourite part of this business. Just like us 

they are enthusiasts and we know the H-D 

lifestyle keeps them young at heart. The 

Harley brand, the bikes and the lifestyle… 

riding and freedom… it’s addictive and it’s 

wonderful. We’re so proud to be in this 

business, and proud of the connections we 

make every day.” 

The dealership is a family affair, and Barry 

and Shelley are involving the next generation 

in more senior roles in the business. “Hannah, 

Peter and Blair have already been with us 

a long time and done the beginner-work 

learning, so that when they move up into 

higher roles, they’ll be very well prepared 

and ready. They understand every aspect of 

our customer-service because they’ve done 

it all in person.” 

The Harley-Davidson Dealer of the Year 

award is assessed across a range of 

dealership operations, including customer 

satisfaction, Motorcycles, Parts, Accessories, 

Apparel, and Service performance, 

commitment to training, marketing and 

events, and business reporting. 

Harley-Davidson AU/NZ Managing Director 

Nigel Keough says, “Barry and Shelley know 

how to run a great business, they excel in 

customer service.” 

A visit to the Te Rapa store will confirm that 

the friendliness, enthusiasm for the store and 

for the H-D brand is all-encompassing, and 

it’s an ethos the whole team is committed to. 

And Barry’s estimation of the dealerships is 

correct; it’s the entire Road and Sport team 

powering the Dealership to three-out-offive 

years as Dealer of the Year. 

SHELLEY SPROULE 

– A WOMAN’S VIEW FROM THE TOP 

W 

inning the Harley-Davidson Australasian Dealer 

of the Year award for three of the last five years 

is so special to Road and Sport H-D joint owner 

and Dealer Principal Shelley Sproule, that she’s made a 

rare public contribution. Coming out of the background 

for a moment, Shelley has shared her thoughts on the 

reasons for Road and Sport’s success. 

A highlight was taking groups of 12 or 13 customers on 

trips to Australia – three trips over the years - and riding 

through the outback of Australia. Shelley organised 

these trips, took care of everything on the itinerary, and 

oversaw the container loads of customer bikes and their 

own bikes for the journey. And, not one to miss out on a 

ride, Shelley rode every kilometer on her own Harley. 

Shelley uses the word ‘trust’ repeatedly as she 

describes the business; trust from customers in the 

Harley Dealership, and trust by the business of its staff, 

customers, and associated entities and individuals. 

“To be successful and receive these awards there’s a 

wider team working in the background - accountants, 

lawyers, banks, suppliers including, of course, Harley- 

Davidson and in earlier years Morgan & Wacker. All of 

them stand beside us, many have been with us for 40 

years, or for the 32 years we’ve been with Harley. We 

can’t do it without them, they’re actually partners in the 

business.” 

Shelley whole-heartedly believes that the store’s staff 

plays a massive role in the success of the business. 

“They’re our partners too. My ethos, and Barry’s, has 

always been about caring for our Road and Sport 

‘family’, and by extension their families. During the 

lockdowns it was important to us that our staff’s home 

life could continue as normally as possible.” 

As a woman in the male-dominated motorcycle 

industry, there have been challenges along the way but, 

Shelley says, Harley-Davidson was different. 

“NEVER for one second have I seen or felt any gender 

bias from anyone at H-D. From day-dot, I was never 

discriminated against as a female Dealer Principal. 

Harley’s attitude has always been brilliant… it’s 

encompassing, respectful, inclusive, and all of that 

continues to this day.” 

If you’ve ever taken notice of Harley-Davidson’s 

marketing, you’ll see – or can feel - the connections 

which lead to ‘one big world-wide family’, and women 

are very much a part of every aspect of Harley- 

Davidson. The passion of Harley owners and customers 

for the brand is unique and powerful. Shelley knows that 

the closeness which develops between herself, Barry 

and the staff, and their customers, is heartfelt. 

“Our customer base is huge and extremely diverse 

and I’m incredibly fortunate to have had the career I’ve 

had with our customers and suppliers. I feel extremely 

privileged!” she says. 

“The best part of that was being able to give those 

customers a life experience in the H-D lifestyle we all 

love.” 

Shelley has ridden her own bikes all over the world and 

cherishes the amazing experiences she has had thanks 

to the H-D lifestyle. 

In her early years with Harley-Davidson, Shelley was 

grateful the lessons from H-D that helped build the 

Road and Sport business to what it is today. 

In the early days, Harley was distributed in New Zealand, 

Queensland and the South Pacific by Australian dealers 

Morgan and Wacker, which started life as a familyowned 

business. 

In 1990, Barry and Shelley were accepted as authorised 

H-D dealers by Bruce Wacker and Shelley says the 

Wacker family has had a huge influence on the business 

and that still stands true today. 

“We learned not just about the motorcycles and the 

products, from Bruce, his wife Joan, their sons Mark and 

Brad, and their international staff, they also taught us 

greater levels of professionalism, higher standards and 

better customer service. They showed us the Harley 

worldwide family in the big picture was real, not just 

talk. It still is an honor and a delight to be a part of this.” 

Being a woman in a traditionally male dominated 

business, Shelley was lucky to have the quiet, wise, and 

experienced Joan Wacker to guide her along the way. 

Soon after taking on the dealership, the Harley 

Company began a program to modernise every 

dealer in the world. The spaces were transformed into 

‘Designer Stores’ and became exciting and beautiful 

destinations for customers and enthusiasts to gather. 

Shelley says the ‘Designer Stores’ changed the focus of 

motorcycles world-wide. 

“There were huge displays of then-new MotorClothes 

casual and riding Apparel, along with stylish and new 

ways of displaying the bikes and Accessories. Our shop 

was gutted and re-built.” 

Returning to Shelley’s belief in ‘trust’ as a guiding 

principle of the business, she trusted her research and 

knowledge of Harley-Davidson, and had enormous trust 

in Bruce and Mark Wacker who explained how it would 

all work in the future. 

“The transformation to a ‘Designer Store’ really did 

work.” 

Becoming a single-brand Harley-only dealership in 

2008, was another major change for the business. 

“It was a lifestyle choice for ourselves, for the staff, and 

for our customers. We loved what we did with H-D, we 

wanted to be better at what we did, we wanted to enjoy 

it more, and we wanted our Harley customers… our big 

family… to enjoy it as much as we did.” 

Still motivated by the Harley-Davidson brand, Shelley 

says it’s always moving forward which makes being in 

business for as long as they have still new and exciting. 

“There are so many new models being released that the 

factory online and in-person training remains vital. 

Motivating the staff with an expectation of success 

and completion of all the training, is very important to 

Shelley. 

“Our expectations and standards are high but our 

customer feedback gives us outstandingly high reviews 

and comments about our team.” 

“My journey with Road and Sport and Harley-Davidson 

has been so fulfilling… the dealer shows in America, the 

travel, the rides all over the world, the people we’ve met 

from around the globe, the experiences, the memories. 

I’m a lucky girl, and I want our customers and staff to 

share it too.”

MAY/JUNE VOLUME 30: ISSUE 5 2022 WWW.WBN.CO.NZ FACEBOOK.COM/WAIKATOBUSINESSNEWS 

Nau Mai R ā bringing 

power to the people 

Aotearoa's first kaupapa Māori energy retailer Nau 

Mai Rā is empowering Kiwi’s living in power poverty. 

Hamilton-born co-founders 

Ezra Hirawani (Te 

Āti Haunui-a-Paparangi/Ngāti 

Rangi/Ngāpuhi/ 

Ngāti Hako/Waikato-Tainui) 

and Ben Armstrong (Waikato 

Tainui/Ngāti Hine) are putting 

people before profit and funnelling 

money back into funding 

initiatives that benefit whānau. 

Nau Mai Rā uses a pay it 

forward model where customers 

pay a portion of their power 

bill towards a marae, kura or to 

the whānau fund which helps 

pay the power bill for vulnerable 

families. 

“We discovered that there's 

over 130,000 households 

here in Aotearoa that suffer in 

energy hardship or power poverty; 

that a massive problem,” 

Ezra says. 

Basing their business model 

around the tuakana-teina relationship 

where an older family 

member supports and mentors 

someone younger, Nau Mai Rā 

customers are helping their fellow 

customers who are experiencing 

hardship. 

“We wanted to apply the 

tuakana-teina approach, where 

we worked with those who 

could afford to pay for their 

power to support those who 

couldn't. And doing so in a way 

where we did no harm to those 

who could afford to pay for 

that,” he says. 

“It was a steep learning 

curve understanding how we 

could apply this approach 

into a power industry that saw 

consumers as money making 

opportunities rather than as 

whānau and people.” 

In most cases, Ezra says, 

their customers pay the same or 

less than they would be charged 

by other suppliers. 

Founded in 2019, the pair 

have worked hard to maintain 

the integrity of Nau Mai 

Rā whilst learning about the 

cut-throat power supply business.“We 

have been more public 

facing in last two years year 

and have acquired customers 

slowly in different regions as 

we’ve tested the product. We 

started with learning the complexities 

of the industry and 

understanding how we can 

have our own twist indigenous 

twist on it.” 

Although based in the 

Waikato, Nau Mai Rā is only 

just beginning to get their product 

out to their local market. 

It was a conscious decision 

to test markets outside of their 

patch in order to get genuine 

feedback about what they had 

to offer. 

“If I sign my mum up, she’s 

always going to say, ‘son it’s 

amazing’. I was probably a 

year and a half into Nau Mai 

Rā might have before my mum 

even realised that I wasn't 

studying anymore,” he laughs. 

They were determined that 

the business would stand on 

its own merits and in the early 

stages went about quietly signing 

up customers and making 

tweaks along the way. 

“We just had to make sure 

that the product could stand on 

its own without any cool story, 

any marketing pizazz. That we 

could sell power at a cheaper 

rate to a family, and then use 

that power bill to fund each 

project.” 

One of their first projects 

was to purchase a 49-seater bus 

for a low decile kura (school) in 

Otangarei. 

“This was proof to us, that if 

a community will pay their bills 

with us, we can actually drive 

impact back into the community,” 

he says. 

Seeing the joy on the student’s 

faces when they had 

their first bus ride was the proof 

that what they were doing 

was working and making a 

difference in people’s lives. 

“From that moment we just 

continued to build and now we 

have elevated just over 2000 

people out of energy hardship, 

and it is starting to snowball 

now,” 

People are at the heart of 

Ezra and Ben’s business model; 

they make bill paying easier by 

Ezra Hirawani. 

sending smaller more frequent 

bills, customers are signed in to 

a contract and have the freedom 

to move should they choose, 

and they don't charge whānau 

daily fixed cost in addition to the industry average is around 

their bills. 

15. And that is largely because 

“We've had a very low bad we're not as big as the other 

debt percentage. We're sitting 

around at two percent. I think Continued on page 3

2 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS May/June 2022 

Glenn Forster appointed 

chief executive of 

McCaw Lewis Lawyers 

Hapaitia te ara tika pūmau ai te rangatiratanga mō ngā uri 

whakatipu. Foster the pathway of knowledge to strength, 

independence and growth for future generations. 

McCaw Lewis Lawyers announce 

that the board has appointed Glenn 

Forster as the firm’s first Chief 

Executive, a move that marks an evolution 

of his role and another exciting development 

for the Waikato law firm. 

Glenn has been part of the McCaw 

Lewis team since 2019 when he started 

as General Manager. The appointment as 

Chief Executive is a significant role and 

one which reflects Glenn’s contribution to 

the firm’s vision, strategic objectives and 

overall management. 

Executive Director, Renika Siciliano, 

says “Glenn’s strength is in his genuine 

desire to see every individual succeed and 

thrive. He embodies our firm value of 

manaakitanga - uplifting the mana of others 

in all his actions. Combine those traits 

with his excellent business insights and 

skills, and our firm is in great hands going 

forward.” 

Glenn has managed the firm during 

the most unusual of times through the 

COVID pandemic, as well as the retirements 

and departures of a number of very 

senior Directors and other staff. He has been 

instrumental in helping drive a values-based 

culture through all aspects of the firm. 

His business knowledge and financial 

skills have been an excellent support to 

the Director group, but importantly, those 

skills sit alongside a focus on our people 

and ultimately doing what is right. It is this 

balance of skillsets that drives his strategic 

vision for the firm as he continues his 

excellent work alongside the Directors and 

supporting the wider firm in this new Chief 

Executive role. 

Founded in 1919, McCaw Lewis has 

grown to become one of the Waikato’s 

leading law firms, specialising in commercial, 

Te Tiriti o Waitangi, property, dispute 

resolution, asset planning, environmental/ 

natural resources, workplace law and te ture 

whenua Māori (Māori land law). 

Level 6/586 Victoria Street, Hamilton Central, Hamilton 3204 | 07 838 2079 | www.mccawlewis.co.nz 

At Bayleys, we believe relationships are 

what businesses are built on and how they 

succeed. We understand that to maximise 

the return on your property you need: 

Professional property management 

A business partner that understands 

your views and goals 

Contact the Bayleys Waikato Commercial 

Property Management team today. 

Jan Cooney 

Head Commercial Property Management - 

Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki 

027 408 9339 

jan.cooney@bayleys.co.nz 

David Cashmore 

Bayleys Commercial Manager - Waikato 

021 943 305 

david.cashmore@bayleys.co.nz 

Gert Maritz 

Senior Facilities Manager - Waikato 

027 230 2514 

gert.maritz@bayleys.co.nz 

Darren Rule 

Senior Facilities Manager - Bay of Plenty & Taranaki 

027 214 1631 

darren.rule@bayleys.co.nz 

SUCCESS REALTY LTD, BAYLEYS, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008 

ALTOGETHER BETTER 

Residential / Commercial / Rural / Property Services

WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS May/June 2022 

3 

Power to the people at Nau Mai Rā 

From page 1 

power companies. But at the 

same time, it's evidence that if 

you give people a chance they 

will pay. If you're willing to 

work with people and listen to 

them, talk to them, you know, 

they'll do their best to reciprocate 

the support,” Ezra says. 

In the Māori realm, 

whakawhanaungatanga or 

relationship building plays an 

important role in all aspects 

of life, and Ezra and Ben have 

made this a core value of how 

Nau Mai Rā engages with customers 

and stakeholders. 

“What we've decided to 

do is automate as much of the 

industry side as possible, which 

is 80 to 90 percent of the operation, 

and then really invest 

a lot of time into connecting 

with our customers in genuine 

need.” 

It hasn’t all been smooth 

sailing in the power generating 

world, they were close to folding 

the company last year when 

an electricity supplier pulled 

out at the last moment. 

“We'd oversubscribed by 

500 customers. And it was kind 

of ironic the power company 

that supports those who can't 

afford power, couldn't afford 

power,” he says. 

“We thought we had connected 

on a lot of different 

values (with the electricity supplier). 

And then it became more 

commercially beneficial for 

them not to finish off those conversations 

about the contract.” 

They pulled it together 

in the end but their business 

saviours were their customers. 

“We were really lucky to 

have a group of people within 

our Nau Mai Rā waka who 

could afford to move away. We 

called all our customers and 

said, ‘hey, look, this sucks to do 

this. But would you would you 

be able to jump out of our waka 

Ben Armstrong and Ezra Hirawani. 

so that we can support those 

clients who can’t jump out of 

the waka?’. The response was 

insane, they said, ‘Yeah, I’ll 

jump out. I've got your back. I'll 

be right back as soon as you get 

the contract over line.” 

Since then, Nau Mai Rā has 

done a complete turnaround. 

Now with thousands of customers, 

they have set a goal of 

onboarding 10,000 customers 

by the end of the year. 

Ezra was named Young 

New Zealander of the Year 

2022 for his work helping people 

in energy hardship. 

He laughs and says he 

took one for the team when he 

accepted the nomination. 

“Ben and I thought, if they 

call us and say we’ve have been 

nominated, we'll just choose 

the best looking one to go and 

collect the trophy if we win. 

And that just happen to be me,” 

he laughs. 

“All through the preliminary 

stages, we were making 

sure that everyone understood 

that this isn't an Ezra award. 

This is a whānau award. I know 

it is cliche to say we're nothing 

without our people, Nau Mai 

Rā literally is nothing without 

its people.”


Dreams come true for 

Dreamview Creamery 

When Dreamview Creamery first dipped their gumboots into farm 

gate raw milk sales in 2017 they never dreamed the business 

would get as big as it has 

Owned and operated by 

the Hill family, the Raglan 

business recently 

issued Fonterra with a cease to 

supply notice. 

Daughter and creamery 

manager Jess says it’s an exciting 

step in their journey to run 

independently and the realisation 

of the dream idea she proposed 

to her parents, Dave and 

Bronwyn, to stop selling milk 

to Fonterra, bottle it themselves 

and sell locally. 

“This a really big step for us. 

We were considering doing it 

last year, and I’m probably kind 

of glad that we didn't. During 

Covid it was actually quite 

good to be able to still send our 

excess milk to Fonterra.” 

The soon-to-be released 

Dreamview yoghurt should take 

care of the milk normally supplied 

to Fonterra and Jess say 

they were only producing just 

enough excess milk to make it 

worth Fonterra’s while anyway. 

“Fonterra came every second 

day and it kind of depended 

on what we were doing in the 

creamery that day as to how 

much milk would be left for 

Fonterra. But it got to the point 

where it was, maybe four or 

500 litres, and only just enough 

to warrant them coming to pick 

it up.” 

Over the years they have 

moved to more sustainable practices, 

and from the very beginnings 

of Dreamview Creamery, 

the milk was sold in reusable 

glass bottles. In doing so, they 

have saved more than 150,000 

plastic bottles that would have 

ordinarily been used to get the 

milk to the marketplace. 

They will continue using 

glass for the yoghurt and Jess 

reckons they could be the first 

milk-based yoghurt to come in 

reusable glass jars. 

When they started out selling 

MPI certified raw A2 milk 

from the farm gate, the creamery 

was based in a converted 

shipping container and locals 

would drive up the windy farm 

driveway to pick up their supplies. 

However, as demand 

grew, they bought a refrigerated 

truck and started delivering to 

homes in Raglan. 

They now deliver nearly 

7,000 litres of A2 milk a 

week to cafes and shops in 

Raglan, Hamilton, Tauranga 

and Mount Maunganui. This 

meant hiring more staff and 

buying more trucks. 

“It’s awesome to be able 

to provide parttime work for 

locals,” Jess says. 

Because the milk is now 

available pasteurised, Dreamview 

can sell it anywhere, 

whereas their raw milk, by law, 

must be delivered door to door. 

Raw milk does not go 

through the pasteurisation process 

so it must meet stringent 

Ministry of Primary Industries 

regulations. 

Dave says there were a lot 

of hoops to jump through to get 

MPI certification and they are 

still required to test once a week 

for bacterium levels. 

“The regulations are 

extremely strict but we have got 

really great results,” Dave says. 

While MPI regulations prevent 

Jess from promoting the 

raw milk, she says it still makes 

up about 40 percent of their 

sales. 

“They (the customers) like 

that it’s milk the way nature 

intended it and they know 

where it’s from.” 

Like most farming families, 

the Hill family grew up on raw 

milk and Bronwyn says she 

could taste the difference in the 

supermarket milk she would 

have to buy from time-to-time. 

“I really notice a plastic taste 

in the milk.” 

While Bronwyn says the 

highly processed, homogenised 

supermarket milk is basically 

pulled apart and put back 

together again to standardise 

it, raw milk will vary in flavour 

and content from farm to farm 

and cow to cow on a daily basis. 

“People these days like 

to know where their produce 

comes from, how it’s made 

and that the animals are looked 

after,” she says. 

And animal welfare is a 

priority; one of the biggest differences 

at Dreamview is they 

don’t have a bobby truck visit 

the farm. 

The herd is pure Friesian 

and Jess says they have no 

trouble selling the year-olds 

as first-generation Kiwi cross 

milking cows. 

“We keep every calf that is 

born on the farm. The cows that 

are having a baby for the first 

time have been mated with a 

recorded (Jersey) sire. We keep 

the calves on the farm until 

about a year-old and then they 

can be sold. They are popular 

with dairy farmers who buy the 

girls as replacements and then 

the boys we can sell them on as 

beef cattle.” 

Other sustainable farming 

practices the family have committed 

to over the years include 

significantly reducing their 

stocking rate and making use of 

their effluent pond to substantially 

reduce fertilizer requirements. 

They are also propagating 

their own natives trees and 

carrying out extensive riparian 

planting. 

The Hills have farmed the 

rugged 300-acre property for 

over 20 years and began their 

Dreamview journey with a 250- 

cow dairy farm. 

The farm overlooks the wild 

west coastline, with views of 

the Tasman Sea, Karioi maunga 

and is 10 minutes from the Raglan 

‘CBD’. 

It’s a place that has brought 

all the Hill siblings back home 

to work in the family business. 

It was Jess who brought 

home the idea for the creamery 

while she was studying for a 

Bachelor of Agriculture at Lincoln 

University. 

Jess worked at the Lyttleton 

Farmers Market every Saturday 

selling pasteurised milk in 

glass bottles for a local farmer. 

“I thought that Lyttleton had a 

similar demographic and culture 

to Raglan and we had such 

positive feedback it got me 

interested in doing it at home.” 

She now lives in a relocated 

home on the property, which 

she has lovingly renovated. 

Brother Matthew’s skills as a 

civil engineer were put to good 

use designing the new purpose-built 

creamery to replace 

the 20-foot container which 

served as the first creamery. 

“We’re now in a 200-square 

metre creamery, and it's just so 

much bigger and so much better. 

I’ve even got an office in 

there,” Jess says. 

Sister Kathy came home last 

year after university and a stint 

working on a horse stud, and 

now manages the farm alongside 

farm manager Gary Gillies. 

After just five years in the 

business, the Dreamview team 

has grown to include 11 staff, 

six refrigerated delivery trucks, 

a purpose-built creamery and a 

pasteurisation facility. 

Jess is always on the lookout 

for ways to collaborate with 

local food producers; Dreamview 

milk is used by Raglan 

Gelato and a local home-cheesemaker, 

and every now and 

then they collaborate with 

Raglan Chocolate to produce a 

chocolate milk. 

“We're working towards 

other different products so we 

can utilize all the milk. Now we 

don’t have Fonterra we want to 

make sure we don't waste any. 

We need to use as much as we 

can all the time.” 

While Jess has been the driving 

force behind Dreamview 

Creamery from the beginning a 

look at their website lists Dave 

and Bronwyn as the bosses. 

“We always try really hard 

to make it so they do less but 

there’s always something else 

to do. I would love for them to 

be able to take a step back. I feel 

like we get there and then something 

happens and we need 

them again. We could not do it 

without them.” 

Jess jokes with her dad about 

retiring but just like the Hill 

children have returned home, 

Dave doesn’t intend on leaving. 

“I said to Dad the other day, 

‘you can retire sometime and 

you know buy a nice house in 

town or go somewhere else,’ 

and he's like, ‘I'm never leaving 

the farm’.”

Sara Bahr 

Rachel Primrose 

Rob Scovell 

Arno van Niekerk 

Kiwi software specialist 

in expansion mode 

Company-X, the creators of software for 

multi-nationals, government departments 

and enterprise, is expanding. 

Company-X is marking 

its tenth year of business 

with a recruitment drive 

to keep up with demand for the 

software development expertise 

offered to clients like Cisco 

Systems Inc, New Zealand 

Police, Local Government New 

Zealand and Waka Kotahi New 

Zealand Transport Agency. 

The Waikato software specialist 

employs a team of more 

than 50 based mainly in the 

Waikato region of New Zealand, 

but also working from 

Australia, Thailand, the United 

States and United Kingdom. 

The team includes software 

architects, developers, testers, 

and support analysts. 

“Our five-year mission is to 

continue our growth in strategic 

overseas markets and onshore,” 

said Company-X co-founder 

and director David Hallett. 

“We have also invested into 

Hillfarrance Venture Capital’s 

$40 million fund earmarked 

for around 20 investments over 

the next few years. We’ve been 

working in the start-up space 

for decades.” 

“Watch this space. We have 

plans for continued growth 

internationally,” said fellow 

co-founder and director 

Jeremy Hughes. 

“We're really keen to foster 

the increase of women represented 

in the IT industry and 

we're really keen to encourage 

the ecosystem that supports 

tech founders in the Waikato 

and New Zealand.” 

With almost a year at 

Company-X Reseller News 

Women in Information and 

Communication Technology 

(ICT) Awards finalist Sara Bahr 

is one of its newest recruits. 

Being nominated for an 

award and attending the accompanying 

gala dinner to mix with 

other women in the industry 

was one of the highlights of her 

time at the company. 

“I was attracted to the company 

because of the range and 

quality of the work it does, as 

well as its positive work culture,” 

the software developer 

said. 

Bahr started with 

Company-X in New Zealand, 

and is now working from 

Australia. 

“Company-X stands out 

with its excellent software 

engineers, and their drive to 

success and building quality 

products,” Bahr said. 

Senior software developer 

Rob Scovell has been an integral 

part of the Company-X 

team since its inception in 

2012. 

“I hadn't met David before 

but he pulled me to one side 

at the Innes 48 business 

start-up competition and asked 

if I was interested in joining 

Company-X! David and 

Jeremy personally invited me 

to join,” Scovell said. 

He has worked from 

Company-X’s Hamilton office, 

and from the Waikato, the UK 

and now Thailand. 

“I was immediately 

impressed with what they were 

doing from the start.” 

Scovell said the quality of 

management at every level of 

Company-X made it stand out. 

His favourite memory from 

the last decade was taking 

centre place in a software 

superheroes promotional video 

filmed for the Westpac Waikato 

Business Awards at which 

Company-X took home two 

awards. 

“The entire Company-X 

family on the stage at the 

Waikato Business Awards was 

beautiful,” said software team 

lead and engineer Arno van 

Niekerk. 

Van Niekerk has been supported 

in his career growth and 

stepped into the role of team 

leader last year. 

Van Niekerk said he had too 

many favourite Company-X 

memories to name but winning 

both the Service Excellence 

and Global Operator Awards at 

the Westpac Waikato Business 

Awards in 2018 tops them. 

“The people, the work and 

the clients, attracted me to 

Company-X,” van Niekerk 

said. 


Company-X founders and directors Jeremy Hughes and 

David Hallett are looking for talented software developers. 

He is also a team leader. 

“Our people make 

Company-X stand out.” 

DevOps and Solutions 

Architect Rachel Primrose, 

Bahr’s fellow Women in ICT 

Awards finalist, joined the 

Company-X team four years 

ago. 

“I was attracted to 

Company-X by the variety of 

work within the role and the 

people,” said Primrose from 

her Queenstown home. 

“The experience of learning 

about the application of 

software in so many different 

industries was also a big drawcard.” 

5 

Primrose has been 

impressed by the high level of 

skill in the Company-X team. 

Asked what advice he 

would give anyone considering 

applying to join Company-X, 

Scovell said: “Do it! You won't 

regret being part of something 

truly excellent!” 

“Just do it,” added van 

Niekerk. 

“You will see a multitude of 

different problems to solve,” 

Primrose said. 

“Expect kind-hearted people 

who are driven towards 

producing excellent work and 

building a safe and encouraging 

work environment,” Bahr said.


Reconnecting, in person 

– flying the Waikato flag in Australia 

Hot on the heels of the wonderful news that New Zealand’s 

borders will reopen fully from July 31, Hamilton & Waikato Tourism 

(HWT) has been in Australia to promote the Waikato region as 

part of our work to attract visitors from this important market. 

TELLING WAIKATO’S STORY 

> BY NICOLA GREENWELL 

Interim General Manager, Hamilton & Waikato Tourism 

HWT marketing manager Rebecca 

Evans at the training day with ANZCRO 

Being able to get on a 

plane and travel internationally 

once again to 

personally meet up with crucial 

travel wholesalers and event 

buyers is an enormously exciting 

step forward in the recovery 

of the tourism, hospitality and 

events related sectors here in 

the Waikato. 

It’s particularly satisfying to 

be able to do so after the past 

two-plus years of lockdowns 

and border closures when, quite 

frankly, many have wondered 

just how we would get through 

the tough times. 

Although thanks, to technology, 

we have been able to continue 

regular communication 

with our top travel wholesalers 

and event buyers. However, 

connecting in person and having 

those important face-to-face 

conversations, is so incredibly 

powerful and essential in many 

business settings, especially 

so in the world of tourism and 

travel. 

HWT undertook two delegation 

trips in league with Tourism 

New Zealand and other regional 

tourism organisations (RTO) 

and operators from around the 

country. 

Both trips allowed us to put 

the Waikato directly in front 

of significant audiences. We 

were welcomed effusively by 

our Australian friends who 

were very pleased to see us 

again, telling us there was huge 

demand amongst Australians 

for New Zealand business 

events and holidays. 

The first delegation visit was 

all about promoting the Waikato 

to the valuable business events 

and incentive travel market. 

In networking events in Sydney, 

Melbourne, and Brisbane 

we were able to establish strong 

connections with qualified buyers, 

including professional conference 

organisers, corporates 

and associations. 

The Waikato is so diverse 

and very well suited for a range 

of business events including 

conferences, and for pre and 

post conference activities. We 

also have the facilities and the 

experiences incentive travel 

buyers seek for their clientele. 

Kiwi kai, music and song 

helped to make each event especially 

enjoyable – and memorable 

– for our guests. 

HWT joined forces with the 

rest of the RTO network for a 

trade delegation visit to Sydney 

led by Tourism Minister Stuart 

Nash. In a full day of presentations 

and appointments HWT 

undertook 29 one-on-one sessions 

with key Australian travel 

trade representatives. 

In pre COVID times, the 

trade event was an annual 

occurrence providing us with 

regular opportunities to connect 

in person with and update our 

Australian trade sellers. 

With our last trade show 

having been in 2019, we are 

thrilled to have had the opportunity 

to meet with these first-rate 

travel representatives again to 

showcase the Waikato and help 

them to create unforgettable 

holidays in our region for their 

Australian and global clients. 

Following the Sydney trade 

show, HWT travelled to the 

Gold Coast along with our 

tourism colleagues from the 

Central North Island Collective 

– Rotorua, Taupo, Ruapehu, the 

Coromandel, Hawkes Bay, the 

Bay of Plenty and Tairāwhiti. 

We met with key travel 

sellers including ANZCRO, a 

major wholesale company that 

has clients spread across Australia, 

the United Kingdom/ 

Europe, the United States and 

beyond. 

HWT has a long-standing 

relationship with ANZCRO 

and spent the day re-introducing 

the company’s teams, 

including reservations staff, 

to the amazing diversity of 

Waikato experiences and 

accommodation, along with 

our combined central North 

Island region offering. 

In the next phase of Australian 

trade promotion for the 

Waikato, HWT will shortly team 

up with Destination Rotorua to 

present a webinar training session. 

This will include a virtual 

familiarisation tour around our 

regions and a live Q&A. 

With Australia, the largest 

international visitor market 

for New Zealand – and international 

visitors being 25 per 

cent of the Waikato tourism 

market – we are truly excited 

to have achieved these first two 

in-market visits. In a nutshell, 

they represent a vital step in the 

return of our tourism and related 

sectors and in ensuring we get a 

good share of arrivals this coming 

spring and summer. 

Fashion Fusion showcases ethical designs 

Shama Ethnic Women’s Trust Fashion 

Fusion Show recently presented a night of 

glamour and diversity. Showcasing fashion 

from around the world, the event provided 

an opportunity to learn about the “why” and 

“how” of garments and accessories from 

different cultures. 

The fashion show included ethical designs 

from Hamilton designer Ana Wilkinson-Gee’s 

Holi Boli shop on Ulster Street. A slow fashion 

advocate, Ana sells India-made designs as 

well as her recent NZ-made, limited-edition 

collections. Ana says like Shama, Holi Boli’s 

goal is to bring strength and empowerment to 

all ethnic women

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Procedural Fairness Revisited 

You may (or may not) have noticed this column missing for 

a few months. It was not because I was sick with Covid, 

but more that I was sick of Covid. After all, there are only so 

many columns one can bear to write about wage subsidies, 

vaccine mandates and changes in traffic light settings 

So now for something completely 

different. Well, not 

completely different as I 

have written about what constitutes 

a fair process before, and 

I thought by now most employers 

had got it. That was until a 

recent dismissal I dealt with 

which made me realise that was 

not the case, even in a big company 

with an HR department. 

Learning what constitutes 

a fair process in employment 

law, will never be a waste of 

anyone’s time. You use it for 

redundancies, issuing warnings, 

suspensions and dismissals. In 

other words, when any action 

an employer is going to take is 

likely to result in a disgruntled 

employee. 

Ever shaken your head in 

confusion when reading an 

article where an employee did 

something outrageous, yet still 

got awarded compensation? 

Invariably, it will not be because 

there was not a good reason to 

dismiss the employee, but that 

the employer went about it the 

wrong way. For an employer’s 

action to be justified, it needs to 

be both substantively justified 

(the why) and carried out in a 

procedurally fair manner (the 

how). 

Let’s take a common example 

where an employee has 

done something wrong, which 

may result in a warning or a dismissal. 

The first, and often overlooked, 

step is always to dust 

off the employee’s individual 

employment agreement (‘IEA’) 

and check to see what’s in there 

in relation to disciplinaries. 

Some IEAs have very prescriptive 

terms that the parties agreed 

to when the employment commenced. 

Likewise, review any 

relevant policies. You must follow 

whatever is specified in the 

IEA or disciplinary policy to the 

letter. 

Following that, the employee 

should be presented with a letter 

that clearly specifies what allegations 

are being raised against 

them. Attach to the letter all 

evidence the employer may rely 

on when making a decision on 

the disciplinary outcome (be it 

CCTV footage, GPS printouts, 

signed/dated witness statements 

and any other relevant 

evidence). The letter must also 

state that the employee has the 

right to bring a support person 

or legal representative to the 

proposed disciplinary meeting 

and must state the potential 

maximum outcome, so the 

employee knows how serious 

the matter is being viewed by 

the employer. 

All of the above should be 

provided to the employee two to 

three days prior to a scheduled 

disciplinary meeting so that they 

have the opportunity to get legal 

advice and/or prepare evidence 

to counter the allegations. Also 

inform the employee that the 

meeting will be recorded, and 

they are welcome to record it 

also, or the employer will provide 

them with a copy after the 

meeting. 

During the meeting, listen to 

the employee’s explanation with 

an open mind. Predetermining 

the outcome of a disciplinary 

investigation is one of the most 

common breaches of procedural 

fairness, and is often disclosed 

inadvertently by an employer, 

even when they think they are 

cleverly disguising their true 

view of the matter. 

The employer is free to question 

the employee where they 

need more information or where 

what the employee is saying, is 

not stacking up against the evidence. 

Do not introduce new 

evidence during the meeting and 

expect the employee to come 

up with an answer on the spot. 

If new evidence arises between 

sending the disciplinary letter 

and the disciplinary meeting 

itself, provide it to the employee 

and reschedule the meeting so 

the employee has time to consider 

it before the meeting. 

Only once you have all the 

information, can you then go 

on to consider matters carefully 

and make a decision on whether 

the allegations are upheld and 

what the sanction should be. Do 

not make the decision at the end 

EMPLOYMENT LAW 

> BY ERIN BURKE 

Employment Lawyer and Director at practica Legal 

of the disciplinary meeting but 

let the employee know you will 

endeavour to make your decision 

as soon as you can (usually 

within 24 to 48 hours). 

Learning what 

constitutes a 

fair process in 

employment law, will 

never be a waste of 

anyone’s time. 

Where the sanction is serious 

such as a final written warning 

or dismissal, an additional step 

is recommended where you 

provide the employee with a 

letter that contains preliminary 

findings about whether the allegations 

are being upheld and a 

proposed outcome, and reasons 

for both. Allow the employee 

the opportunity to respond to the 

preliminary findings and proposed 

outcome, either in writing 

or in another meeting, and 

consider those responses before 

making and conveying the final 

decision. 

Where a suspension is 

involved, the same process 

above applies but in truncated 

form. First, check the IEA. If 

there is no clause allowing suspension, 

then it will be unlawful 

so don’t even go there. If there is 

a suspension clause, you need to 

still carefully consider whether 

there is good reason why the 

employee cannot remain in the 

workplace during the disciplinary 

investigation (and the 

grounds are very limited). 

You can propose suspension 

in the initial disciplinary letter, 

clearly stating the reasons the 

employer considers it necessary, 

advise the employee they 

can seek legal advice, and ask 

them to respond to the proposal 

(either in person or in writing) 

prior to making and conveying 

the final decision on suspension, 

usually within 24 hours 

of the letter being given to the 

employee. 

If still in doubt, call a specialist 

employment lawyer or Google 

it. There is simply no excuse 

these days for an employer failing 

to follow a basic fair process 

when there is ample information 

a mouse-click away. 

Eight common 

questions about Google 

Ads answered 

Google Ads are powerful. 

They can put your 

business right in front 

of your perfect target market 

just when they’re searching 

for your products or services. 

But they can be complex too. 

Here are common questions I 

get asked about Google Ads. 

How do Google Ads work? 

When people search on Google, 

ads are often shown above 

and below the search results. 

These ads look just like the 

organic results, except they 

have small text that says “Ad” 

beside the listing. 

Google Ads (previously 

known as AdWords) allows 

advertisers to select which 

searches we want our ads to 

show for. For example, if you 

run a plumbing business in 

Hamilton, you’ll want your 

ad to show up when people 

search for “plumbers Hamilton”. 

This makes Google Ads 

highly targeted. 

Google runs on a “pay per 

click” (PPC) basis, which 

means that you don’t pay for 

your ad to show; you only pay 

when someone clicks on your 

ad. 

Every time ads are shown 

Google runs an auction to 

determine which ads will 

appear, and in what order. 

There might be 30 advertisers 

wanting their ads to show, but 

Google will only show seven 

Search ads on the page (four 

ads at the top of the results, 

and three ads at the bottom). 

The biggest factor in determining 

which ads show, and 

in what order, is the budget 

of the advertiser – that is, 

what are they willing to pay if 

someone clicks the ad? 

What if my Google Ads 

campaign spends way 

more than expected? 

One of the very useful things 

about Google Ads is that we 

have very close control over 

budgets. If you’ve run out of 

budget for the day, your ads 

will simply stop showing for 

that day, and will reappear the 

next day. 

If I run Google Ads will that 

help our organic rankings? 

No, running Google Ads has 

no impact on your organic 

rankings at all. However, paying 

for ads means that your 

ads can show above the top 

organic rankings. 

Why doesn’t my ad always 

show? 

There are a number of reasons 

why your ad might not show. 

A common one is your budget 

– if you’re low on budget 

for the day because people 

clicked on your ads, and other 

advertisers still have budget 

left, their ads might show and 

yours not. Generally, there 

are more advertisers bidding 

than ad slots to show, so your 

ads will not show all the time. 

Why isn’t my ad always at 

the top? 

The ads at the top are the most 

expensive spots. Sometimes a 

competitor will bid more than 

you for a particular auction, 

and their ad will show higher. 

While being at the top is nice, 

sometimes being in a lower 

position means you can get 

more results because you’re 

paying less for each click. 

How do I know if Google 

Ads is working for my 

business? 

Tracking the results from 

your Google Ads is extremely 

important. If you have an 

ecommerce site the key figure 

you’ll be tracking is how 

much revenue came in from 

Google Ads traffic. 

Alternatively, if your business 

gets leads from ads, then 

you’ll track form fills (such 

as contact forms or quote 

requests) and phone calls. 

And by recording which leads 

came from Google Ads you 

can measure exactly how 

much revenue you receive 

from those customers. 

Should I run Google 

Ads? Will it work for my 

business? 

Google Ads doesn’t work for 

every business. In general, 

if people used to turn to the 

Yellow Pages to find your 

THE DIGITAL WORLD 

> BY JOSH MOORE 

Josh Moore is the head marketing fanatic at Duoplus, a 

Hamilton-based digital marketing agency that helps clients get 

more leads and sales through online marketing. www.duoplus.nz 

products or services, now they 

turn to Google. An agency can 

give you accurate estimates 

of the number of searches 

per month in your region that 

relate to your products or 

services. These figures can 

help you determine whether 

Google Ads is right for your 

business. 

How do we get more leads 

from our Google 

Ads campaign? 

The biggest secret we’ve 

found for increasing the number 

of leads from a campaign 

is to send Google Ads traffic 

to stand-alone landing pages, 

instead of a full website. Our 

tests have found that in most 

cases, using optimised landing 

pages can generate twice 

as many leads as sending traffic 

to a website!

NexDo delivers 

home services at 

your fingertips 

Described as the Uber of home services, NexDo recently 

expanded its services to the Waikato after a successful 

Auckland launch in 2021. 

NexDo connects home 

services providers 

with customers via 

bookings through an app or on 

a website. 

Founder Sakshin Niranjan 

helped launch ride-share 

company Ola in New Zealand 

in competition to Uber. 

While taking a break from 

Ola and searching for his own 

business to launch he noticed 

there wasn’t a home services 

platform in New Zealand. 

“This is not a new concept, 

it is in the US, Australia, and 

on the other markets as well.” 

When Covid hit, Niranjan 

realised many providers from 

the home services industry 

lost trade during the lockdowns. 

“There are close to 3000 

businesses in New Zealand 

doing home cleaning and 

lawn mowing. Not all of them 

are able to digitally attract 

customers. And everyone’s 

looking for things online. 

We provide that platform and 

there is no charge upfront. We 

give you the job, the job is 

100% paid for and only then 

we charge you a commission.” 

Similar to ride-share business 

models, the NexDo app 

matches vetted service professionals 

to nearby jobs, allowing 

already established small 

businesses the chance to utilise 

their unbooked windows. 

“It's as simple as bringing 

your business up onto the platform, 

and providing them with 

a network to connect with customers,” 

he says. 

The home service providers 

produce a Ministry of Justice 

certificate to show no convictions 

and NexDo require at 

least three years’ experience 

in their area of service. 

Fixed fees mean customers 

don’t have to waste time 

shopping around and sourcing 

quotes, instead, the NexDo 

app provides great value 

across the listed services, 

Niranjan says. 

“Our team takes care of all 

payments through our secure 

payment gateway, ensuring 

security for both customer 

and professional, leaving 

you stress-free knowing that 

everything is taken care of.” 

NexDo set the price and 

customers pay in advance for 

the service, much like they do 

with Uber and Airbnb. 

The providers are guaranteed 

payment for their services, 

but Niranjan says, with 

this comes the responsibility 

of doing a top-quality job. 

There are close to 

3000 businesses in 

New Zealand doing 

home cleaning and 

lawn mowing. Not 

all of them are able 

to digitally attract 

customers. 

“If there's a problem, we 

address that problem. We go 

to the service provider and 

say, ‘Hey, you've not done 

this’, and we send them back. 

We also take on refunds, or if 

they're genuinely not happy, 

then we investigate that. So 

that's the level of quality the 

customer gets from us.” 

It’s not only the customers 

who are reaping the benefits, 

NexDo founder 

Sakshin Niranjan 

Niranjan says, the providers 

can make up to $55 an hour 

after a 15 per cent commission 

is charged. 

“They’re actually making 

more money than they would 

in any other job working for a 

cleaning company.” 

Launched over a month 

ago in Hamilton, NexDo professionals 

currently provide 

home cleaning, moving out 

cleaning, carpet and upholstery 

cleaning, and will soon 

offer carwash and lawn mowing 

services. 

In the future, NexDo services 

will expand to include 

beauty services like manicures, 

pedicures and facials, 

home haircuts, bed-sitting and 

other home services. 

Niranjan partnered with 

digital expert Rod Snodgrass, 

former chief executive of 

Spark Ventures and a director 

of NexDo, to develop the 

business. 

NexDo has over 120 service 

providers across the 

country who have serviced 

over 10,000 customers since 

the launch in 2021 

CONVERSATIONS WITH MIKE NEALE 

OF NAI HARCOURTS HAMILTON 

Rent Reviews: Market vs CPI 

With the changing economic environment 

that we are experiencing, 

along with increased land 

and construction costs, this makes for 

an interesting discussion when it comes 

to leases and possible rent reviews outcomes, 

and how these factors may impact 

that outcome. 

Ratchet Clauses 

We have seen commercial ADLS leases 

move from hard ratchets (where rental 

could only rise and never fall), to soft 

ratchets where the rental cannot go below 

the commencement rental of the then current 

term, but can otherwise increase and 

decrease within a lease term. In reality, 

these soft ratchets appear to be a fairer 

model that better reflect the ups and downs 

within a market cycle. 

Over recent years and with inflation 

broadly sitting in the band of 1.5 percent 

- 2.5 percent, commonplace saw regular 

rent reviews to CPI, possibly with a plus 

factor, interspersed with market reviews. 

Now that inflation is the highest in nearly 

30 years at 6.9 percent and likely to remain 

for some time yet (for whatever reason, it 

has taken the Reserve Bank and government 

far longer to see what the general 

public has seemingly known for well over 

18 months now), we are starting to see tenants 

review how they might want to deal 

with future rent reviews in new leases. 

There are three common Rent 

Review methods: 

Market 

This is where the rental is compared to 

other premises in the current market, when 

taking into account quality, size, location, 

landlord improvements etc. Should a 

Tenant not agree to the Landlords assessment 

of market rental, disagreement may 

lead to a time consuming and potentially 

costly dispute. Invariably a landlord having 

a market rental valuation undertaken 

by a registered valuer, will be higher than 

that conducted by the tenant. While market 

should reflect “the market”, the element 

of opinion as to what this should be, 

will often occur between the assessments 

carried out between the Landlord’s and 

Tenant’s respective valuers. 

CPI 

The CPI (Consumer Price Index) rent 

review is recognised as an increase (or 

decrease) measured by the rate of inflation. 

They are simple to understand and administer, 

while also being less likely to lead 

to a dispute – useful, as long as the commencement 

rental is at or near a market 

level. It allows both parties to plan ahead 

and budget for their costs. With CPI having 

remained low for an extended period, it 

was not uncommon for the figure agreed to 

be CPI plus a percentage - +1 percent, even 

up to +3 percent 

Fixed Percentage 

This is where an agreed percentage increase 

will take place and the regularity of those 

increases. They also are simple to understand 

and simple to administer. The risk 

here, is that unless there are interspersed 

with market reviews, that potentially the 

rental may end up being significantly 

higher or lower than its actual market 

value. One such instance that I am aware 

of had a 12 year term and annual increases 

of 5 percent compounding – more than 

10 years on, this now has the effect of the 

rental being some 20 percent ahead of its 

true market level. 

So what are we witnessing today? 

Increasingly, it’s a combination of the 

above. This usually provides a fairer 


Mike Neale - Managing Director, 

NAI Harcourts Hamilton. 

outcome when balancing the Landlords 

requirements for growth and the Tenants 

desire to keep increases at a minimum. 

When assessing the mixture 

of potential rent review 

mechanisms, the first question 

to consider is whether the 

commencement rental is in 

fact at a market level” 

This mixture of fixed or CPI reviews, 

interspersed with market reviews, provides 

growth for Landlords, while providing certainly 

for both Tenants and Landlords. This 

combination ensures that neither party is 

paying significantly above or below market 

rates. It’s important to note that just 

because a rent Market Review is due, it 

does not necessarily mean that there will 

be an increase. 

The mixture of review mechanisms 

often includes what is referred to as a “Cap 

and Collar”, where CPI Rent Reviews or 

Fixed Percentage Reviews are followed 

by mid term Market Rent Reviews. Collar 

restrictions prevent the rental from falling 

below a predetermined level, while the Cap 

restriction prevents the rental from rising 

above a predetermined amount. Essentially 

it reflects the best and worst case scenarios 

for both Landlords and Tenants. 

One recent lease we undertook, had a 

Cap and Collar clause reflecting that the 

increase shall be the greater of 2.0 percent 

per annum or CPI, with CPI to be capped 

at 8 percent over the two year period. The 

end outcome under this scenario will see 

the rental increase by between 2.0 percent 

- 4.0 percent per annum 

So, considering a new lease? Then 

contemplate incorporating a balance of 

mechanisms. Leases reflect long term 

relationships between Tenants and 

Landlords, so Rent Reviews that look 

to reduce the potential for disputes 

between Landlords and Tenants, will 

likely ensure smoother sailing for both 

parties. 

It is important to seek professional 

legal advice from a qualified professional, 

before entering into a lease agreement. 

9 

NAI Harcourts Hamilton 

Monarch Commercial Ltd MREINZ Licensed 

Agent REAA 2008 

Cnr Victoria & London Streets, HAMILTON 

07 850 5252 | hamilton@naiharcourts.co.nz 

www.naiharcourts.co.nz


What about the ‘S’? - A social lens on ESG 

After climate, one of the next ESG priorities 

is social. Are you ready? 

Results from PwC’s 

annual global investor 

survey show greenhouse 

gas emissions to be the leading 

individual Environmental, 

Social and Governance (ESG) 

consideration for investors and 

an important factor in decision 

making. However, the survey 

highlights that sustainability 

for businesses needs to be about 

more than emissions reduction 

and notes an increased focus 

on the social element of ESG. 

Following emissions reduction, 

the top three cited ESG 

issues for global investors; 

ensuring worker health and 

safety; improving workforce 

and executive diversity equity 

and inclusion, and addressing 

human rights in the supply 

chain. Interestingly, for Australia 

and New Zealand respondents, 

the level of importance 

given to these social issues was 

higher than the global average. 

their employer is making 

a difference, which plays 

a strong role in staff retention. 

In the talent acquisition 

processes, you’re under 

interview too! 

• It makes business sense 

Businesses are rethinking 

who they buy from and do 

business with, and are now 

considering both positive 

and negative impacts their 

wider supply chain has on 

achieving their social objectives 

- these decisions have 

commercial impact. For 

example, this may involve 

investigating modern slavery 

in the supply chain, and 

gender and cultural diversity 

in terms of pay gaps, 

employment practices and 

procurement. 

What can organisations 

focus on? 

Because of the increasing 

importance of social measures 

for customers, employees and 

investors, ESG needs to be 

more than a tick box and companies 

need to place ESG at 

the heart of their businesses. 

Focus should include: 

- Which social risks and 

opportunities have a material 

impact on reputation, 

compliance or performance? 

- What metrics should we 

be using to measure and 

report progress and how are 

we positioning to achieve 

them? 

- Do we have the capacity, 

interest and skills to 

develop an ESG strategy? 

If not, how do we plug the 

skills gap? 

- Do we have the systems and 

processes to track and monitor 

our progress? 

- How do we use incentives 

and structure in the business 

to steer towards our social 

goals? 

- Are we taking an interest 

in regulation that might 

affect us? Have your say 

on MBIE’s open consultations 

on Modern Slavery 

and Worker Exploitation 

proposal (closing 7 June 

2022). 

More information on how 

to drive improvements in 

social outcomes through your 

corporate strategy and day to 

day operations can be found 

at www.pwc.co.nz/services/ 

consulting/sustainability/sustainable-products-procurement-and-supply-chains. 

We know New Zealand 

businesses have started incorporating 

climate risk and opportunities 

into strategy and risk 

management, some have begun 

transforming the way they do 

business. Where is your business 

on this journey and are you 

ready to start thinking about the 

‘S’ in this way? 

Why are social issues 

important? 

• It’s the right thing to do 

The COVID pandemic, 

rising inflation and global 

conflict have brought to 

light the consequences of 

overlooking ESG issues. 

These recent events have 

brought some real-work 

meaning to the long-term 

call to address environmental, 

social and governance 

issues as simply the 

right thing to do, and an 

increased expectation that 

businesses can and should 

play a leading role. 

• It’s personal 

Employees and job-seekers 

see it as increasingly 

important for organisations 

to be living (or at least 

developing) their ESG 

story. They can afford to 

choose who they work for, 

and current employees are 

seeking confirmation that 

TAXATION AND THE LAW 

> BY VICTORIA ASHPLANT 

Director PwC Global Reporting 

TAXATION AND THE LAW 

> BY BROOKE HEATH 

Financial Assurance Manager 

Procuta Associates 

Urban + Architecture 

Contact us 07 839 6521 

www.pauaarchitects.co.nz


11 

Matamata tech business has global reach 

Written By STEVE EDWARDS 

Behind the doors of a previously vacant 

upstairs office block in Matamata lies an 

information technology business which 

now has a global reach. 

LuminateOne, founded 

while directors Tim 

Hampton and Nick 

Humphries were still students 

at Waikato University, has 

recorded five million views 

worldwide since its formation 

just five years ago. 

With a customer base 

stretching to the United States, 

the business software specialist 

has a diverse portfolio ranging 

from garden mulch and quarrying 

through to vehicles and 

food. 

Tim and Nick met while 

completing computer science 

degrees in Hamilton, with both 

hired by the university for two 

different roles each – cyber 

security lab research and App 

development. 

With a similar skillset, on 

top of this workload at university 

they were also offered job 

“pitches” by fellow students. 

Their big break however 

came while still on campus 

when they were asked to bring 

their software development 

skills to food delivery service 

Yummy.Com 

With university degrees in 

The LuminateOne Team - Back left: Todd Moody, Jason Taylor, Craig Le Valliant, 

Juliet Shaw, Nick Humphries, Tim Hampton, Katrina Rose. Front left: Reece 

Gilbert, Laura Edgington, Emma Campbell, James Wylie, Jordan Laing. 

hand, Tim and Nick both had 

projects ‘on the go’ but needed 

premises to work out of. 

By chance the former Transport 

Building on the corner of 

Arawa and Tui Streets in Matamata 

was being renovated. 

Tim and Nick, not over-confident 

of business success, initially 

opted for a single-year 

lease with right of renewal. 

“Now, we (including sister 

website development company 

Mata Digital) can’t get enough 

space.” 

LuminateOne started out 

with a staff of three interns, 

all mates from university, and 

has now grown to 13 fulltime 

employees. 

Clientele includes the American 

Software Testing Qualifications 

Board, along with the 

New Zealand operations for 

vehicle brands Hyundai, Isuzu 

and Renault. 

There is no point 

reinventing the 

wheel. But if you 

can innovate to 

gain a competitive 

edge, that’s where 

businesses start 

to see the magic 

happening. It 

ultimately saves time 

and money. 

Tim and Nick say a replacement 

website and App they 

developed for healthy food specialist 

A Little Bit Yummy drew 

a million viewers in its first year 

of operation. 

Clients closer to home 

include leading Matamata businesses 

J Swap Contractors and 

Daltons. 

“It’s just about doing really 

excellent work,” Tim and Nick 

say. “We build innovative digital 

platforms which let businesses 

improve their customer 

experiences and grow their bottom 

line.” 

They say investing in innovation 

makes for a highly successful 

business. 

“There is no point reinventing 

the wheel. But if you can 

innovate to gain a competitive 

edge, that’s where businesses 

start to see the magic happening. 

It ultimately saves time and 

money.” 

Nick and Tim say software 

platforms are tailored to suit 

the respective business, covering 

aspects including stocktake, 

timesheets, sales reporting, 

customer relations, billing and 

ordering. 

“A lot of what we do now is 

critical for businesses. We are 

the heartbeat,” they say. 

While Covid has obviously 

hit hard, they point to an acute 

labour shortage as the greatest 

crisis currently facing the tech 

industry. 

However, Nick and Tim 

remain confident about the 

future of LuminateOne. 

The five-year plan includes 

a second office in New Zealand 

– probably Christchurch 

or Wellington – and 40 staff 

working out of the Matamata 

headquarters. 

Nick and Tim say Luminate- 

One is also proud of its social 

good element, such as subsidised 

work on booking systems 

and customer data for the 

Matamata Community Health 

Shuttle. 

Sponsorships by the company 

include Matamata College 

and Matamata Racing Club. 

Empowering the Waikato to take action 

against food waste – food rescue app 

launches in the region 

The Waikato region is receiving a sustainability boost to its 

hospitality sector with Foodprint, a new tool that connects 

customers to discounted surplus food from local eateries, 

officially launching in Hamilton, Cambridge, Te Awamutu and 

Raglan recently. 

Combating the climate 

crisis by minimising 

food from going to 

waste, Foodprint operates 

by offering generously discounted 

surplus food from 

eateries to customers to ‘rescue’ 

before it is thrown out. 

Customers order and pay for 

food in the app before collecting 

directly from the eateries, 

with the significant discounts 

ranging from 30 to 90 percent 

off the normal retail price. 

Almost 50,000 tonnes of 

food is wasted by the hospitality 

and retail sectors in 

New Zealand each year, over 

60 percent of which is still 

edible. When food is thrown 

out it decomposes in landfills 

and emits the greenhouse gas 

methane, making food waste 

a huge contributor to climate 

change. 

Foodprint has partnered 

with around 40 eateries across 

the region including Weave 

Eatery, Hayes Common, The 

Organic Food Store, Reload 

Coffee Shop, The Herbal Dispensary 

and Pickle & Plum. 

They join the community of 

400 eateries in Auckland and 

Wellington reducing their 

‘foodprint’ with the app with 

customers ‘rescuing’ their surplus 

food. 

“We are excited to be continuing 

our nationwide expansion 

by bringing Foodprint to 

the Waikato region,” Foodprint 

founder Michal Garvey 

says. “Foodprint is a sustainability 

driven app that gives 

customers a chance to take 

a bite at saving the planet. 

Addressing food waste has 

been identified as one of the 

top actions to combat the climate 

crisis and is currently 

under consultation through 

Ministry for the Environment.” 

Foodprint has been working 

with the local councils to 

open their service up to the 

region. “When I read about the 

Foodprint app, I knew it was 

something I wanted to support 

the roll out of for our district. 

The app and its mission align 

with the council’s food waste 

minimisation objectives and 

we hope it will provide a way 

for local businesses to get as 

much monetary value in their 

pockets as possible for food 

they have prepared,” Waipā 

District Council waste minimisation 

officer Sally Fraser 

says. 

Café operators have praised 

Foodprint for its sustainability 

purpose and usability. 

“Foodprint is genius, it’s a 

beautiful and easy to use app 

which means we can get our 

delicious lovingly made food 

into someone’s tummy that 

previously would have ended 

up in the compost,” Ponsonby’s 

Little Bird Kitchen 

founder Megan says. “We 

waste less, and it gives people 

access to food that might 

usually be out of their price 

range.” 

Foodprint launched in 

Auckland in 2019. Last year, 

Garvey took part in the country’s 

first Climate Response 

Accelerator, a new programme 

hosted by Wellington’s 

Creative HQ to supercharge 

innovative start-ups 

tackling climate change challenges. 

This enabled Foodprint 

to launch in Wellington 

and prepare them for nationwide 

growth in 2022, starting 

with the Waikato.

Fieldays 2022 

gearing up to 

be a bumper 

summer event 

Fieldays attendees will have to swap their 

winter coats and gumboots for jandals and 

sunnies, with the iconic four-day agri event 

being held in summer for the first time in its 

54-year history. 

From the farmers eager to 

get their annual Fieldays 

fix to townies looking to 

get a taste of what’s on offer, 

Fieldays 2022 will showcase 

the whole food and fibre journey, 

from farm to plate. 

Shifting Fieldays 2022 to 

November 30 to December 3 

was not an easy decision but 

will ensure the popular fourday 

agri event can run to its full 

potential. The shift also provides 

a one-off opportunity for 

Aotearoa New Zealand organisations 

to exhibit, when usually 

cannot attend during the 

event’s traditional June period. 

Other benefits of a summer 

Fieldays also include: no brav- 

ing the chilly winter mornings, 

thick fog causing flight delays, 

longer days, better weather, 

and a good opportunity to do 

some Christmas shopping! 

The largest agri event in the 

Southern Hemisphere plans 

to end 2022 with a bang, considering 

last year’s event was 

a huge success. Fieldays 2021 

saw 132,776 people visit the 

event, becoming the second 

biggest in the event’s 53-year 

history. 

It also generated an impressive 

$675m in sales revenue 

for New Zealand firms with 

$234m going into the Waikato 

region alone. Plus, $330m 

additional GDP was generated 

for the New Zealand economy 

at Fieldays 2021, and almost 

3,000 jobs were sustained. 

Chief Executive of the 

New Zealand National Fieldays 

Society, Peter Nation, 

says despite its vital boost to 

the local economy, Fieldays 

is much more than just doing 

business. 

“Fieldays is not just a platform 

for primary sector businesses 

to trade, it’s also a destination 

for families, friends, and 

the primary industries to come 

together. 

“Having that sense of connection 

is important for our 

wellbeing and bolsters our 

identity as Kiwis - events are 

in our DNA.” 

As an extension of the physical 

event, an engaging mix of 

content will be livestreamed on 

FieldaysTV, a good alternative 

for those who can’t make it to 

Mystery Creek in November. 

FieldaysTV content will be 

filmed in real-time at the heart 

of the event in a glass studio 

based on the Village Green, 

highly visible to passers-by 

and in a convenient location 

for live crosses to exhibitor 

sites. After the gates close at 

the end of the day, visitors 

can tune into Fieldays TV on 

demand. 

We are very much 

looking forward to 

opening the gates 

in November for a 

summer celebration 

of Aotearoa’s primary 

sector. 

FieldaysTV will also run 

different series that shine a 

spotlight on the people that 

drive the New Zealand primary 

sector forward. Discover local 

stories of young people making 

their way in the primary 

sector, heart-warming stories 

about our rural communities, 

and delicious recipes from top 

Kiwi chefs! 

Shifting the popular fourday 

agri event also means that 

the gates at Mystery Creek will 

open to international visitors 

and exhibitors as Aotearoa 

New Zealand’s borders are set 

to open by 31 July. 

“As a world-renowned 

event, it will be incredible to be 

able to welcome attendees and 

organisations from across the 

globe for the first time since 

2019,” Peter says. 

“The conversations, connections, 

and meetings that 

could potentially take place 

at Fieldays 2022 would help 

drive our primary sector’s output 

and reputation worldwide.” 

He also notes that the event 

being positioned in November/ 

December will suit those planning 

their summer holidays 

around the event. 

“The timing of Fieldays 

2022 will suit many attending 

from overseas, who may 

choose to attend Fieldays and 

then enjoy a long summer holiday 

with friends and whānau. 

This within itself will bring 

an economic boost and muchneeded 

tourism to our regions.” 

“We are very much looking 

forward to opening the gates in 

November for a summer celebration 

of Aotearoa’s primary 

sector.” 

Fieldays is based on a 

114-hectare site at Mystery 

Creek 10 minutes from Hamilton 

and is the largest agricultural 

event in the Southern 

Hemisphere. Fieldays 2022 

has been postponed until 

Wednesday November 30 to 

Saturday December 3, 2022. 

Head to fieldays.co.nz for more 

information. 

SAME SAME 

BUT 

DIFFERENT 

30 NOV-3DEC

Connect - Grow - Inspire - Represent 


13 

Problem solving 

with Extended 

Reality (XR) 

Extended reality (XR) technology is helping Company-X 

clients increase efficiency. 

TECH TALK 

> BY LANCE BAUERFEIND 

A senior consultant at Waikato software specialist Company-X and 

product owner of Voxcoda, a flexible, easy-to-use text-to-speech 

technology platform that anyone can use. 

Born to Inspire 

The Chamber has added INSPIRE to its Purpose 

Statement to now read Connect, Grow, Inspire 

and Represent. 

Inspire is what Chambers were historically 

designed to do. When James 

Shiner Bond created the Waikato 

Chamber back in 1906, it was precisely 

to inspire people to come to Hamilton 

and the Waikato to connect and grow 

their families and their futures. 

Whether it was inspiring members 

to trade along the silk road route or to 

ship cargo by sea, the first ever Chamber 

of Commerce born in 1599 in Marseille, 

France, through its trading links, 

brought its members together for a 

common purpose and inspired them to 

connect, share and take action to protect 

their business interests long into 

the future. 

XR technology blends 

the real world with the 

digital worlds creating 

both augmented reality (AR) 

and virtual reality (VR) solutions 

to overcome complex 

business problems. 

Businesses are looking for 

ways to increase productivity, 

profitability and efficiency 

and seek to know the technology 

options that will enable 

that. They hear buzzwords 

and acronyms like AI (Artificial 

Intelligence), AR, VR, 

XR and ML (Machine Learning) 

and want to know if these 

technologies can help solve 

their problems. 

AR is still an emerging 

technology, nevertheless it is 

one form of technology that 

Company-X has used to solve 

problems for clients. 

A leading manufacturer of 

whiteware appliances askedhow 

Company-X could project 

information onto an appliance 

in the real world, to help 

explain its features. 

There are multiple AR 

solutions available, 

and our job is to make 

sure you have got 

the right one for the 

problem we are trying 

to solve. 

Company-X built a smartphone 

app that overlaid interactive 

Computer-Generated 

Imagery (CGI) augmented 

with interactive text over the 

whiteware appliance. 

The app could be used by a 

sales assistant to demonstrate 

product features to potential 

buyers on the showroom floor. 

The sales assistant could 

launch the app on their phone 

or tablet, point the camera at 

the appliance and see information 

about all its controls. 

Each dial and switch is 

contextualised with text 

explaining its function, with 

the functionality simulated 

when it is selected in the app. 

The app could also be used 

as an interactive AR user 

manual once the buyer had the 

appliance at home, negating 

the need for a bulky printed 

manual or PDF file. 

The manufacturer could 

use the app to track the most 

asked questions about its 

products and use that data 

to inform enhancements and 

improvements. 

With this technology you 

could see augmented reality 

simulations of any manner of 

appliances working: an oven 

cooking, a dishwasher washing, 

a microwave working, all 

through 3D animations. 

You could even look inside 

at the workings of the appliance 

with augmented reality 

cutaways. 

Despite projects like this, 

where it is the perfect solution 

in a very controlled environment, 

AR is still very much 

an emerging and unrefined 

technology for less controlled 

scenarios. 

Clients ask whether they 

can use a phone or wear an 

AR headset or glasses to project 

information into an area to 

assist in the repair of a piece 

of machinery. We can do that, 

but there are always questions 

about the practicalities. 

There are health and safety 

considerations. For example, 

is the user able to hold an AR 

device in their hand and look 

at small screen safely while 

carrying out their activity, 

or would an AR headset be 

safer? Or would an AR headset 

obscure the user’s vision 

and put them at risk from 

other workplace dangers? 

Could the AR headset 

withstand the working environment? 

Is it dusty or wet? 

What lighting conditions do 

you need for the technology 

to work properly? Is Wi-Fi 

available? 

There are multiple AR 

solutions available, and our 

job is to make sure you have 

got the right one for the problem 

we are trying to solve. 

The fact that scarcity of 

resources and in particular 

food is a megatrend, 

ensures the Waikato with 

its food basket economy 

will be a key part of New 

Zealand’s export economy 

for decades to come. 

It was fitting at our most recent 

monthly INSPIRE event hosted by 

Ryan Hamilton that we listened to Chris 

Joblin, the CEO of Tainui Group Holdings, 

speaking about the aspirations and 

actions TGH has for the Waikato. 

Quietly spoken, with a great deal of 

forethought and passion, Chris outlined 

the global megatrends he and TGH 

have considered as they have laid out 

their future. His key point was that the 

Waikato and Hamilton are at the nexus 

of several MEGATRENDS and thus 

perfectly placed to take advantage of 

them. 

Indeed, he saw Hamilton becoming 

New Zealand’s number two city. Sitting 

centrally as the Waikato does, we are 

New Zealand’s logistics capital. The 

arrival of Maersk, one of the world’s 

largest shipping lines, building a major 

transhipment coldstore at the Ruakura 

By Don Good, CEO of Waikato 

Chamber of Commerce. 

SuperHub, only reinforces that view. 

The fact that scarcity of resources 

and in particular food is a megatrend, 

ensures the Waikato with its food basket 

economy will be a key part of New 

Zealand’s export economy for decades 

to come. 

Insights into transport, agriculture 

and technology followed. Of real interest 

was TGH’s view on Hamilton’s 

CBD. They are the largest landowner in 

the city and have great plans for development 

of their properties, all of which 

will make a significant difference to 

the Waikato and need some long term 

decisions on infrastructure by our city 

leaders. 

TGH’s commitment to the city and 

the Waikato certainly gave his early 

morning audience a lot to ponder on. 

Are TGH aspirational? Absolutely. 

Are they inspiring? Absolutely. Is there 

opportunity for all? Absolutely. 

To view a copy of the session, contact 

info@waikatochamber.co.nz. 

There is strategic opportunity in his 

presentation for your business to understand 

and adapt to. Inspiring thinking 

and actions. 

BUSINESS 

AWARDS 

Connect - Grow - Inspire - Represent 

2022 

WAIKATO CHAMBER 

OF COMMERCE 

PROUDLY 

SUPPORTED BY 

206594AE


CONFERENCE, EVENTS AND VENUES 

Mighty Waikato: 

Welcoming business 

events once again 

From testing your nerve at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park 

– on track at high speeds or off road wrangling the rough – 

to sipping specially brewed SouthFarthing ale at Hobbiton 

Movie Set, the Waikato region has what it takes to make a 

memorable business event, or incentive trip, says Hamilton & 

Waikato Tourism’s Business Events Manager, Aimee Tyson. 

As well as continuing to 

encourage New Zealand 

organisations, 

including local companies and 

groups, to stage their events in 

the Waikato, Tyson says the 

sector is excited to be able to 

welcome international guests 

once again following the 

re-opening of borders. 

“Planning and preparing 

for guests is a very important 

part of the hospitality – the 

manaakitanga – that we here 

in the Waikato extend not 

only to our own people but 

also to visitors to the region. 

All of us in tourism, hospitality 

and events are so elated 

that we can readily host business 

events again and that 

there are no longer restrictions 

on gatherings.” 

Tyson, along with seven 

of the region’s leading business 

events/incentive organisations, 

is representing 

the Waikato at the coming 

Meetings 2022 business 

events trade show in Christchurch 

(15-16 June) which is 

attended by qualified events 

and incentive buyers from 

around the country and Australia. 

Participating will be 

Claudelands Conference and 

Events Centre, Novotel Hamilton 

Tainui, Hobbiton Movie 

Set, Discover Waitomo, Mystery 

Creek Events Centre, Jet 

Park Hamilton Airport and 

Hampton Downs Motorsport 

Park. 

Claudelands is one of the 

world-class conferencing 

facilities in Hamilton. 

Set in 34 hectares of parkland 

but just a 10-minute 

walk from the central city 

eateries, bars, retail precincts, 

art galleries, museums, and 

accommodation options, 

Claudelands has flexible 

spaces capable of hosting 

1,200 or more delegates, 

supreme facilities and a talented 

team ready to deliver 

outstanding events. 

In the heart of the city, 

Novotel Hamilton Tainui 

recently fully refurbished its 

six conference spaces with 

state-of-the-art facilities that 

are ready to welcome up to 

300 delegates seated theatre-style 

or 200 for a banquet 

dinner. The hotel has 

217 guest rooms. 

The whimsey of Hobbiton 

Movie Set proves to be quite 

the inspiration for creative 

thinking at many of the business 

events staged on location 

where the Hobbit and 

Lord of the Rings trilogies 

were filmed. 

A guided tour of the set 

is included, and the range of 

event spaces is creative too 

with the ability to accommodate 

large groups (think 

1,000-plus). These include 

The Yard, where dining is al 

fresco, the celebrated Green 

Dragon Inn and the specially 

constructed Hub with its 

up-to-the-minute equipped 

meeting rooms. 

From convivial team 

building activities to 

mind-blowing adventures 

underground in the caves, 

Discover Waitomo ensures 

delegates and incentive visitors 

have the best of times. 

Stunning native bush is the 

backdrop for the specially 

designed event spaces. 

At the multi-purpose 

Mystery Creek Events Centre 

flexibility is the name of 

the game. There is a wide 

range of indoor and outdoor 

event spaces to choose 

from for exhibitions, conventions, 

tradeshows, large 

conferences, festivals, corporate 

meetings, gala dinners, 

memorials and more. 

Re-opening on 8 August 

after being a managed isolation 

and quarantine (MIQ) 

facility, Jet Park Hamilton 

Airport has a fine reputation 

for the outstanding care and 

hospitality extended to all 

visitors at any time. The hotel 

has even won two awards for 

the way it looked after guests 

during this period. Jet Park 

has fully equipped meeting 

rooms, ballrooms, boardrooms 

– and guest rooms 

– that readily cater for up to 

200 seated theatre-style. 

A hot lap in a Lamborghini 

or getting behind the 

wheel in a go-kart are among 

the exhilarating team building 

experiences at Hampton 

Downs where there are conferencing 

facilities catering 

for up to 500 guests. The 

motorsports park’s location 

halfway between Auckland 

and Hamilton make it a convenient 

destination. 

We’re 

here to 

help 

Meet in the 

Waikato 

Be a Mighty Local 

- we’re here to help 

with your next 

business event 

businessevents@waikatonz.com 

www.meetwaikato.com


H3 rolls out the welcome 

mat for events once again 

The H3 team are thrilled to be welcoming 

all events back to its venues following the 

lifting of capacity restrictions. 

Melissa Williams, H3’s 

Business Development 

and Sales 

Manager - Business Events, 

says it has been fantastic to see 

people so keen to reconnect 

and do business in person once 

again. 

“While technology is great 

when we can’t physically be 

together, nothing beats meeting 

and doing business in person. 

Building relationships face to 

face, being able to read each 

other’s body language and 

making real in-person connections 

are so important to life and 

business.” 

Melissa says H3 has been 

hosting a steady stream of 

business events across its three 

venues – Claudelands, FMG 

Stadium Waikato and Seddon 

Park – since restrictions began 

lifting, including several hybrid 

events under the earlier capacity 

limits. 

“In March we had two 

award functions take place at 

Claudelands using a hybrid 

event model where the clients 

hosted a group of up to 100 

at our venue and then used 

livestreams to connect to other 

groups of attendees at different 

venues. While it isn’t always 

the event organisers’ first choice 

to operate this type of model, it 

is great to see people’s willingness 

to adapt and embrace solutions 

like this to ensure events 

can still go ahead under various 

restrictions,” she says. 

“Moving forward, this type 

of livestream technology will 

definitely still have a place 

– things like livestreaming 

keynote speakers from other 

parts of New Zealand or overseas 

when their schedules don’t 

allow them to physically be at 

an event really does open up a 

world of possibilities for event 

organisers. 

“Not only that but being able 

to virtually connect to international 

guest speakers or delegates 

instead of flying them in 

from around the globe is also 

a great option from a sustainability 

perspective.” 

Since the removal of all 

restrictions, Melissa says she 

H3’s business events calendar has been quickly 

filling up again since event restrictions were lifted. 

has been delighted to see H3’s 

business event calendar quickly 

filling up once again with a 

range of events, from smaller 

meetings through to larger 

conferences and functions. 

The last couple of weeks 

were particularly busy for 

Claudelands, with the 800-plus 

delegate Water New Zealand 

Conference on 25-26 May, 

followed closely by the Hospice 

Waikato and Montana Food and 

Events Bucket List Banquet in 

Globox Arena on 27 May. The 

800-plus delegate NZ Veterinary 

Association Conference is 

also taking place on 20-22 June. 

“While it can be challenging 

to hold large events like these 

so close together it is incredibly 

rewarding too, particularly 

after the challenges of the past 

couple of years,” she says. 

“One of the positives we’re 

taking out of Covid-19 is our 

ability to adapt, learn and grow. 

We’ve been able to reopen our 

doors with a greater sense of 

confidence and an enhanced 

level of care for clients, as 

we know everyone has been 

through a lot recently and we’re 

ready to help them in whatever 

way we can to return to business 

in the easiest, safest way 

possible.” 

The H3 team can support 

clients every step of the way 

with their events – from 

selecting the perfect space and 

determining the best room 

setup, to ensuring they have 

the equipment needed, and the 

Melissa Williams, H3 Business Development 

and Sales Manager – Business Events. 

perfect catering to complement 

it all. 

H3’s trusted food and 

service partner Montana Food 

and Events also spent the past 

few months reimagining their 

menu range and are welcoming 

back clients with exciting new 

options. 

Key changes include a new 

customer-centric menu structure, 

seasonal chef recommendations 

and more plant-based, 

café-style and light finger food 

options, as well as the introduction 

of sensory cooking experiences 

and specialised ‘signature 

dishes’ made with ingredients 

sourced from local suppliers – 

dubbed ‘Montana Makers’. 

“The new sensory cooking 

experiences add a special point 

of difference to events, as they 

involve a range of different 

methods such as barbecuing 

and smoking on site which 

stimulates all the senses. Guests 

can see, hear and smell the 

dishes being prepared, they can 

literally feel the heat off the 

cooking equipment and chat 

to the chefs, and then they get 

to treat their taste buds to an 

amazing meal at the end of it. 

This option can provide such a 

memorable point of difference 

for events,” says Melissa. 

“The Montana Makers 

initiative is also very exciting as 

it enables signature ingredients 

to be traced back to local farms 

throughout the region. Not only 

does this help guarantee the 

freshness of the ingredients but 

the improved traceability and 

reduction in food miles aligns 

perfectly with H3’s ongoing 

focus on sustainability.” 

H3group.co.nz 

We pride ourselves on enabling this to happen safely and seamlessly, 

with tried and true measures in place to give you peace of mind when 

hosting your business events at our venues. 

Our TRUSTED TEAM can assist you every step of the way 

Enjoy FRESH FLAVOURS off a new menu range from our food and 

service partner Montana Food and Events 

Our DIVERSE VENUES have the perfect spaces for all sizes and 

types of events 

Connect at H3 venues today! 

07 929 3000 | businessevents@h3group.co.nz | h3group.co.nz



Mystery Creek Events Centre is open 

and ready to host your next event 

Mystery Creek Events Centre is open and 

ready to host businesses and groups in 

their well-renowned, multi-purpose venue 

as Aotearoa begins to open up again. 

Situated on 114 hectares 

of stunning natural surrounds 

beside the Waikato 

River, Mystery Creek has 

a range of indoor and outdoor 

venue spaces and services to cater 

towards every need. Whether 

you simply have a reason to 

celebrate, need to hold a hui or 

conference, or your large-scale 

concert or festival needs a new 

home, Mystery Creek has got 

you covered. 

“Events are part of our DNA 

as Kiwis – we love to connect,” 

says Peter Nation, Chief Executive 

of the New Zealand National 

Fieldays Society, the not-forprofit 

organisation that owns 

Mystery Creek Events Centre. 

“The sheer choice of spaces 

at Mystery Creek means we can 

cater towards events of any size, 

scale, or type.” 

Planning events in uncertain 

times can be daunting, but 

the Mystery Creek venue event 

managers are on hand to assist 

you to ensure your next event is 

safe and enjoyable. The added 

luxury of a flexible venue calendar 

provides individuals with 

an extra level of confidence, as 

it allows events the best possible 

chance of going ahead, in 

what have recently been uncertain 

times. 

Mystery Creek Events Centre 

is well-practiced in delivering 

a high standard of health and 

safety protocols and systems to 

assist businesses navigating the 

government’s COVID-19 requirements 

and the traffic light 

system. 

As well as being the home to 

the cornerstone Fieldays event, 

Mystery Creek have hosted a 

diverse range of events over 

the years. All events hosted 

at Mystery Creek benefit from 

the convenient location, just 15 

minutes from Kirikiriroa Hamilton’s 

CBD and two minutes 

from Hamilton Airport. 

Notable events include 

Six60’s sell-out show in early 

2020, and the NZMCA Motorhome, 

Caravan & Leisure Show 

in late 2020, which attracted a 

record number of motorhome 

and caravan enthusiasts. Mystery 

Creek have also hosted a 

plethora of sports competitions, 

festivals, camps, conferences, 

dinners, awards ceremonies, 

weddings, and social functions. 

The venue has proved to be 

a prime location for cultivating 

business relationships among 

New Zealand’s major industries 

as well. This was evident 

recently when the Horticulture 

Conference 2021 hosted over 

700 delegates in The Pavilion 

in July 2021. Bespoke needs 

for the event were also met 

with plenary and concurrent 

seminars, media, and ministerial 

business meetings, and 

43 exhibitors showcasing their 

products and services. 

“We’ve navigated some 

stormy weather over the past 

two years, as have many other 

businesses in the events industry,” 

Peter notes. 

“Our learnings from this 

period have strengthened our 

business and the way we deliver 

events. We have additional 

safety measures to enable 

customers to plan their events 

being confident that they are 

complying with government 

guidelines, while simultaneously 

delivering a successful and 

enjoyable event.” 

Need a flexible venue, 

with experienced and helpful 

staff to help deliver your 

next event? Get in touch now 

to discuss our range of booking 

options on 07 843-4497 or 

enquiries@mysterycreek.co.nz. 

Whatever you’re planning, we 

can provide the infrastructure, 

people, facilities and know-how 

to make your event a success. 

Located on 114 hectares, Mystery Creek 

Events Centre offers unique indoor and 

outdoor spaces, with the ability to cater 

for anything from conferences and trade 

shows to large-scale concerts or festivals. 

A unparalleled space 

for hosting versatile 

events 

Let’s talk 

07 843 4497 

info@mysterycreek.co.nz 

MYSTERYCREEK.CO.NZ



Give your event a touch of Middle-earth 

magic by hosting at Hobbiton Movie Set 

17 

Hobbiton Movie Set offer a range of unique 

venues fit to host your next event and give 

your guests an experience to remember. 

Since 2012, we have been 

privileged to present The 

Green Dragon Inn as part 

of our experience. Located on 

the Hobbiton Movie Set, the 

Green Dragon Inn is an exceptional 

example of expert craftsmanship. 

Step inside the masterfully 

recreated pub, where 

the barrels are filled with our 

exclusive Southfarthing ale, 

stout, cider and ginger beer, a 

perfect match to any feast in 

The Shire. We have a delectable 

range of food available 

from our professional in-house 

catering staff, covering everything 

from canapés to a banquet 

feast fit for a Hobbit. The Green 

Dragon Inn is fully themed with 

indoor and outdoor fireplaces 

encouraging your guests to 

spread out into the beer garden 

beneath the glowing lanterns. 

The Party Marquee, adjacent 

to The Green Dragon Inn 

is equipped with a garden bar 

outside overlooking the Hobbiton 

Movie Set, providing 

an exquisite view for all our 

guests. The Party Marquee is a 

fully themed, spacious location 

for large groups. The painted 

canvas exterior, vibrant bunting 

and colourful lanterns means 

your group will be immersed in 

the festive magic of the movies. 

Like The Green Dragon Inn, the 

marquee has a fully licensed 

bar and catering is tailored to 

your event by our professional 

in-house team. 

The Millhouse is a fully 

themed venue located on the 

movie set, just across the water 

from The Green Dragon Inn. 

The Millhouse is an expertly 

crafted venue offering the same 

warm, inviting atmosphere of 

The Green Dragon Inn, but in 

a more intimate setting ideal 

for private dining experiences, 

small wedding receptions 

and corporate meetings. The 

exposed wooden beam ceilings, 

crackling fireplace and curated 

decor set the scene, while the 

cleverly hidden AV technology, 

full commercial kitchen and 

bathroom facilities complete 

the function of the space as a 

self-contained multi-use venue 

available for hire. 

Situated near the Mill and 

a short stroll across the double 

arch stone bridge from The 

Green Dragon Inn is the Marketplace. 

Guests are invited to 

taste a real piece of New Zealand 

from individually themed 

stalls bursting with traditional 

Hobbit fare. The market stalls 

are catered to your guest’s 

requirements and can consist 

of New Zealand cheeses, 

freshly baked artisan breads, 

cured meats, smoked fish, and 

of course fresh produce from 

the Hobbiton gardens just to 

name a few. The Marketplace 

is a bustling, vibrant experience 

to tantalise the senses 

of your visitors. Guests will 

find themselves engulfed in 

the sights, smells, sounds and 

tastes of The Shire. Throughout 

the evening there will be 

roaming Middle-earth entertainment 

mingling amongst the 

guests. Our visitors are invited 

to move freely throughout the 

area and watch the carpenters, 

horse farriers and puppeteers 

go about their daily life. Among 

the stalls will be Hobbiton’s 

handcrafted barrel bars pouring 

the exclusive Hobbit Southfarthing 

range, a selection of 

Middle-earth wines and various 

non-alcoholic beverages. As the 

sun sets over Hobbiton Movie 

Set the village will light up and 

provide a stunning backdrop for 

your event. The Marketplace is 

a unique and special experience 

offered exclusively to function 

groups. 

Officially opened in March 

2020 is The Hub, a newly 

constructed, architecturally 

designed building situated 

at The Shires Rest. The Hub 

offers flexible meeting rooms 

and stunning views overlooking 

the surrounding farmland 

and rolling green hills. The 

1600m2 venue features two 

conjoining rooms, aptly named 

the Romney and the Angus 

rooms after the variety of livestock 

breeds that are farmed 

on the surrounding Alexander 

farm. These two flexible meeting 

spaces can be combined 

or used separately to suit your 

needs. The Hub can host up to 

130 guests in various configurations, 

with breakout spaces 

for welcome drinks, meals or 

meetings available. With stunning 

views overlooking the 

surrounding farmland and rolling 

green hills of the mighty 

Waikato, The Hub offers a 

refreshing change of scenery. 

The Hub is the ideal venue for 

half or full day meetings, with 

options to add a Movie Set 

tour and dinner in The Green 

Dragon Inn to conclude the day. 

For more information on hosting 

your event at Hobbiton 

Movie Set visit www.hobbitontours.com/en/events 

or contact 

our dedicated events team who 

can help you craft a memorable 

event on +64 7 888 1505 or at 

events@hobbitontours.com 

Add some Middle-earth magic 

to your next business event 

Celebrate your next event in the pictureqsue setting of The Shire 

Experience the real Middle-earth with a tour of Hobbiton Movie Set as seen in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Trilogies, 

finishing the evening with a delicious feast on-set. 

With a suite of stunning, authentic venues to choose from Hobbiton Movie Set has all the 

resources to create a successful event to remember. Contact our dedicated events team today. 

SHIRE TOURS, SHIRE’S REST, MIDDLE-EARTH, GREEN DRAGON, HOBBITON, THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the characters, places, events and items contained therein, are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Saul 

Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises (SZC) and are used under license by Rings Scenic Tours Limited and Wingnut Film Productions Limited, which are independently owned and operated.


Chamber celebrates 

The Business Awards 

1. 

The Waikato Chamber of 

Commerce celebrated the launch 

of the Waikato Business Awards 

supported Foster Construction 

Group on Thursday, May 12. 

Hosted in the new Foster-built 

Rabobank office, with previous 

award winners, new sponsor of 

the awards Hamilton Airport, and 

other supporters of the awards 

amongst the attendees. 

Photos by Barker Photography 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

11. 

12. 

1. Adam Findlay, Tony Hunt, Tim Turner 2. Dr Heather Connolly, Andy Macleod, Don Good 3. Jono Peart, Hilton Joll, Stefan Davis, Jason Cowan, Matt Bolger 

4. Mark McCabe, Nicola Hedley 5. Dorothy Wakeling, David Mckie, Tony Begbie, Tim Macindoe 6. Ben Langley, Margaret Devlin, Kate Searancke, Don Good 

7. Peter Nation, Jamie Strange, Tim Macindoe 8. Vicky McLennan, Dr Heather Connolly 9. lmali Ilanco, Sarah Hogan, Karen Zhang 10. Karen Zhang, Paula 

Sutton, Nathan Orr, Ezra Hirawani 11. Joanne Heathcote-Rickman, Andy Macleod, Dr Heather Connolly 12. Mark Pearson, Rae Pearson, Dick Breukink


19 

94% 

of print readers 

talk about what 

they read in 

magazines or 

newspapers 

Book your spot in 

our next publication 

07 838 1333 info@dpmedia.co.nz 

Source: Neilsen Australia Consumer and Media View. 

Survey 3 2016 National 12 monthPrint readers have read any magazine in the past 

month OR any newspaper in the past 7 days OR any catalogue in the past 7 days


DESIGN BUILDERS CELEBRATES 30 YEARS 

A home built around you 

We design and build one-off architectural homes 

that aren’t based on existing plans, templates, or 

catalogues; instead, we work with you to create a 

unique home designed and built just for you, 

inspired by you. 

The homes we create are all different, but they 

start the same way: with a blank sheet of paper 

and a client who wants a great original home. 

You might think that a home designed and built 

the way you want is out of your reach, but with 

Design Builders, you can afford to think differently. 

Our process is built around you, including your 

budget. 

We’re excited about welcoming you to our new 

showhomes. 

Waikato Vision 

5 Rivercove Lane, Hamilton 

Open Saturdays and Sundays, 1-4 pm 

The Manor 

14 Calcutta Road, Pukekohe 

Open Saturdays and Sundays, 1-4 pm 

For a free, no-obligation chat call Jeff Marra at 

Design Builders Waikato today on 027 488 0044 or 

email jeff.marra@designbuilders.co.nz 

designbuilders.co.nz 

A home built around you


Design Builders 

making dream homes 

come true for 30 years 

Design Builders recently celebrated 30 

years of designing and building beautiful 

custom homes. 

Every home crafted by 

Design Builders is 

built around a customer’s 

unique requirements, the 

views, the sun, their lifestyle 

and how they intend to interact 

Design Builders Waikato team: Vinny Hubbard, Ruth 

Butcher, Ally Leger, Emma Fenwick and Jeff Marra. 

with their new environment. 

They describe it as a home 

built around you. 

When founders Andy and 

Brenda Bell took the brand 

nationally, the Waikato was 

one of the first partnership to 

jump on board. 

Managing Partner Jeff 

Styled for Life - This 451sqm 

home has been designed for 

the needs of a growing family 

Marra says the opportunity to 

design and build unique homes 

from initial customer brief 

to finished home is a really 

rewarding experience. 

“The Design Builders’ 

magic that’s happening in the 

Waikato is a result of the years 

that came before us. We’ve 

adopted that process of creating 

architecturally designed, 

affordable homes. It helps with 

what we deliver today and 

we keep evolving to meet the 

needs of our clients.” 

When Jeff says unique, 

he means it; Design Builders 

have no set plans because they 

understand that everybody is 

different. 

“Being part of a larger team 

means we can offer our clients 

so much more; from standing 

on a client site with a blank 

sheet of paper and being able 

to do the full design, the council 

process and then the build 

is a satisfying process to be 

involved in.” 

Not only is it rewarding for 

the Design Builders’ team, but 

Continued on page 22 

Jeff Marra – Design Builders 

Waikato’s Managing Director 

Ambient 

Electrical 

P 0800 855 566 E admin@ambientelectrical.co.nz 

• Qualified Tradesman 

• Specialist Finishes 

• Commercial 

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• External Plaster 

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Looking for a professional, honest and 

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• Heatpump and Ventilation supply and install 

• Electrical Services and Maintenance 

• General wiring 

The team at Ambient Electrical are 

proud to be associated with 


P | 0800 855 566 E | admin@ambientelectrical.co.nz 

Proud to be associated 

with the team at Design Builders. 

Ducted central heating and cooling with 

iZone control on any budget 

206931AA 

CONTACT 

Wayne Brown (Director) 

Phone 027 319 7497 

Email Valleycoatings@yahoo.com 

Looking for a professional, 

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LOOK NO FURTHER! 

206072AA



Design Builders making dream 

homes come true for 30 years 

From page 21 

Jeff believes it offers the client 

the ability to truly be part of 

designing and building their 

dream home. 

“The very first step with the 

client is getting to know them 

and what they want. Getting to 

know their home aspirations is 

a crucial step in the process. 

We want to know our client’s 

style, needs and budget so we 

can bring their home to life.” 

After all, it is the client who 

will be living with the choices 

made and Jeff knows that the 

collaboration between the 

Design Builders’ team and the 

client is the best way to get it 

right. 

“I’m a little bit of a romantic 

and believe that designing 

and building your own home 

should be one of those outstanding 

life experiences.” 

Design Builders combine 

the advantages of an architect 

with the buying power and 

efficiencies that group house 

Design Builders have a really great history of 

where we've come from, where we've been 

and where we going. 

A New Yorker in Hamilton - Inspired 

by the classic New York loft. The living 

spaces are open and generous 

builders deliver, and Jeff says, 

it’s how the team are able to 

make home design and building 

an ‘outstanding life experience’. 

Based in the Hawkes Bay 

support centre, the in-house 

design team is led by their 

resident architect and design 

manager who bring a perfect 

balance of creative flair and 

can-do practicality to every 

project. 

“Our philosophy really is 

to provide New Zealanders 

access to custom-designed and 

built homes” Jeff says. 

But it doesn’t stop with 

an architecturally designed 

home, Design Builders takes 

care of the whole process. 

From the highly experienced 

construction crew building 

to the highest possible standards 

right through to interior 

design experts’ décor advise, it 

all adds up to a beautiful and 

affordable custom home. 

“To make sure you enjoy 

an outstanding experience, our 

team work will with you all 

the way. We are creating real 

value for our clients, not only 

financially, but in how they are 

involved through the whole 

process of building the home 

of their dreams.” 

A builder of many years, 

Jeff was excited by the concept 

of offering one-off homes 

we’ve been and where we 

Proud suppliers of windows and doors to 

from one company when he 

signed up to the partnership in 

2010. It’s a concept that hasn’t 

stood still and continues to 

Continue to page 24 to 

view Design Builders 

latest showhome 

challenge the team. 

“Design Builders have a 

really great history of where 

we’ve come from, where 

going. 

The designs have 

evolved and changed over the 

Design years. Every Builders 

year does seem 

to get more involved and more 

detailed. And the standards 

always rise,” Jeff says. 

He’s proud of the latest 

Waikato showhome at 5 Rivercove 

Lane in Hamilton which 

recently opened to public 

viewing. 

The team have an enviable 

reputation for taking a stylish 

Proud suppliers of windows and doors to 


Crafting beautiful homes. 

At Elle & Co Interiors we help you create a beautiful home that truly 

reflects you. We want you to experience that feeling of delight every 

time you walk through your door. 

We are proud to have partnered with Design Builders Waikato 

Limited offering services such as: 

• Design concept 

• Interior and exterior colour consultation 

• Kitchen joinery colours, fixtures and fittings 

• Interior selections and specifications 

• Bathroom fixtures and fittings 

• Flooring 

• Wallpaper 

• Lighting 

• Joinery 

www.elleandco.co.nz 

Rylock Waikato 

Frankton Aluminium 1982 1982 Ltd Ltd 

Sales@frankali.co.nz 

07 847 4680 

rylock.co.nz 

Do It Once Do It Right 

Proudly supporting 

Design Builders New Show Home 

0800 36 48 255 

DO IT ALL 

24 HOUR SERVICE | www.soel.co.nz 

your guarantee of excellence



23 

Brent Tupaea 

Laser Plumbing Hamilton East 

Phone 07 858 4921 

hamilton.east@laserplumbing.co.nz 

www.laserplumbing.co.nz 

Proudly 

associated 

with Design 

Builders 

203037AA 

MANUFACTURE I SUPPLY I MAINTAIN I RETRO-FIT 

RESIDENTIAL I CUSTOM I COMMERCIAL 

Experts in all single & double glazing 

Riverside - The exterior timber 

cladding and coloursteel make this 

a striking contemporary home 

and imaginative approach to 

creating one-off originals. 

The beautifully clean exterior 

is enhanced by remarkable 

vertical and horizontal painted 

cladding. The spacious interior 

features timber and concrete 

flooring that combines textures 

to stunning visual effect. With 

a nod to the Mediterranean, an 

arch motif is used throughout, 

including in remarkable feature 

windows. 

“We decided to implement 

the arches when we started the 

design 18 months ago. In that 

time, we have really started to 

see arches trending. We like to 

think that we are at the heart 

of setting the new trends. Or 

putting something out there 

that’s different for people to 

consider, rather than just the 

same old, same old. We are 

look really looking forward to 

getting the feedback on this 

new showhome.” 

206022AA 

Proud to be associated with Design Builders 

5 Norris Ave, PO Box 10423, Te Rapa, Hamilton 3241 

www.cmglass.nz 

TOTAL CONCRETE 

SOLUTIONS 

Starting a new build or renovation project can be daunting. 

You need trusted experts in flooring to help navigate your 

options and provide the best advice. 

That’s where we come in. At Floorboards, 

we keep things simple. We 

have one of the widest ranges of 

hard-surface flooring options in the 

Waikato, and the knowledge and 

advice to match. 

We specialise in everything from 

timbers to laminates, cork and even 

waterproof floors. No matter what 

you’re looking for, we’ll help you 

make the right choices for your home. 

79 Church Road, Hamilton 

Phone 07 959 1861 | floorboards.co.nz 

Ribraft foundations 

Full contract box, supply and place 

The team at Total Concrete 

Solutions are proud to be 

associated with Jeff and 

MATT: 027 417 9086 

www.totalconcretesolutions.co.nz 

the Team at Design 

Builders 

Total Concrete Solutions 

Specialising in engineered ribraft 

and pod foundations (TC1, 2 & 3) 

totalconcretesolutions.co.nz 

Matt: 027 417 9086 

Think flooring? Think Floorboards. Simple.


DESIGN BUILDERS - NEW SHOWHOME 


Waikato’s new 

showhome 

The latest Design 

Builders Waikato 

showhome at 5 

Rivercove Lane 

in Hamilton 

Now open for viewing 

Proud to be associated with Jeff and the Team at Design Builders 

Passion for design, pride in personal service! 

www.highergroundlandscapes.co.nz | 021 984 879

Five PR 

opportunities for 

business today 

In just the last few months, we’ve seen the business environment 

change rapidly as New Zealand begins to open up once again, 

return to offices and ramp up business interactions. This has 

created some immediate communications opportunities that many 

organisations should be leveraging. 

The following is a list of 

five strategic communication 

opportunities 

that our team at HMC is currently 

experiencing. 

Desire for reconnection is 

strong 

As I talked about in my article 

last month, there’s a huge 

desire for reconnection – 

whether that be with staff, clients, 

business partners or our 

communities. 

As I mentioned in last 

month’s issue about planning 

for reconnection: we are 

human, and at a very basic 

level we all need connection 

to others to feel complete. 

We’ve always thrived in partnerships 

and groups, going 

right back to the dawn of time! 

Face-to-face interaction 

facilitates better engagement 

and connection both internally 

with staff, and externally with 

clients, partners, suppliers and 

others. 

Employment ‘brands’ are 

taking precedent 

I’m going to be so bold as to 

say, every organisation should 

be looking at what they are 

doing proactively to build 

their reputation as a great 

employer. Most businesses are 

in the throes of recruitment 

drives and are struggling to 

find great staff. The competition 

is fierce for quality people. 

That means it’s prime time 

to build up your business 

reputation and promote your 

PR AND COMMUNICATIONS 

> BY HEATHER CLAYCOMB 

Heather Claycomb is director of HMC, a Hamilton-based, 

award-winning public relations agency. 

company values in the eyes of 

potential recruits. 

People are ready for good 

news 

It’s no secret: we are all sick 

of hearing, watching and reading 

about the pandemic. After 

years of enduring a huge crisis 

together, we are ready for 

some good news! 

Take advantage of the open 

ears and eyes that are craving 

some positive stories right 

now. Relating to my last point, 

this is a great time to shed 

some positive light on your 

organisation – what exciting 

projects are you working on 

right now? What is your business 

doing others would like 

to hear about? 

Media remains an important 

channel to reach those 

who matter most to your 

business 

When it comes to telling your 

stories... media has always 

been – and very much still is – 

a great channel to reach your 

audiences. 

New Zealanders are all still 

turning to the media. Here are 

a few statistics that prove it: 

• Stuff and then NZ Herald 

are the 4th and 5th most 

visited websites in New 

Zealand. Trumped only 

by Google, YouTube, and 

Facebook which are 1,2,3 

respectively. 

• Over 1.3M people read the 

Herald online each week, 

while over 1.7M read Stuff 

online each week. 

• Around 630,000 of us tune 

into RadioNZ each week, 

while around 713,000 tune 

into NewsTalk ZB. 

In the PR business, we 

are using a range of different 

channels to get a business’ 

news out to key audiences. 

And media remains a very 

powerful and influential tool 

for any organisation. 

Doing digital communication 

well is the key 

We know we are living in a 

digital world, so communicating 

through digital channels 

is crucial. While many businesses 

have known this for 

some time, there is a considerable 

number who are still not 

doing it well. 

It’s not just about social 

media: it’s your website, 

e-newsletter, email communication, 

video library on 

YouTube and much more. 

Or, here’s an idea: how about 

a podcast? You might not 

immediately think of a podcast 

as a ‘digital’ tool, but it 

provides great digital content 

you can get out to your audience 

through a range of channels. 

It’s important to be intentional 

with your digital communication. 

When scrolling, 

browsing and clicking, we are 

overwhelmed with posts fighting 

for a smidge of attention. 

It’s key to put yourself in the 

shoes of the people that matter 

most to your business and 

think about what they want 

to see and listen to, and how 

they would like to receive it. 

The immigration 

balancing act… 

The Government recently announced 

the rebalancing of immigration settings. 

It is fair to say this was not 

quite the immigration “reset” we had all 

been waiting on for the last 6 months, 

and when everything is weighed up, the 

final visa outcomes are likely to be little 

changed from what they were previously. 

The main announcement that the borders 

will fully re-open at midnight on 31 

July is hugely welcomed by everyone, and 

we can all now finally begin planning forward 

with the certainty that has been missing 

for the past 2 years. Families can now 

be reunited, employers can plan overseas 

marketing and recruitment, and schools 

can re-engage with their international 

communities. 

A key part of the rebalancing is the 

requirement for employers employing 

migrant workers to hold employer accreditation 

with Immigration New Zealand 

from 4 July this year, and applications 

for this accreditation opened on 23 May. 

Once employers are accredited then jobs 

must go through a “Job Check” before the 

work visa application can be undertaken. 

For most roles the Job Check requires the 

employer to evidence through job advertising 

that there are no NZers available. 

Roles which are on the new “Green 

List”, and roles where the remuneration is 

twice the NZ median wage (ie; $115,500), 

do not need to be advertised. The Green 

List comprises 85 specified roles designed 

to incentivise high-skilled healthcare, 

engineers, trade and tech sector workers 

to relocate to New Zealand. Roles on the 

Green List also provide either a fast track 

“straight to residence” pathway or a 2 

year “work to residence” pathway. 

Surprisingly, nursing and teaching 

roles, are both on the “work to residence” 

Green List, and are not eligible 

for “straight-to-residence”. The Minister 

defended this approach by saying that 

employers wanted these workers to work 

for them for two years before they moved 

on, after getting their residence. Clearly 

this outcome has been influenced by public-sector 

employers – surely the priority 


Richard Howard 

is to attract these workers to New Zealand 

in the first place, and if they do move on 

from their original employment, they 

are only going to move on to the same 

employment roles within New Zealand. 

New Zealand is still the winner here, but 

not if they can’t be attracted here in the 

first place! 

The Government also announced 

that 20,000 visa holders in New Zealand 

would have their visas extended 

by up to another 2 years. While this is a 

great news for those involved, it would 

seem this move is motivated as much by 

INZ’s need to minimise its own workload 

during a period of significant change, 

and high workload pressures. While we 

remain hopeful INZ can achieve its forecast 

processing timelines (eg: 10 days for 

an employer accreditation application) 

nobody is holding their breath! 

As the world faces an increasing skills 

shortage the competition to attract talent 

to New Zealand is higher than ever. The 

world has moved on while our borders 

were closed, and New Zealand is now 

well-behind the 8 ball in the market for 

talent. We need to wait and see if the 

“immigration rebalancing” enables New 

Zealand to recover some of this lost 

ground and if the “Our country needs 

YOU!” message hits the target….. 

25 

Level 2 

586 Victoria Street 

Hamilton 3204 

Level 3 

50 Manners Street 

Wellington 6011 

07 834 9222 

enquiries@pathwaysnz.com 

Level 2 Level 3 

586 Victoria Street 50 Manners Street 

Hamilton pathwaysnz.com 

3204 Wellington 6011 

07 834 9222 

enquiries@pathwaysnz.com

2. 

3. 

4. 

6. 

1. 

Luxon speaks 

at Hamilton 

event post- 

Budget 

National Party leader Christopher 

Luxon spoke to about 200 people at 

The Atrium at Wintec on May 23. 

In his post-Budget speech Luxon 

talked at length about New Zealand’s 

cost of living crisis and, after the 

event, spent time speaking to 

attendees. He said many he spoke 

to at the event raised their concerns 

with him about the impact inflation is 

having on the economy. 

5. 

7. 

8. 9. 10. 

11. 12. 

1. Hamilton City councillor Ryan Hamilton gets a selfie with Christopher Luxon 2. Guests at the Luxton breakfast 3. A packed Atrium 4. Christopher Luxon with the Chamber team L-R Liam Rodden, Jenny 

McGregor, Rob Finlayson, Imali Ilanco, and Don Good 5. Andrea Twaddle of DTI Lawyers 6. Stacey Martin of BNZ 7. Alex Whitehead of Deloitte chats with the Chamber’s Liam Rodden 8. Christopher Luxon 

with Hamilton City councillors Kesh Naidoo-Rauf and Mark Donovan 9. Former Hamilton mayor Andrew King 10. Stefan Davies of Deloitte 11. Aaron Rink (left) and Matt Stark 12. A packed Atrium


27 

Waipā wins PR award for long-term plan 

Waipā District Council were awarded 

Supreme Winner for their entry ‘What’s 

next Waipā?’ at the 2022 annual PRINZ 

Awards gala dinner held in Auckland 

recently. 

The ‘What’s next Waipā?’ 

campaign flipped a routine 

legislative consultative 

process on its head and 

embarked on 17 months of 

targeted, innovative community 

relations work, inspiring 

Waipā residents to share their 

needs and wants for their district 

and engage in the development 

of council’s 2021- 

2031 Long Term Plan. The 

campaign also won Gold in 

the Community Relations and 

Engagement category. 

We started our longterm 

plan journey 

in March 2020 

with community 

BBQs to gather our 

community’s thoughts 

on their vision and 

strategic priorities for 

the district. 

PRINZ Awards Chief 

Judges, Denise Mackay 

FPRINZ, APR and Andrew 

Pirie, FPRINZ said this was a 

creative two-way communication 

programme that resulted in 

record engagement for Waipā. 

“When tasked with managing 

public consultation on 

a council’s long-term plan, 

many communications practitioners 

would be tempted to 

just ‘go through the motions’ 

with a conventional approach. 

The judges were impressed at 

the innovative yet highly disciplined 

way the Waipā District 

Council team sought to 

address a well-known national 

issue – getting the community 

engaged in local government 

planning. 

“Supported by a strategy 

that put listening ahead of 

speaking and implemented 

through a range of inventive 

communications and engagement 

techniques - Councillor 

Speed Dating anyone? - implemented 

in a Covid-19 environment, 

the team delivered 

results not only for the council, 

but importantly, for the Waipā 

community.” 

The judges were impressed 

by the depth of planning 

involved to reach hard-to-engage 

community segments, as 

well as the detailed focus on 

results – even down to measuring 

the numbers of ice creams 

and sausages the community 

Waipā Mayor Jim Mylchreest (left) and chief executive Garry Dyet 

sign off on Waipā’s 2021-2031 award-winning Long-Term Plan. 

consumed as indicators of 

engagement! 

“The project easily 

exceeded the council’s expectations 

on engagement and 

participation. Perhaps the most 

significant outcome is how this 

work has become an exemplar 

for other councils across 

the motu to consider when it 

comes to enhancing community 

buy-in.” 

Waipā District Council 

chief executive Garry Dyet 

says the awards showcase a 

council commitment to inviting 

the community to be 

involved early in complex and 

long-term discussions. 

“We started our longterm 

plan journey in March 

2020 with community BBQs 

to gather our community’s 

thoughts on their vision and 

strategic priorities for the district,” 

he says. 

“Then in 2021, we held 

lots of community events, 

including coffee with the 

mayor, speed dating with the 

councillors and drop-in sessions 

to truly connect with our 

community in ways that really 

resonated with our residents. It 

was a lot of effort, involving a 

lot of people across the organisation.” 

“Having meaningful 

engagement with our community 

shapes the way Waipā 

moves forward and our communications 

and engagement 

team created the opportunities 

for many of those conversations. 

I’m very proud of this 

award, it is well deserved.” 

The award recognises 

projects or programmes that 

improve or establish mutually 

beneficial relationships with 

communities in which the 

organisation operates. 

The PRINZ Awards recognise 

excellence in the New 

Zealand’s public relations and 

communications industry, promoting 

continuous improvement, 

and celebrating best 

practice. This year’s awards 

attracted 86 entries. 

Feedback is your friend, not foe! 

When did you last tell 

one of your team 

what an excellent 

job he or she is doing? Positive 

feedback is a critical element 

in high performing businesses, 

but often managers don’t feel 

comfortable giving praise. 

Similarly, we appear to have 

PEOPLE AND CULTURE 

> BY SENGA ALLEN 

Managing Director, Everest – All about people TM 

www.everestpeople.co.nz 

even more of a dislike to giving 

constructive feedback or 

suggestions to improve work 

performance. Many of our 

clients tell us they don’t feel 

comfortable giving any form 

of feedback – they say it takes 

too much time, feels insincere, 

or often just gets in the way of 

day-to-day activities. Surely, I 

don’t have to praise someone 

every time they do something 

they are paid to do? They must 

know I appreciate them! 

However, they are missing 

a valuable business-boosting 

opportunity. Few things will 

do more to build trust, boost 

morale among the team than 

ongoing, authentic, and yes, 

positive feedback. More on the 

constructive stuff soon….. 

As human beings we are 

hard wired with a negative 

lens. It takes a conscious effort 

to think positively, look for 

positives in people and recognise 

“good or great” in our 

environments. Alas though, 

the counter to this wiring is 

that us humans have an innate 

need to seek feedback on how 

we are doing. If we don’t 

receive it, we tend to make up 

information to fill the void – 

and it’s always negative. We 

are such complicated beings 

us humans! 

So, what are the benefits of 

actively giving positive feedback? 

Firstly, it prevents those 

destructive information gaps 

I mentioned before. It most 

definitely strengthens relationships 

between employees and 

their supervisor; undoubtedly 

it will improve the quality of 

work and increase accountability 

for outcomes but overall, 

the most impact feedback 

creates is the generation of a 

higher-performing work environment. 

Yes, that’s right – the 

more positive feedback you 

identify and give to individuals 

– the greater their output 

and engagement with your 

business. 

If you’re a novice at giving 

positive feedback – perhaps 

you might want to start with 

small steps – look for things 

that individuals are genuinely 

doing well, take a moment to 

pause, and then say something 

simple like, “John, I really 

like the relationships you’ve 

created with our clients – I 

know they appreciate it –as do 

I”. Or words to that effect! It 

doesn’t take long to warmly 

recognise someone’s efforts. 

There are oodles of positive 

experiences happening at work 

every single day but the good 

old human in us typically only 

spots the negatives and jumps 

on those! 

Speaking of constructive 

feedback – it’s a topic that gets 

avoided like the plague. It’s 

too hard, we don’t like to upset 

people, we don’t know how 

the other person will react, it’s 

easier just to ignore the bad 

behaviour or error and hope 

that it doesn’t happen again. 

Any of those sound familiar to 

you? Given that positive feedback 

creates a high performing 

work environment, what do 

you think the impact of not providing 

constructive feedback 

is? Ignoring bad behaviour or 

mistakes tells the rest of your 

team that behaviour is acceptable 

and worse still, endorsed 

by management; it reassures 

the individual who needs the 

feedback that their behaviour 

is OK but most worryingly it 

reduces your effectiveness as 

a leader. 

Seize those opportunities to 

identify positive behaviours, 

tell team members when they 

are doing something well and 

jump on those small issues that 

can lead to larger monsters if 

not dealt with. Feedback is 

most definitely your friend 

and should not be feared. Start 

practicing today and notice 

how much more effective you 

can become as a leader in your 

business.

MORTGAGE FUND 

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PAID 

QUARTERLY 

MARK ROBINSON 

Director of Du Val Capital Partners 

PAUL MANION 

Investor Relations Associate 

CONTACT THE TEAM NOW! 

Find out when we will be holding 

our next information session in your area. 

MARK ROBINSON 

PAUL MANION 

(029 933 3669) (021 503 162) 

EXAMPLES OF PROJECTS THE FUND HAS LENT TO 

WWW.DUVALPARTNERS.CO.NZ 

*For further information about minimum investment amounts, the fixed return and risks, 

please go to www.duvalpartners.co.nz to request a copy of the Information Memorandum. 

*Event can include information about wholesale investments so chat to the team to see whether you are eligible to join. 

+Investment in the Du Val Mortgage Fund LP is only available to wholesale investors as defined in the 

Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. ^Minimum investment $250,000.


29 

Lodge Real Estate issues first-home 

buyer FOMO caution 

As property sales plummet and first home 

buyers move from a fear of missing out 

(FOMO) to a fear of paying too much, real 

estate agents are warning that a lull in the 

market is the best time to buy. 

Lodge Real Estate director 

Jeremy O’Rourke 

says Hamilton experienced 

one of its slowest 

months in April with only 192 

properties changing hands and 

very few of them to first home 

New EV chargers Powering Te Awamutu 

Work has started on 

the installation of 

new Hikotron electric 

vehicle (EV) chargers in 

Te Awamutu, to support the 

growing number of electric 

vehicles in Waipa¯. The two 

alternating current (AC) chargers 

will be installed in the car 

park of the Te Awamutu Events 

Centre facing Mahoe Street 

and will provide four user-pays 

charging spaces for the community. 

Council’s transportation 

manager Bryan Hudson said 

it was great to see the muchneeded 

EV chargers being 

installed in the district with the 

increase in EV usage. 

“Expanding the local EV 

network is part of council’s 

buyers. The latest figures from 

REINZ also show sales have 

plummeted 32.5 percent annually 

and monthly prices are 

down with fewer homes sold 

in every region of New Zealand. 

commitment to reduce the 

environmental impact of the 

district’s transport system.” 

With the electrical connections 

now in place in Te 

Awamutu, Hikotron will begin 

installing signs and road markings 

over the coming days 

and once testing has been 

completed, the chargers will be 

ready for use. 

“Hikotron successfully 

installed two EV chargers in 

Cambridge which have been 

in use since 5 April 2020. They 

are located in the Duke Street 

carpark near Cambridge’s New 

World supermarket,” Hudson 

says. 

“The locations in both 

towns were selected due to 

their proximity to electricity 

“First home buyers are 

listening to the news and 

the advice of their parents, 

and they no longer have that 

urgency or fear of missing out. 

They’re taking a wait and see 

approach, but when there’s a 

lull in the market, that’s the 

best time to buy,” Jeremy says. 

He says there are four 

factors interfering with the 

property market, including 

changes to the Credit Contracts 

and Consumer Finance 

Act which had put the squeeze 

on first home buyers when 

supply and the town centres 

for easy access, without taking 

up prime parking spaces in the 

main street.” 

Hudson said the new EV 

chargers also have good lighting 

for 24-hour use and have 

low traffic speeds, creating a 

safe environment for drivers 

when charging their vehicles. 

The new Hikotron chargers 

use alternating current, so drivers 

can expect charging to take 

longer than the existing direct 

current chargers on Scout 

Lane. Hudson recommended 

users make the most of the 

additional time to shop local 

and explore the district. 

“These new AC chargers 

are aimed at local electric 

vehicle users who want to 

obtaining loans. 

The other three factors 

however were likely to see 

demand for properties increase 

again as more New Zealanders 

return home from overseas in 

coming months, immigration 

re-starts from August, and 

rents continued to rise. 

“All these people returning 

to New Zealand will eventually 

be looking to buy. It’s a 

good opportunity now for first 

home buyers to buy without 

competition. Hamilton is a big 

city, but they may not have 

that same opportunity in a few 

months’ time,” Jeremy says. 

The continuing upward 

pressure on rents is just 

another reason for those who 

can get the finance to get into 

their first home, Jeremy says. 

“We understand that first 

home buyers have gone past 

the stage of FOMO – the fear 

charge up while they are in 

town, rather than visitors passing 

through who typically want 

to charge up quickly and continue 

their journey. The chargers 

will also be a valuable 

asset to local businesses or residents 

wanting to charge their 

vehicle, as they will now have 

a place to do this close to the 

of missing out. If they miss 

out on something today, the 

attitude is that they will find 

something tomorrow. In six to 

eight weeks’ time that may be 

quite different.” 

town centre.” 

To use the chargers, EV 

drivers will need to download 

the Hikotron mobile app from 

Google Play or the Apple Store. 

After scanning the QR code on 

the chargers, users can plug in 

their vehicle, and tap on ‘Start 

charging’ to begin. Charging 

cables are locked in until the 

user elects to ‘end charge’ so 

they can’t be unplugged while 

users are away. 

The Hikotron app also 

allows users to locate the 

nearest available charger, 

monitor how much power is 

being drawn while charging, 

and make payments. The app 

works across all chargers in 

the growing Hikotron public 

network. 

Catering for all occasions 

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0800 2 SPITROAST

WAIKATO INNOVATION PARK 

The SkyPoint Building marks the beginning 

of more growth for Waikato Innovation Park 

CREATIVITY AND 

INNOVATION 

FOR YOUR PROJECT 

Waikato Innovation Park’s newest addition, 

The SkyPoint Building is testament to the 

success of the innovation hub that began 

life 17 years ago. 

And there’s more to come 

with 16 buildings blueprinted 

for the Ruakura 

site to align with the Park’s 

vision to foster business growth 

and innovation, CEO Stuart 

Gordon says. 

“The growth at the Park is a 

sign both of Hamilton's growth 

and of business development 

in the Waikato. With over 60 

companies presently based at 

the Park with 750 employees, 

we have created a community 

which is successfully delivering 

high value jobs and technology 

exports for New Zealand.” 

Named after the Hamilton 

IT and communications integration 

specialists SkyPoint 

Technologies, Gordon says, to 

point to the growth of the Park 

We wanted our entranceway to stand out 

because Ruakura Road will become a major 

entrance to Hamilton from the expressway. 

and the growth of SkyPoint in 

the Waikato. 

“They were tenants here 

from the beginning in the old 

building and have really grown 

their presence in Hamilton, the 

greater Waikato and further 

afield.” 

A grand new entranceway 

was designed by Edwards 

White Architects to be a beacon 

to the Park from Ruakura Road 

and the lane is now a protected 

landscape given its more than 

80-year plane tree avenue. 

“We wanted our entranceway 

to stand out because Ruakura 

Road will become a major 

entrance to Hamilton from the 

expressway.” 

Along with this new 

building a new road was constructed 

to give long term 

access for future buildings and 

parking for existing tenants 

Working with Tainui Group 

Holdings, the Park received 

Project - Waikato Innovation Park



31 

approval from Kiingi Tuuheitia 

and the Ruakura Tangata 

Whenua Working Group to 

name the road Waihanga Lane, 

which means ‘to create, build, 

develop, generate, make’. 

The SkyPoint Building was 

designed by Edwards White- 

Architects and constructed by 

Waikato-based Foster Construction, 

and, with the official 

opening being thwarted 

by Covid a number of times. 

Tenants began moving into 

The SkyPoint Building in July 

2021. 

The $14 million, 3000 sqm 

building houses seven businesses, 

as well as a 390 sqm 

space for events which can hold 

over 200 people and a conference 

room with capacity for 80 

people. 

A shared, collaborative 

space provides a place to discover 

useful connections, build 

relationships and partnerships 

and find new opportunities. 

Weave Eatery, the latest 

project by award winning operators 

Lisa and Brent Quarrie of 

Hayes Common will provide a 

hub for catch ups over coffee 

and food. 

The eatery is also the ideal 

place to hold meetings, introduce 

new tenants, and for businesses 

to get together to have 

coffee and lunch. It is already a 

“must do eatery” for the public. 

Designed by Designwell, 

Weave is the central meeting 

point within SkyPoint 

and hosts a range of seating 

options for the different 

ways people meet - banquette 

seating, high tables, a dining 

table and perching spots for 

takeaway coffees. 

The event and conference 

space at Waikato Innovation 

Park, and Weave Eatery are 

open to the public. The Ruakura 

Conference Centre offers 

comfort, convenience and a 

welcoming atmosphere with 

everything provided for, from 

cutlery to audio-visual equipment 

and technology, with 

on-site support available. 

“We consider Fosters to be our partners 

” 

on this journey. We’re confident they have 

the capability to deliver on our vision. 

Stuart Gordon, CEO Waikato Innovation Park 

When the purpose and values of our clients align with ours, 

extraordinary outcomes are achieved. 

FOSTERS.CO.NZ . 07 849 3849



Dreaming big brings success 

for SkyPoint Technologies 

A small team with a big dream back in 

2014, SkyPoint Technologies now occupy 

the latest build at Waikato Innovation Park, 

and they are proudly the namesakes of the 

state-of-the-art building. 

Weave Eatery 

provides hub 

of fine food 

and coffee at 

SkyPoint 

Weave Eatery is the 

latest project by 

award-winning operators 

Lisa and Brent Quarrie, 

of Hayes Common at Waikato 

The early days were an 

exciting opportunity 

for founders David and 

Penny Covic along with their 

friend Roger Salisbury. 

“We had an amazing team, 

a fantastic office space which 

included farm views here at 

Waikato Innovation Park – 

and we were making this start 

without a single customer,” 

Penny says. 

SkyPoint design, implement 

and support computer 

networks and telephone systems 

for organisations of all 

sizes. This includes Microsoft 

cloud hosted servers or local 

storage solutions, data management, 

disaster recovery, 

security, CCTV, conferencing, 

and communications. 

It has been an amazing 

journey; forming strong partnerships 

with customers and 

suppliers throughout New 

Innovation Park’s new building 

SkyPoint. 

With a focus on fresh, seasonal 

food, Fair Trade coffee 

and local suppliers, the cafe 

Zealand and beyond, Penny 

says. 

“We have been humbled by 

the readiness of our customers 

to refer new opportunities 

to SkyPoint. These referrals 

have also included some of 

the team members working 

alongside us today.” 

They chose to base their 

business at the Park due to 

its ‘campus’ friendly environment, 

the rich innovation and 

collaborative nature of their 

fellow tenants. 

“Over the years we have 

seen these qualities consolidate 

and grow, SkyPoint and 

its team have always been 

made to feel welcome and 

respected. We have a lot of 

fun together with the Park 

team and its tenants; it’s a 

very unique environment.” 

Alongside their business 

growth came an ever-expanding 

team and the original Sky- 

Point office in the Gallagher 

building simply became too 

small. 

“The Park quickly kicked 

into action, working with us 

to find our next suitable office 

space.” At the same time a 

new building project at the 

Park was about to commence 

and it soon became an obvious 

choice for David and Penny 

to confirm space in the new 

building. 

“What an exciting day confirming 

with our team that the 

next shift would be into the 

top floor of the brand-new 

building. The icing on the 

holds strong to the values 

the dynamic food duo have 

become known for. 

Designed in collaboration 

with Designwell and Area 

Design, the eatery fitout and 

branding make reference to 

its location at the centre of the 

new building at the park and 

provides ‘‘the common connecting 

point; a place where 

people and businesses can 

come together to share ideas, 

connect and mingle.” 

The beautiful new eatery 

celebrates texture with pops 

of colour, a range of seating 

options for the different 

ways people meet - banquette 

seating, high tables, a dining 

table and perching spots for 

takeaway coffees, providing 

a lovely calm space to enjoy 

while deciding what to order 

from the daily cabinet of fresh 

bakes. 

If you've got time to linger, 

you can choose from a seasonally 

inspired all day menu. 

Start your day with Winter 

Oats topped with poached 

pear, roasted rhubarb, brown 

sugar crumb, pistachio, or 

indulge in Eggs Benny taken 

cake was the surprise news 

to the team that SkyPoint had 

been offered the naming rights 

and the SkyPoint Building 

would be our new home for 

years to come. The team are 

so proud to have their name on 

the building and love the fresh 

new office space,” Penny says. 

Being a part of a vibrant 

business community is key 

to good business, and Sky- 

to the next level with smoked 

ham hock, cheddar, mustard 

croquette, poached eggs, hollandaise, 

house made corn 

salsa. For lunch the options 

continue on the menu Salmon 

& Spuds - crispy potatoes, 

Weave smoked salmon, 

poached eggs, green goddess, 

pickled red onions furikake or 

try their award-winning Melt 

Point is delighted with the 

added profile the new building 

brings. 

“The quality of the building 

and facilities is enjoyed 

by our team and customers 

alike. We are so grateful for 

all the Park adds to our business. 

It’s wonderful to be in 

an environment that not only 

supports you but encourages 

big dreams!” 

Challenge toastie - Chipotle 

braised pork, smokey cheddar 

jalapeno cream, Clevedon 

Oaxaca stringy cheese, corn & 

lime salsa on Volare turmeric 

sourdough. 

There's also a cabinet which 

changes daily, with everything 

made onsite by the talented 

team in the kitchen headed by 

Ashley Brodie - well known 

SkyPoint’s core strengths 

include their team, skills and 

a collaborative approach to 

customer and supplier partnerships. 

Their vision is to be 

able to make a real difference 

to those they serve. They seek 

to be an intentional contributor 

to the community and have 

a heart for those organisations 

making a difference within 

New Zealand. 

for her fresh, beautifully presented 

food. 

The team at Weave will also 

bring their flair for fabulous 

food to provide catering for 

events of all sizes. And at the 

helm of events and operations, 

Sam Immers brings years of 

experience in the catering and 

event industry, and knows how 

to throw a great party!


33 

Does 

your 

branding 

need a 

Spruce up? 

We’ve got you! 

Enquire about our 

design services today 

info@dpmedia.co.nz 

Publishers of Waikato Business News, 

Waikato AgriBusiness News and Showcase Magazine


New initiative draws on 

Waikato business alumni to 

inspire upcoming leaders 

The Waikato Chamber of Commerce has launched a new initiative 

to better connect today’s business community with the vast 

knowledge and wisdom of the previous generation of Waikato 

business leaders 

Known as alumni, the 

select group will be by 

invitation only, with 

people tapped to join based 

on their personal career background 

and contribution to the 

Waikato, national or international 

business community. In 

recognition of the significant 

role played in their partner's 

career, spouses of alumni 

members are also eligible to 

join. 

Designed for retired business 

and professional people, 

it enables them to continue 

contributing to the prosperity 

of the wider Waikato business 

community through engagement 

with current chamber 

members, allows them to 

remain up-to-date with the 

world of business, and provides 

opportunities to network 

and socialise with former partners, 

friends, and competitors 

from their time in business. 

Chamber CEO Don Good 

believes the initiative will 

bring wide-ranging benefits to 

the business community. 

“When you think of the 

combined experience, knowledge 

and connections this 

group of people have, this is 

something we want to ensure 

is available for our members 

and the wider business sector 

to tap into. We know that 

many of these people want to 

give back to the community 

that raised them and continue 

to have a voice in this community, 

and the alumni membership 

is the perfect vehicle 

for them to do so. Our other 

motivation for creating this 

group is to give the alumni an 

opportunity to keep in touch 

with the ever-changing business 

world. We plan to hold 

regular events throughout the 

year which will give them the 

opportunity to connect, learn, 

and inspire our members.” 

Membership, which is 

non-voting, brings with it 

an opportunity to participate 

in and contribute to various 

chamber activities, as 

well as enjoy specific events 

organised for alumni. The 

alumni will also be involved 

in nominating inductees to 

the Waikato Business Hall of 

Fame. This year’s inductees 

are Sir Robert Mahuta and 

Sir Dryden Spring, with the 

induction gala dinner to take 

place on September 2. 

When you think 

of the combined 

experience, 

knowledge and 

connections this 

group of people 

have, this is 

something we want 

to ensure is available 

for our members and 

the wider business 

sector to tap into. 

The alumni initiative has 

been driven by an interim 

committee which currently 

includes former GM of 

Novotel and ibis Hamilton 

Dick Breukink, BNZ regional 

manager small business Grant 

Robson, who is also a former 

chamber board member, 

and former Deputy Mayor of 

Hamilton Gordon Chesterman. 

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35 

Do it yourself, Jonesy 

Those cute kids in the Mitre10 sandpit 

captured our hands-on, give-it-a-go spirit 

to a tee. But for your advertising and 

design, is DIY ever an option? 

I 

have a confession to make. 

I love to play on Canva – 

the online tool for simple 

graphic design. There, I’ve 

risked the dismay of my professional 

graphic designer friends 

and said it. 

I understand the basic principles 

of good graphic design: the 

value of clear space, the power 

of good typography, the impact 

of a compelling photo. So, with 

so many easy-to-use tools readily 

available to us now, why 

wouldn’t I give it a go? 

Some friends and I recently 

clubbed together to give our 

friend a memorable weekend 

away. Relishing the opportunity, 

I leapt onto Canva to create a 

voucher. My friends were happy 

but I knew it had many flaws. 

If it was the retaining wall our 

Mitre10 kids were building, it 

would have collapsed in a heap. 

Small businesses everywhere 

have frequent demands 

for quick new messages, particularly 

if they are active on social 

media, and need to stand out 

from the clutter with something 

that looks good. 

When images have a short 

shelf or screen life, it’s hard 

to justify heavy investment, 

so online tools and apps have 

rapidly evolved to fulfil that 

need. But that doesn’t mean the 

outcome is always going to be 

appropriate for sustained marketing 

or important campaigns. 

I’ve also noticed a rise in the 

use of professional design tools 

(InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop) 

by staff with no formal 

design training. YouTube to find 

out how to do anything, right? 

Well, maybe, but be honest with 

yourself, I say. 

It could end up like a disaster-prone 

episode of a renovation 

or self-build programme, 

Waikato brewery makes New World 

Beer & Cider Awards top 30 

Waikato brewery Bootleg 

Brewery Company 

made the New 

World Beer & Cider Awards Top 

30 with their Bootleg T-Straight 

Burnout Smokey Stout. Local 

independent brewery producing 

boutique small batch beers, the 

taproom and brewery is located 

at the historic Matangi Dairy 

Factory near Hamilton. 

like Grand Designs. Like the 

owner who’d once knocked 

down a wall to make a kitchen 

diner so reckons, with a bit of 

Googling, he can build a 4-bedroomed 

luxury house in a ridiculous 

timetable and on a budget 

of small change. 

We know from the initial 

conversation around his plans 

that something will go wrong. 

Eventually, they’re in by the 

Christmas two years after the 

deadline and the costs have spiralled 

out of control. 

Admittedly, this unsurprising 

scenario isn’t always the 

case. There are plenty of people 

who can genuinely surpass 

expectations and create a masterpiece. 

We’re growing up more tech 

savvy and pick up new technologies 

easier, so learning specialist 

design software may not be 

a challenge. However, doing it 

right is different to doing it well. 

Even after three decades, 

the absolute greatest pleasures 

in my work is often when a 

designer shows me a new piece 

of marketing or advertising collateral 

for the first time. When 

briefing in a piece of design, 

you’ll have a vision of what it 

might look like and perhaps 

some practical ideas of what 

you might like to see. But the 

skill of a really good designer 

is taking those ideas and turning 

them into something special. 

Sometimes they take an 

idea and come up with a concept 

that surprises and delights. 

And when you can see how it 

perfectly connects what you 

want to express to what your 

audience will relate to, and it’s 

something a bit different too, 

it’s pure joy. I’ve been moved to 

tears on many occasions thanks 

to smart and considered design. 

known names alongside heritage 

brands like Steinlager, and popular 

craft breweries like Panhead 

and Sawmill, who continue to 

experiment and perform at the 

Accelerating success. 

But it’s equally true of much 

simpler things. For example, 

with sales materials that are 

more information heavy, it’s 

often the finer details and clever 

design techniques that can make 

the world of difference. 

I once found myself in a 

reception area beside a wall of 

brochures, highlighting a range 

of the company’s services. From 

a distance, they looked consistent 

– same colour banner at the 

top, same basic layout. Then I 

got closer. There were different 

fonts being used for headings. 

Many of the photos were too 

low resolution for print so had 

come out blurry. Text over pictures 

was nigh on impossible to 

TELLING YOUR STORY 

> BY VICKI JONES 

Vicki Jones is director of Dugmore Jones, Hamilton-based brand 

management consultancy. Email vicki@dugmorejones.co.nz 

top of their game. 

“Whether you are keen to 

try a perfect example of your 

favourite style of beer, explore 

something new, or just sample 

read. And so it went on. 

“I’m so glad to have finally 

got these all done,” the owner of 

the business said. He had done 

them himself and it had taken 

him months, he told me, as he 

acknowledged that it probably 

wasn’t quite the most productive 

use of his time. 

If it’s a “pretty big job”, or 

just something that needs to be 

done well, think carefully as 

you decide to DIY or “get some 

bloke in”, and consider the consequences 

of getting it wrong. 

Be honest about if you genuinely 

have the time and skills 

to attempt it yourself or if an 

expert hand is the more sensible 

option 

something from another part of 

the country, the Top 30 is a go 

to list that you can be confident 

choosing from,” Donaldson 

says. 

the Top 30 is a go to 

list that you can be 

confident choosing 

from 

Born in 2016, the brewery 

has successfully brewed more 

than 40 signature craft beers. 

Judge chair Michael Donaldson 

says this year’s Top 30 is a 

showcase of some of the best 

brewing talents and innovators 

in the country. 

“It’s great to be able to celebrate 

these new and less-widely 

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HR, MANAGEMENT AND RECRUITMENT 

2022 Directors Fees Commentary 

2022 marks the 30th year of the annual 

publication of this survey; this makes it 

the longest running Directors Fee survey 

in New Zealand. We are thrilled to have 

reached this milestone and to have 

informed so many organisations over the 

years on director fee rates. 

This last year has seen a 

bounce back in terms of 

economic recovery, however 

it is clear that not all sectors 

have experienced increased 

growth and consumer activity - 

the tourism and hospitality sectors 

are continuing to feel the 

pressure both in terms of consumer 

demand and staff shortages. 

Supply chain and talent 

shortages are also dramaticly 

impacting most organisations. 

It is also clear that organisations 

are going to have to learn to live 

with the pandemic for some 

time. 

All this increased risk and 

uncertantiy has only added 

to the workloads of directors. 

Interestingly, the majority 

of directors indicated that 

risk management issues have 

been the biggest contributor 

to increased time commitment 

by boards. As a result, directors 

have noticed that they are 

spending less time on strategic 

planning, which the majority 

view as the area where boards 

should focus their time. 

Last year, we noted a fall in 

fee levels over the previous 12 

months, reflecting the impact 

of the pandemic. This year we 

have seen a return to positive 

Your recruitment 

asset in Waikato. 

Locally owned and operated, Asset Recruitment 

has been positioning excellence for more than 30 

years. 

We align great candidates with great opportunities. 

If you’re looking to hire or would like to discuss your career 

opportunities, get in touch with our recruitment 

consultants today. 

Temporary 

Recruitment 

movement, but only in the private 

sector. In the public sector, 

we have seen zero movement 

and, as a result, the overal general 

market figures are showing 

a median market movement of 

zero. In the private sector overall 

we have seen a 2.8 percent 

increase in fees. Listed organisations 

have seen a median 

market movement of 5.7 percent 

and there has also been 

strong market movement in the 

property investment/development 

and transport/frieght and 

storage sectors (8.7 percent and 

10.3 percent respectively). 

As a result of the continued 

pay restraint in the public sector, 

we have seen an increase in the 

gap between private and public 

sector fees. As the following 

graphs clearly demostrate, 

this gap in fees becomes more 

pronounced as the revenues 

increase. Given the challenges 

now faced by board members, 

the public sector may struggle 

to recruit and retain key talent 

into their boards. Interestingly, 

the lower board fees within the 

public sector will also be contributing 

to the gender pay gap 

we see within the overal director 

fee database. While the public 

sector shows a far greater 

Permanent 

Recruitment 

Executive 

Recruitment 

representation of female board 

members, these board members 

are paid significantly less than 

their private sector counterparts. 

Gender 

We have seen another small 

increase in the gender balance 

on boards as compared to 2021. 

Twenty four percent of Chairs 

and 38 percent of Directors 

(23 percent and 37 percent in 

2021) are now represented by 

females. Central Government 

has the greatest representation 

of female directors; however, 

of note is the engineering sector 

which has an impressive 50 percent 

representation of female 

directors. The private sector 

has again improved its female 

representation on boards with 

an increase from 26 percent to 

30 percent in 2022. There is a 

clear link between equal gender 

representation of board members 

and lower overall pay gaps 

within organisations. It is therefore 

encouraging to see the representation 

moving in the right 

direction. 

Finally, in our discussions 

with Board Chairs over the past 

12 months, we note that organisations 

now consider operating 

within a pandemic environment 

as the new normal. Moving forward 

we would expect director 

fees to continue to increase 

over the next 12 months. It will, 

however, be interesting to see 

whether the increased wage 

pressure and talent shortages 

will result in a relaxing of the 

pay restraint within the public 

sector. 

Industrial 

Recruitment 

07 839 3685 | www.assetrec.co.nz 

Cathy Hendry, Managing Director – Strategic Pay 

Managing recruitment 

needs in the hybrid 

workplace 

Hybrid working looks set 

to be the new norm, but 

what impact does that 

have on company culture and 

what does it mean for an organisation’s 

recruitment strategy in 

2022? 

Asset Recruitment’s Permanent 

Recruitment Specialist, 

Judith Bright discusses 

positioning excellence in a 

hybrid world. 

Once bustling office spaces 

now have only half of all desks 

inhabited, half of all staff carparks 

full, and half the number 

of coffee cups used on any 

given day. Today’s new norm is 

that of the hybrid workplace to 

ensure the health and wellbeing 

of staff and the smooth delivery 

of projects with minimal disruption 

and delay. 

But what impact does this 

new way of working have on 

team culture, and is virtual 

recruiting the new norm? 

MANAGEMENT in the hybrid 

workplace 

Team engagement is critical for 

company culture. A 2015 study 

of manager-led teams reported 

improved workplace engagement 

when daily interaction 

between managers and teams 

occurred. 

“In many New Zealand 

workplaces, managers are 

extremely accessible,” explains 

Judith. “It’s one of the benefits 

of the small-to-medium sized 

businesses that populate the 

New Zealand landscape. But 

that accessibility needs to continue 

even when managers and 

direct reports aren’t working 

in the same space. Lose that 

communication and workplaces 

will lose engagement, trust and, 

ultimately, staff in a tight labour 

market.” 

Communication is an essential 

tool in managing the effectiveness 

of hybrid workplaces. 

“Robust and consistent internal 

communication, encouraging 

collaboration among different 

teams, and delegation of tasks 

can help to ensure employees 

feel up-to-date on company 

projects, recognised for their 

contribution, and a valued part 

of a company they enjoy working 

for,” Judith says. 

“Regardless of the hybrid 

look of a workplace, employees 

will be more productive when 

they feel informed and trusted 

to do the job they’re employed 

to do.” 

RECRUITMENT in the hybrid 

workplace 

A change in workplace settings 

also brings different challenges 

for staff recruitment and retention, 

but recruiting in the hybrid 

workplace can still achieve 

desired outcomes. 

“The hybrid workplace 

has demanded more from HR 

and, in some instances, it has 

exposed gaps in an organisation’s 

recruitment strategy,” 

explains Judith. 

“With a tight labour market 

adding to the challenges, organisations 

really do need to think 

outside the box when it comes 

to online recruitment. Attendance 

of online job fairs will 

help gain organisational awareness 

to a new group of potential 

candidates; active use of social 

media channels will also help to 

build profile.” 

“And, when it comes to 

shortlisting, interviewing and 

welcoming new recruits to a 

team, processes, systems, technology 

and tools are integral,” 

she says. 

Judith also shines light on 

the importance of clearly articulating 

the difference between 

hybrid workplaces and flexible 

working. “Hybrid working 

is the mix of office-based and 

home-based work many organisations 

have had to adapt too; 

flexible working on the other 

hand is determined by when an 

employee works to get the job 

done.” 

The hybrid workplace certainly 

offers some exciting 

prospects for staff recruitment 

and engagement, but as the past 

couple of years have shown, it’s 

how we adapt to the changes 

that will determine success. 

Looking to position excellence 

in a hybrid workplace? Speak 

with the Asset Recruitment 

team today.

HR, MANAGEMENT AND RECRUITMENT 


37 

Aligning 

Rewards 

with Business 

Success 

Strategic Pay is at the leading edge 

of developments in strategic remuneration, 

performance management and performance 

improvement solutions. 

We help organisations improve their 

performance by ensuring employee effort, 

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compelling proposition that attracts, retains 

and motivates the best people. 

We offer solutions to suit every 

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• Customised, impartial reward 

and performance advice 

• Largest and most extensive 

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• Educational programmes to build 

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Contact us about our FREE remuneration audit and we will show 

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SP154 BusinessNorth_March 2022_art.indd 1 

5/04/22 6:00 PM


Waipā Here's leading how 

Here's Waikato’s how 

BUDGET 2022 

commercial boom 

It’s a great feeling to learn that Waipā is once again leading 

Waikato region’s commercial boom according to data just 

released by Quarterly Economic Monitor. 

Dr Gaurav Sharma 

MP for Hamilton West 

gaurav.sharma@parliament.govt.nz 

Follow me on Facebook.com/gmsharmanz 

· Assets $256k & Stock $51k included 

· 50% rent paid until March 2023 

· Growth opportunities 

· Excellent Vendor assistance 

· Plans & patterns all part of the IP 

· Strong turnover and profitability 

linkbusiness.co.nz/WK00242 

Andrew Whyte 022 097 0065 

andrew.whyte@linkbusiness.co.nz 

will help Hamilton West with 

the cost of living: 

The airport precinct Tita- 

- A new short term cost of living payment, for people earning less than $70,000 who don't 

already receive the Winter Energy Payment. 

REGION 

- An extension commercial nium to Park the is our fuel trump card tax for cut, ing strong reduced employment road growth charges and half price public transport. 

growth has continued 

Half with gusto price even public numerous transport 

local, national and 

for compared Kiwis kiwis to on the New low Zealand income. incomes. 

commercial activity. It hosts and a low unemployment rate 

- 

international businesses. Master 

planning is underway to for make Waikato. sure Kiwis are paying a fair price at the 

average and other parts of 

- Action on supermarkets, checkout. 

Waipā’s 

during the pandemic. That’s 

demonstrated by the wave of 

building and resource consents 

submitted to the council 

in 2021 with a capital value 

of $456 million. Over the last 

year, in terms of commercial 

growth, Waipā 

outperformed the rest of the 

Waikato and New Zealand 

as more investors realise the 

unique potential our district 

has to offer. 

infrastructure to connect with 

the rest of Cambridge including 

options to walk, cycle or 

bus to Cambridge CBD and 

also Hamilton City and sur- 

With Budget count. 2022, The latest we're Economic 

With Budget 

also and 

2022, 

delivering: 

emotionally connected 

Monitor shows we are enjoy- 

with the we’re town. also We’re delivering: building 

• Lifesaving healthcare with more rounding areas. 

• Lifesaving healthcare with more paramedics and 

and ambulances. 

A diverse ambulances. 

economy has 

helped create economic resilience 

for the district during 

• More medicines and treatments with a • More medicines and treatments funding boost for Pharmac. with a record funding boost for Pharmac. 

COVID-19. Waipā has 

• Up to 38,000 more apprentices, by remained in a fortunate position, 

Apprenticeship insulated from the harsh- 

• Up to 38,000 more apprentices, Apprenticeship Boost. by extending Boost. 

PUBLISHER 

the next stage called Northern 

Precinct, which will potentially 

bring a further 100 hectares 

This builds on of a commercial range of and measures industrial ment we've facility, primary taken school to ease pressure, including increases to 

opportunities to the district and and plenty of residential housing. 

A major reason people free school lunches, the Winter Energy 

Working consistently for of Families course more employment. and superannuation, 

On the topic of employ- 

Payment and more. 

ment, I’m delighted Waipā is 

punching above its weight for 

those economic indicators that 

Authorised by Gaurav Sharma MP, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 

Take control of your future. 

Buy your own business. 

0800 225 999 

LINKBUSINESS.CO.NZ 

Deidre Morris 

Ph: (07) 838 1333 

Mob: 027 228 8442 

Email: deidre@dpmedia.co.nz 

Well Known Joinery $350,000 Waikato Electrical Business $1,550,000 Building & Construction $140,000 

Bay of Plenty/Coromandel 



navigate selling · Operating your 25+ years, wide range business 

••• 

of clients 

· Work placement of apprentices 

PRODUCTION MANAGER 

Kelly Gillespie 

Email: kelly@dpmedia.co.nz 

Knowing whether your 

business is ready for 

DESIGNER 

sale can be a difficult 


process but with the guidance 

Ellie Neben 

Rick Johnson 021 991 485 

Email: ellie@dpmedia.co.nz of an rick.johnson@linkbusiness.co.nz 

experienced broker, the business sales process 

Lake can be dealt with $120,000 ease 

Physiotherapy By The 

ADVERTISING INQUIRIES and success to ensure that you 

Taupo 

achieve maximum value. 

· Opportunity to start working for yourself! 

Please contact: 

· Retiring Few partner offering business vendor assistance owners 

ADVERTISING ACCOUNT · Long decide established, to sell successful “on the practice spur of 

MANAGER 

· $120,000 the moment” is for a 50% unless share unforeseen 

circumstances create an 

urgency to sell. You may be 

Joanne Poole 

Ph: (07) 838 1333 wondering linkbusiness.co.nz/EL03509 

what to do next and 

Mob: (021) 507 991 

Tony Andrew 021 938 560 

what processes 

tony.andrew@linkbusiness.co.nz 

are involved in 

Email: joanne@dpmedia.co.nz 

a successful and smooth transaction? 

LINK Business Bro- 

Step Up In Engineering! 

ELECTRONIC FORWARDING 

$225,000 

kers Waikato can help you and 

Hamilton your business achieve the best 

· Skilled and established staff 

possible outcome. 

· Standout marketing, large customer base 

Often, once the decision to 

· Growth potential to produce other products 

sell has been established, the 

EDITORIAL: 

Janine Jackson 

News releases/Photos/Letters: 

editor@dpmedia.co.nz 

· Experienced, qualified staff & apprentices 

· Cash surplus to working owner over $600k p.a. 

average over last 3 yrs 

· Fantastic reputation, years of high profitability 

· Asking $1,550,000 + stock 


Alanah Eagle 021 606 345 

alanah.eagle@linkbusiness.co.nz 

Flooring Business $475,000 

Taranaki 

· Full support from the franchise 

· Commerical & Residential work 

· Trading 5 1/2 days per week 

· Steady growth, good pipeline of future work 

· Asking $475,000 + stock 

· 25+ year operation 


Therese Bailey 021 707 641 

therese.bailey@linkbusiness.co.nz 

Pizza Restaurant With Catering $117,000 

will help Hamilton West 

with the cost of living: 

Hamilton 

· Premium Pizza Restaurant in Hamilton 

· Growing Sales, Superb Fitout (near new) 

· Great lease terms, Tangible assets $80k 

· Renowned brand with growth potential 

business owner has a desire for 

immediate action. LINK Business 

Brokers linkbusiness.co.nz/WK00238 

Waikato Sales 


PRODUCTION: 

Copy/Proofs: 

Manager Andrew Rick Whyte Johnson 022 097 says, 0065 

Scott Miller 027 301 6543 

production@dpmedia.co.nz 


scott.miller@linkbusiness.co.nz 

“LINK can provide you with 

SUBSCRIPTIONS: a highly structured process, 

Unique Vehicle Business! $720,000 Roll Into Your Future $500,000 

accounts@dpmedia.co.nz time tested model, and a professional 

team that can offer their skills and valuable Waikato expe- 

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· Agriculture-related valuable insights vehicles and assistance 

in the diverse beginning and loyal stages customers as your choice of solicitor · Profit or to working reflected owner in $190k+ renewed p.a. transacrience 

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of preparing 

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location, tional commercial activity focus in the business 

131 Victoria Street, Hamilton 

Ph: (07) 838 1333 | Fax: (07) 838 2807 

www.wbn.co.nz 

- 

www.dpmedia.co.nz 

sale and providing the experienced 

advice to best structure 

your departure”. 

Various factors can influence 

the necessary time to 

prepare your business for 

sale, working together with a 

Business Broker that will add 

Significant development 

is earmarked for Cambridge 

West including a new retire- 

choose to live in Cambridge 

is due to its village feel, so it’s 

important residents in the new 

development feel physically 

ness is likely to be one of the 

most pivotal transactions of 

your life! 

Despite the last two years, 

buyer and seller confidence 

is definitely returning. The 

country’s borders are reopening 

and people are traveling 

est impacts of the pandemic 

compared with other districts 

and regions in New Zealand. 

Current indicators show that 

Waipā ’s diverse and stable 

economy is showing no signs 

of slowing down. 

Food, farming, manufacturing 

and technology are at the 

heart of our flourishing economy. 

Many businesses have 

relocated to Waipā because 

of its agile workforce, excellent 

lifestyle, high standard of 

education and opportunities in 

the commercial and industrial 

sectors. With dedicated commercial 

sites in Cambridge, 

sales market. 

“While there is plenty of 

talk in the media about rising 


Reuben Silby 021 133 0624 

reuben.silby@linkbusiness.co.nz 

interest rates, historically these 

remain on the low side when 

compared with past decades. 

This means there are plenty 

of options for business buyers 


FROM THE 

WRITTEN BY 

JIM MYLCHREEST 

Waipā District 

Council Mayor 

Te Awamutu and the Airport, 

businesses can make the most 

of our proximity to major city 

centres and New Zealand’s 

economic golden triangle 

(Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga). 

The council’s vision is 

Waipā Home of Champions, 

building connected communities. 

We are focused on creating 

communities that are 

attractive for people to live, 

work, play and invest in. It 

must be working because the 

LINK Business Brokers helping 

· Profit from the building boom 

· Admin and people based 

· Franchise support 




Success In Engineering! $495,000 

Bay of Plenty 

· Specialising in joining, cutting & milling 

· Great qualified & experienced staff 

· Equipped with CNC cutting & milling 

machinery 

· Diverse and interesting projects 




More buyers are 

looking for quality 

businesses, a great 

time to exit yours 

Authorised by Dr Gaurav Sharma MP, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 

39 

If you’ve been thinking about selling, start by 

contacting looking to us acquire for a confidential funding and discussion. New Zealanders through their 

service debt,” Johnson says later years. 

In recent times younger “With more buyers now 

Kiwis have identified the looking for quality business it 

need to LET’S take TALK control of their might just be the right time to 

own financial destiny in a exit yours,” he says. 

way that previous generations 

0800 225 999 

If you’ve been thinking 

didn’t. Increasingly, the aspirational 

desire to build equity 

independently has replaced 

universal reliance on a government-issued 

pension to see 

Waipā population is growing 

as more people recognise our 

district as a hidden gem. And 

who can blame them? People 

love our community spirit, laid 

back vibe and boutique townships 

brimming with character. 

Economists from Westpac 

agree. They have placed Waipā 

in the top five future hot spots 

in New Zealand for people to 

live, work and invest. 

Waipā District Council 

intends to keep leading the way 

by supporting business investment 

and commercial opportunities 

in our district. It’s all 

about creating an ecosystem in 

Waikato’s heartland, designed 

to help our new and existing 

enterprises prosper. Our team 

is busy designing frameworks 

to keep up with the ‘boom 

momentum’ we are currently 

experiencing. So, keep an eye 

out for savvy new initiatives 

over the coming months such 

as the Economic Wellbeing 

Strategy and the Waipā Community 

Spatial Plan. 

All LINK NZ offices are licensed REAA08 

about selling, start by contacting 

LINK Business Brokers 

Waikato for a confidential discussion. 

0800 225 99


39 

Here's how 

This builds on a range of measures we've taken to ease pressure, including increases to 

Working for Families and superannuation, free school lunches, the Winter Energy 

Payment and more. 

“The whole Fosters package 

With Budget 2022, we're 

With Budget 

also 

2022, 

delivering: 

we’re also delivering: 

is excellent.” 

• Lifesaving healthcare with 

• Lifesaving 

more 

healthcare 

paramedics 

with more and ambulances. 

and ambulances. 

• More medicines and treatments with a • More medicines and treatments funding boost for Pharmac. with a record funding boost for Pharmac. 

• Up to 38,000 more apprentices, by • Up to 38,000 more apprentices, Apprenticeship Boost. by extending Apprenticeship Boost. 

Luxury real estate brand New Zealand 

Sotheby’s International Realty are the newest 

business to open their doors at Fosters 

Tamahere Village development. Director Russell 

Thomas and his wife Angela, both leading sales 

agents in the Tamahere area, are thrilled to 

Well Known Joinery $350,000 

Bay of Plenty/Coromandel 

have a bespoke · Assets $256k & Stock new $51k office included at the centre of the 

· 50% rent paid until March 2023 

community. · Growth opportunities 

· Excellent Vendor assistance 

A community-focused commercial and 


recreational space Rick Johnson for the 021 991 growing 485 Tamahere 

rick.johnson@linkbusiness.co.nz 

neighbourhood, the Village is a mix of amenities 

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- Action on supermarkets, to make sure Kiwis are paying a fair price at the checkout. 

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MAY/JUNE VOLUME 30: ISSUE 5 2022 WWW.WBN.CO.NZ FACEBOOK.COM/WAIKATOBUSINESSNEWS 

Nau Mai R ā bringing 

power to the people 

“The whole Fosters package 

is excellent.” 

Aotearoa's first kaupapa Māori energy retailer Nau 

Mai Rā is empowering Kiwi’s living in power poverty. 

Hamilton-born co-founders 

Ezra Hirawani (Te curve understanding how we studying anymore,” he laughs. 

“It was a steep learning even realised that I wasn't 

Āti Haunui-a-Paparangi/Ngāti 

could apply this approach They were determined that 

Rangi/Ngāpuhi/ into a power industry that saw the business would stand on 

Ngāti Hako/Waikato-Tainui) consumers as money making its own merits and in the early 

and Ben Armstrong (Waikato 

Tainui/Ngāti Hine) are putting 

people before profit and funnelling 

money back into funding 

initiatives that benefit whānau. 

Nau Mai Rā uses a pay it 

forward model where customers 

pay a portion of their power 

opportunities rather than as 

whānau and people.” 

In most cases, Ezra says, 

their customers pay the same or 

less than they would be charged 

by other suppliers. 

Founded in 2019, the pair 

have worked hard to maintain 

stages went about quietly signing 

up customers and making 

tweaks along the way. 

“We just had to make sure 

that the product could stand on 

its own without any cool story, 

any marketing pizazz. That we 

could sell power at a cheaper 

the integrity of Nau Mai rate to a family, and then use 

bill towards a marae, kura or to 

the whānau fund Luxury which helps real Rā estate whilst learning brand about New the Zealand 

that power bill to fund each 

pay the power bill for vulnerable 

families. Sotheby’s ness.“We International have been more Realty pub- 

are One the of their newest first projects 

cut-throat power supply busi- 

project.” 

“We discovered business that there's to lic facing open in last their two years doors year at was Fosters to purchase a 49-seater bus 

over 130,000 households and have acquired customers for a low decile kura (school) in 

here in Aotearoa Tamahere that suffer in slowly Village in different development. regions as Otangarei. Director Russell 

energy hardship or power poverty; 

that a massive Thomas problem,” and started his with wife learning Angela, the com- 

both a community leading will pay sales their bills 

we’ve tested the product. We “This was proof to us, that if 

Ezra says. 

agents in the 

plexities 

Tamahere 

of the industry 

area, 

and 

are 

with us, 

thrilled 

we can actually 

to 

drive 

Basing their business model understanding how we can impact back into the community,” 

centre he says. of the 

around the tuakana-teina have relationship 

where an older family twist on it.” 

Seeing the joy on the stu- 

a bespoke have our own new twist office indigenous at the 

member supports community. 

and mentors Although based in the dent’s faces when they had 

someone younger, Nau Mai Rā Waikato, Nau Mai Rā is only their first bus ride was the proof 

customers are helping their fellow 

customers who 

just beginning to get their product 

out to their local market. 

that what they were doing 

A 

are 

community-focused 

experiencing 

hardship. recreational It space was a conscious for the decision growing difference Tamahere 

in people’s lives. 

commercial 

was working 

and 

and making a 

“We wanted to apply the to test markets outside of their “From that moment we just 

tuakana-teina approach, neighbourhood, where patch in order the to Village get genuine is a continued mix of to amenities 

build and now we 

we worked with those who feedback about what they had have elevated just over 2000 

could afford to pay including for their recreational to offer. facilities, people health out of services, 

energy hardship, 

power to support eating those who places, “If I professional sign my mum up, she’s services, and it is and starting retail to snowball 

couldn't. And doing so in a way always going to say, ‘son it’s now,” 

where we did no harm space. to those amazing’. I was probably a People are at the heart of 

who could afford to pay for 

that,” he says. 

year and a half into Nau Mai 

Rā might have before my mum 

Ezra and Ben’s business model; 

they make bill paying easier by 

“Tamahere Village was a good fit for both 

Sotheby’s and our own personal brand” says 

Russell. “The development has been so well 

received by everyone and the Village has 

a great vibe. We’re really pleased with the 

opportunity to add a real estate office with 

community-based agents in such a fantastic 

location. 

“Being a brand-new office, we had a blank 

canvas to work with. And, with the help and 

know-how of the Fosters team, we’ve been 

able to create an office that’s ideal for the way 

we like to do business. It’s welcoming, open, 

practical, and sophisticated – matching our 

initial concept exactly.” 

Transparency, honest and time management 

are keywords that Russell now associates with 

Fosters, along with ease of communication and 

flexibility. 

Ezra Hirawani. 

“The whole Fosters package is excellent. They 

have exceeded our expectations with the 

service provided and the processes they have 

in place. Nothing is ever too much of an issue. 

Based on our experience, we would certainly 

work with them again.” 

sending smaller more frequent 

bills, customers are signed in to 

a contract and have the freedom 

to move should they choose, 

and they don't charge whānau 

Angela & Russell Thomas, NZSIR Waikato 

daily fixed cost in addition to the industry average is around 

their bills. 

15. And that is largely because 

“We've had a very low bad we're not as big as the other 

debt percentage. We're sitting 

around at two percent. I think Continued on page 3 

FOSTERS.CO.NZ . 07 849 3849

KEEPING UP 

WITH SERVICE 

CHANGES IS 

IMPORTANT 

ince opening its original used 

motorcycle sales and service store in 

S1978, the changes in how motorcycles 

are serviced are astounding says Road 

and Sport co-owner Barry Sproule, 

“In the Seventies, there might have been 

old and seizing clutch and throttle cables 

hanging vertically, and every morning the 

apprentice would feed drops of Penetrene 

or light oil down inside the casing to 

eventually free them up. We hoped they’d 

work again, as did our customers.” 

Mechanics had excellent skills with every 

tool from a hammer to a micrometer, 

but workshop electrics were limited to a 

voltmeter and not much else. 

One thing Barry has always had in 

the service area was – and still is – a 

fully operational, well equiped service 

workshop, using the latest technology 

equipment and recently with the addition 

of a digital machine lathe, replacement 

or custom parts can now be repaired or 

made from scratch with thousandth-ofan-inch 

accuracy in house. 

The all-encompassing change since then 

is the computerisation of the motorcycles, 

and the diagnostic tools and equipment. 

“Today our diagnostic computers, 

proprietary units built, programmed, 

supplied and updated by Harley- 

Davidson, can tell us nearly everything 

about a motorcycle’s operation,” Barry 

says. “It saves a customer so much time! 

Most faults can be identified instantly 

and accurately, and these factory H-D 

computers are only at authorised Harley 

dealers.” 

Barry’s early history in motorcycling 

was in service departments, and he 

still keeps abreast of each new engine 

and motorcycle as they’re released. 

“Technician training is everything. Our 

techs must be factory certified, and 

their training from the Motor Company is 

ongoing… almost endlessly,” Barry says. 

After a great deal of effort and training, 

technicians can reach master level from 

Harley-Davidson’s own Harley-Davidson 

University (H-DU). 

The existence of H-DU at all shows how 

seriously the factory is about dealership 

service departments being the best in the 

industry, Barry says. 

“Even a master level technician is 

continually required to upgrade and recertify, 

not just on diagnostics and engines, 

but for the entire motorcycle… brakes, 

suspension, everything.” 

Road and Sport’s three recent Dealer of 

the Year awards show that the store’s 

technician training, performance and 

customer feedback are indeed working 

together to create a reliable, top quality 

service department. 

There are other arrows in the Road and 

Sport service arsenal too. Firstly, as 

mentioned earlier, the machine shop is 

now using the latest digital lathe, and other 

best-quality machinery. That goes handin-hand 

with the next important part of the 

service are - building high-performance 

race and road engines and custom 

motorcycles. 

This has always been a passion for Barry 

and the team. Complete engines, or Stage- 

Kits from Harley’s genuine performance 

brand Screamin’ Eagle, and from other 

reputable brands such as S&S, are being 

installed every week, as customers trust 

the dealership’s experience and ability in 

high performance work. 

That’s also why there’s a Dynojet 

dynamometer in the store, for perfect 

computer-controlled tuning of highperformance 

engines. Barry and some 

of his staff regularly drag race their bikes 

(and win), partly to test performance 

parameters for future engine builds instore, 

but mainly (of course) because it’s 

addictive fun! 

The service equipment is replaced when 

necessary to ensure that it’s the best 

available. Not long ago the tyre changing 

machine and wheel balancer was swapped 

out for a new one, with features to prevent 

any damage to wheel rims, and of course 

precision computerised balancing. 

Barry is adamant the key aspect of the 

success and quality of the Road and 

Sport service department is training, 

and care. “Our service area is equipped 

with heat pumps for year round comfort 

and special rubber tiled flooring and 

exhaust extraction also helps to provide 

a very comfortable and safe working 

environment,” he says. 

“We train by following Harley’s lead, 

their innovations, their upgrades… 

and we add our own training from 44 

years of experience and 32 years of 

Harley experience. Plus, we care. The 

motorcycles are someone’s pride and joy, 

and we never forget that. It will leave here 

better than it came in.” 

ACCESSORIES AND PARTS PERSONALISE THE BIKES 

ne of the unique characteristics of 

Harley-Davidson motorcycles is that 

Ono two seem to look the same. While 

the Harley models come out of the crates 

and are identical except for colour, once the 

bike’s new owners get into the customising 

job the changes can be astounding! 

The incredible range of Accessories 

available from H-D Motor Company fill an 

800-page catalogue! 

After 32 years selling Harleys, Road 

and Sport know the Accessories game 

backwards, forwards, and top to bottom. 

Whatever a customer’s vision for his or her 

motorcycle is, Parts and Accessories (P&A) 

manager Blair and the team can find the 

right items to make it real. 

And the variety of ideas, dreams, plans and 

hopes that the P&A team encounters is as 

wide and endless as the sky, dealership 

owner Barry Sproule says. “Some customers 

want all black, some want all matt-black, 

some want all chrome. Some people ride to 

tour long distances so we add extra luggage 

capacity in saddlebags, top boxes, luggage 

racks, and also touring windscreens. Did we 

mention the new touring seat that warms 

you up in the cooler months and cools you 

down in the hotter summer months?” 

Of course, for some riders a stripped back, 

minimalist look is what they envision and the 

team can make those Harley dreams come 

true. “Lower suspension, higher suspension, 

very beautiful factory custom items in 

matched collections to fulfill a consistent 

form and look from end to end… black or 

chrome, we’ve done it all and we can keep 

doing it.” 

Blair and his team are also experts in many 

of the after-market accessory brands 

which orbit around the Harley-Davidson 

industry. “Vance & Hines, S&S, Hammerdown 

or World Class Fabrications NZ-made 

handlebars, all of these – and other brands 

too - make exceptional quality products, so 

if customers want these, we’ll supply them 

happily,” Blair says. 

The business has a tremendous turnover in 

genuine service parts – from filters, oils, tyres, 

gaskets and seals to batteries and thousands 

of other parts are always available over the 

counter or on courier delivery. 

Best of all, according to the P&A team 

and Barry, are performance engine builds. 

“Customers have different needs or 

desires for their bike’s performance. All the 

horsepower at the top of the rev-range, 

or tons of torque in the mid-range, or just 

a little more of both to get past the semitrailers 

quicker… it doesn’t matter what, we 

can do it precisely.” 

The dealership has an in-house 

Dynamometer, and many years of saved 

horsepower and torque charts and printouts 

from many hundreds of engine builds. From 

the team’s experience and knowledge, 

the correct items are selected to fulfill any 

customer’s needs. 

It’s also an ever-evolving field; Harley’s 

Screamin’ Eagle Performance division is 

endlessly releasing new parts, and these 

are tried on the store’s shop-custom builds 

so that – again – accurate information is 

obtained and customers can rely on the 

advice that Road and Sport give them. 

All the P&A staff are required to complete 

comprehensive training from Harley- 

Davidson University too, right up to master 

level. Blair says that this ensures that 

everyone is up to speed immediately with 

new products, such as the most recently 

released Revolution Max all-new engine, the 

Pan America Adventure Tourer, the Sportster 

S, electric LiveWire, and the very new 

release of the Nightster. 

As with everything at Road and Sport, 

it’s enthusiasm which drives the P&A 

department, and passion for the Harley 

brand. All the store’s departments and staff 

share in, and are proud of, the dealership’s 

three Australasian Dealer of the Year awards. 

And they want more! 

381 Te Rapa Road, Hamilton (07) 958 1400 www.roadandsport.co.nz

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APPAREL AND MOTORCLOTHES – RIDING 

OR CASUAL WEAR FOR EVERYONE! 

I 

n 1990, when Road and Sport joined the 

Harley-Davidson dealership network, 

there were ‘new kids on the block’ in 

motorcycling. These kids were named 

MotorClothes and Collectibles, and they 

changed the two-wheeled world. 

H-D Motor Company had introduced 

MotorClothes just two years before in 1988, 

a brave move in an industry focused on 

engines, sprockets, primary chains, and 

tyres, just to name a few things. 

While motorcycle stores always sold 

leather jackets and riding boots, 

MotorClothes expanded those products 

into stylish men’s and women’s ranges with 

a much wider variety available. But the 

really unexpected jump was to offer vast 

ranges of fashion and casual clothing. 

The goal of seeing the Harley-Davidson 

brand on customers and riders when 

they’re NOT on the bike had proven 

massively successful in the USA, Australia, 

and Canada… even in the two short years 

before Road and Sport joined the team. 

Shelley Sproule, half of the Road and 

Sport ownership team with husband 

Barry, carefully checked out the in-depth 

information about MotorClothes from H-D 

and the distributor at the time Morgan and 

Wacker. Shelley saw the potential glowing 

like a neon sign, and took the dealership 

into the new clothing and collectible areas 

in a serious way! 

“I thought there’s no sense in nibbling 

at it. So, we assessed the enormous 

product range carefully, ordered an 

impressive selection of riding gear, apparel, 

homeware, and collectibles, and built 

an entire new department in the Te Rapa 

store.” 

“We were the classiest clothing shop in 

Hamilton, and maybe we still are.” 

The growth of MotorClothes (now called 

apparel and merchandise) has never really 

slowed, showing that Shelley’s research 

and instincts were spot-on. 

“Everyone wants that famous Harley brand 

on their clothing somewhere and the 

casual clothing has fanned out into the 

non-riding community for all of our 32 years 

with H-D. And it should too! It’s stylish, 

keeps up with current trends, and the 

product quality has always been excellent,” 

she says. 

Harley was also the first motorcycle 

manufacturer to seriously and consistently 

offer large ranges of riding gear and 

clothing, especially for women. The cut, 

the features, sizing, the placements of 

different fabrics and the accessibility of 

various pockets and the like, are designed 

by women riders, for women riders. 

Over the years, the immutable core has 

always been riding gear, tough, innovative, 

using leather and new high-tech fabrics. 

Because the apparel designers at Harley 

are riders designing for riders, features 

from the concept to the smallest detail are 

purposeful. 

Expansion areas have also taken Harley 

into homeware, children’s apparel, 

backpacks and bags, belts, wallets and 

purses, casual footwear, denim jeans, toys 

and model bikes, and SO much more! 

Just like the service technicians and parts 

staff, the apparel and merchandise staff 

are required to undertake many training 

courses and modules through Harley- 

Davidson University. 

“The Apparel people must know about 

their products, and the training teaches 

them the big pictures of safety, comfort, 

and materials selection, as well as 

the smaller ins-and-outs of pockets, 

waterproofing, removable liners for 

warmth, tech-storage pockets and outlets 

for phone. I could go on, but it’s all the 

details that Harley is so good at adding 

into the gear,” Shelley says. 

“Our team members can reach H-DU 

master level, just as a technician can, and 

it’s ongoing. There are new courses every 

year.” 

Shelley and Barry are proud that the 

Apparel and Merchandise department is 

as successful – and important – as New 

H-D Sales, Genuine Parts, Accessories 

and Service in contributing to the three 

Australasian Dealer of the Year awards won 

by Road and Sport in just the last five years. 

381 Te Rapa Road, Hamilton (07) 958 1400 www.roadandsport.co.nz

Waikato Business News May/June 2022

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