August 28 2011

MEDIA RELEASE

Business Hawke's Bay to be 'Launched'

The new economic development initiative for Hawke's Bay will be 'soft' launched on August 5. Called Business Hawke's Bay, it is an arms-length entity of the Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce and is a positive response to ongoing needs to 'Grow the Bay' and also fill a gap following the demise of Venture Hawke's Bay last year.

'Business Hawke's Bay is a distinctly different way of understanding economic development in Hawke's Bay' said Chamber CEO Murray Douglas,' we have set up a very transparent partnership model based solidly in the private sector, but fully collaborating with councils, businesses and business bodies'

'There is an enduring case for a peak business promotion and economic growth focused body for the whole of Hawke's Bay that sets out to consistently provide integrated support for local growth, and acting as an informed and capable conduit for business relocations to the Bay' said Mr Douglas.

Business Hawke's Bay will operate from the new Chamber offices in Hastings with an 11 member establishment board drawn entirely from established private sector business leaders, and an advisory group consisting of the economic development unit managers of the councils, the Chamber and Hawke's Bay Tourism. Funding and substantial in-kind support is largely from the private sector with some council assistance providing a three year rolling commitment.

'The intention is to tap into existing complementary work of the Councils in economic development, and in association with key business players to cover off the gaps and realise potential growth in existing businesses as well as market the region for new opportunities. To date the support has been uniformly positive and the Chamber is appreciative of this which augurs well for the success of this approach.' concluded Mr Douglas.

The official 'hard' launch of Business Hawke's Bay will occur in early 2012 when there is a more detailed plan in place and some expected initiatives are well underway.

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