Waikato Business News November/December 2022

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12 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 Success for Young Entrepreneurs Waikato secondary school students took home top honours at the Waikato-King Country Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) Awards. Bliss Enterprises, founded by Waikato Diocesan School for Girls’ students Emma Bartram, Beth Steele and Tessa Smyth was named the Wintec Te Pūkenga Company of the Year at the awards, managed in the region by Smart Waikato Trust. Bliss Enterprises look to give customers a moment of ‘bliss’ and help them to create a more balanced lifestyle with their healthy bliss ball mixes. Their popular product line nearly completely sold out, with their last two units donated to their local food bank, and leftover ingredients made into baked goods gifted to their community. Bliss Enterprises attended the YES National Finals in Wellington. Other winners on the night were: Foster Construction’s Runner Up – Wheelie Tyred, Hauraki Plains College Waikato Chamber of Commerce’s Excellence in Financial Management Award – Floti, St Peter’s Cambridge EMA’s Excellence in Production Award – Wheelie Tyred, Hauraki Plains College Waikato Pacific Business Network’s Pasifika Enterprise Award – Case C, Sacred Heart Girls’ College Hamilton Smart Waikato’s Best Trade Fair Presence – Baking Memories, Fraser High School Waikato Business News’ Excellence in Sales and Marketing Award – Bliss Enterprises, Waikato Diocesan School for Girls’ Smart Waikato’s Excellence in Sustainability Award – Love Eco, Hauraki Plains College CAL Isuzu’s Excellence in Innovation Award - Fly Away, Sacred Heart Girls’ College Hamilton The University of Waikato’s Excellence in Leadership Award – Tina Hille-Taylor, Fraser High School Smart Waikato’s Sole Wintec Te Pūkenga’s Company of the Year and Waikato Business News’ Excellence in Sales and Marketing – Bliss Enterprises (Waikato Diocesan School for Girls’) presented by Martin Brock Trader of the Year – Astro- Soup, Paeroa College Smart Waikato’s Commitment to Business Award – Reclaimed, Rototuna Senior High School More than 300 Year 12 and 13 students participated in YES in 2022, setting up and operating their own businesses, creating, promoting and selling a product or service, conducting market research, planning, budgeting, managing risk and turning problems into opportunities. YES helps students develop knowledge in operating a small business, team building, relationship management, meeting procedures, record keeping, the legal requirements for running a business and the process of reporting company performance. Its value is far-reaching, providing students with skills to equip them for life after school. The YES experience also adds depth to a Foster Construction’s Runner Up and EMA’s Excellence in Production recipient – Wheelie Tyred (Hauraki Plains College) presented by Sharon Robertson curriculum vitae when seeking employment. All teams at the regional awards were standout performers in the YES competition throughout the year and pitched to a panel of judges. YES Waikato co-ordinator Maddie Walker, of Smart Waikato Trust, was impressed with the creativity and resilience of this year’s teams. “It’s been a challenging few years for all business in New Zealand, and our young people have really stepped up and embraced these challenges. These awards are a reflection of the very talented young entrepreneurs we have here in Waikato,” Maddie says. YES is sponsored in the Waikato by Wintec Te Pūkenga, Waikato Pacific Business Network, the University of Waikato, EMA, Waikato Chamber of Commerce, CAL Isuzu, Foster Construction, and Waikato Business News. Battle it out for Movember Raising money for charity can take a more creative approach, Aware has designed the first iteration of its ‘Battle Mo’ units that use AI to scan your “Moustache”, compare it to the style and give it a rating. “By encouraging people to donate and receive something in return, we aim to encourage a greater social participation in the Movember Challenge,” Aware Group CEO Brandon Hutcheson says. The first unit was deployed outside renowned Mr Pickles in Hamilton’s CBD on the Waikato River and is being used to scan the final Moustaches after the close of Movember, likely through to Xmas. The goal is to use this technology to draw attention and raise funds for Movember by each ‘Battle Mo’ card printed with ‘Moustache’ information and competing values. It will contribute $5 directly to the Movember charity to raise funding and awareness of mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. These issues are critical to men globally, but especially in New Zealand where we suffer from one of the highest youth suicide rates in the OECD. Local sponsors in Aware Group, ASB Bank Hamilton, Tompkins Wake and Stark Property have facilitated this becoming a possibility through their donations. The interactive booth uses computer vision to measure the attributes of users’ moustaches and generates a unique photobooth print out styled like popular trading cards. The stats, names and descriptions of the cards are all unique and allow visitors of the booth to compare their Battle Mo’s in a friendly competition. The next goal is for 2023 to have around 50-60 of these Battle Mo units deployed around New Zealand encouraging a giant ‘Mo’ battle-off, allowing Movember participants from around the country to compete. Procuta Associates Urban + Architecture Contact us 07 839 6521 www.pauaarchitects.co.nz “ HOME. Architecture takes you to a place you are unlikely to arrive at on your own. It is the ultimate opportunity to make your home or work environment personal and purposeful.
Let’s get digital Most businesses understand the importance of fostering great relationships and protecting their reputation. This is an important strategy that helps any organisation achieve its business goals. Good public relations (PR) builds, maintains and protects your brand image through putting your business in front of your audience at the right place, at the right time, and with the right messaging. The PR industry is undergoing some huge changes. The digital space is pushing professionals into a new space, forcing practitioners Retrain to retain: the importance of professional development for staff retention In an ever-tightening labour market, professional development has never been more important for staff retention. Judy Davison, Asset Recruitment’s Permanent and Executive Recruitment Specialist, explains why now’s the time to retrain to retain. From professional certifications to management and leadership training, upskilling of technical skills to teamwork and interpersonal communication tools, professional development opportunities come in an array of forms. In recent decades, the training and upskilling of staff has become recognised as an integral part of a company’s culture, recruitment policy, and retention strategy… and then COVID-19 hit. As businesses and organisations were faced with a myriad of challenges operating in a pandemic-inflicted world, investment in professional development started to wane. Then, came the tightening of the labour market. “Employers simply cannot afford to lose staff and are therefore needing to to think outside the traditional understanding of strategic communications. The channels we use are increasingly becoming digitised – resulting in the emergence of ‘digital PR’ a few short years ago. In many ways, however, digital PR is simply an extension of traditional PR. The concept of ‘digital PR’ may have you scratching your look at what they can offer employees to keep them interested, stimulated, and financially secure. Professional development is an integral part of,” explains Judy Davison, Asset Recruitment’s Permanent and Executive Recruitment Specialist. Retraining existing staff through a variety of courses, either online or face-to-face, establishing an in-house mentorship programme, and fostering the interests of staff wishing to extend their skillset will be advantageous for businesses in the long run. But with the current growth many businesses are experiencing, retraining existing staff members won’t necessarily alleviate the labour requirements of an organisation. “We support our clients in scoping their roles and look at how we can provide those WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 13 head, but in reality it is no longer a distinct discipline. It has merged with traditional communications practices such as media relations and stakeholder engagement. It allows businesses the opportunity to connect with its audiences in the broadest sense, which will improve an organisation’s visibility and reputation. Every organisation should have a communications strategy sitting alongside its business plan, and to ensure you will achieve maximum impact, be sure to include both online and offline tactics. Here are some good reasons why your organisation needs a thoughtful and strategic digital presence: People are searching – be found Building a thoughtful Google. Are you selling or Utilising digital channels digital PR strategy that is working with business professionals gives your business a modern true to your brand allows over 40? Then, platform. You can position you to connect with a specific Google and Facebook are yourself as a thought leader niche of people – your likely the most important in your field through sharing customers, your community, channels where you need to your valuable expertise in a industry peers and even your be found. WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 Employers simply cannot afford to lose staff. extra added incentives to attract excellent candidates,” explains Judy. “Opportunity for and investment in ongoing training and both personal and professional development is highly sought after by job seekers. They want to feel valued within an organisation and seek a position where they can grow in their role as much as they can contribute to the growth of their organisation. Professional development encourages that.” Looking to improve your staff retention? Speak to the Asset Recruitment team today. They’ve been positioning excellence in Waikato for more than 30 years. range of digital ways. And it all starts with the question, “What is your audience searching for?” Do some research to find the answer. Then, create web stories, blogs, videos, a podcast and other types of content that gives your audience what it is looking for and leads people straight to you. Online - accessible and trustworthy Being online on multiple channels, saying the same consistent messaging, allows the people searching for you to find you with ease. And most importantly, when you are consistent and providing lots of useful, timely information they want, then they will trust you above your competition. Showing up online in a consistent way allows your business to more intimately connect with your audience, encouraging trust, likeability and recommendations. Community and connection staff. We are increasingly ‘digital creatures’ and we are getting to know people and companies in a virtual way. If you haven’t thought through how you can create multiple touchpoints for your audiences to get to know you, you are missing out on an important component of how you build brand loyalty and trust in our modern world. Channels are as important as your words Not only is what you say important, but the way you package your messages and where you put them has a huge impact on your digital image. This is because consumers are searching and researching online in a fast manner and attention spans are short. Again, you want to meet them where they are and stop them in their tracks. And what channels you use go back to how your target audiences search. Are you selling to 20-somethings? Then, they are probably searching questions on Tik Tok or YouTube, not For more than 30 years, we’ve been aligning great For more candidates than 30 with years, great we’ve opportunities, been aligningand ‘positioning great candidates excellence’ with great throughout opportunities, Waikato. and ‘positioning excellence’ throughout Waikato. We strive for excellence and quality in all we do. As part of our We commitment strive for excellence to excellence, and quality we’re in focussed all we do. on As part finding of the our right commitment fit for both to job-seeker excellence, and we’re employer. focussed on finding the right fit for both job-seeker and employer. So, if you’re currently looking to hire or would like to So, if you’re currently looking to hire or would like to discuss your career opportunities, get in touch with our discuss your career opportunities, get in touch with our team. team. Temporary| Permanent|Executive|Industrial 07 07 839 839 3685 | | www.assetrec.co.nz PR AND COMMUNICATIONS BY HEATHER CLAYCOMB Heather Claycomb is director of HMC, a Hamilton-based, award-winning public relations agency. So, how can you shape up your digital PR skills to strengthen your reputation and relationships in 2023? Ask yourself these critical questions and then formulate a plan: What do you want to be known for? What is your audience searching for online? Does what you look like on your digital channels match what you look like in-person? And finally, the best thing about growing your relationships and reputation online, is that you can track and measure every action you take to see if it’s creating impact. Don’t forget to set some SMART objectives and measure, measure, measure along the way. Supporters Supporters of of the the Waikato Breast Cancer Research Trust Trust
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Waikato Business News November/December 2022

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