www.nelsoncitycouncil.co.nz

Mayors Ready To Fight For Local Jobs

Media release: 15 February 2013

Nelson Mayor Aldo Miccio and Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule announce an initiative to bring more jobs back to smaller New Zealand cities.

The Mayors of both regions have been working with Wellington technology entrepreneur Rod Drury on his suggestion to design a package that will be used to attract technology call centres to be based regionally.

The regions two mayors along with their economic development agencies will now work on a strategy to bundle together services and promote these to Australian businesses (finance and insurance companies for example), highlighting the advantages of locating high value contact centres in regional New Zealand.

The aim is to create highly skilled jobs in some of New Zealand’s smaller centres.

Mayor Aldo Miccio says “We know the Nelson region has so much to offer as a great base to live and work. We want to challenge the idea that all the work is in Auckland. We want to start a revolution and change the way people think about doing business in smaller cities. With the technology available these types of businesses can be based anywhere and we know we can offer an attractive package.”

Mayor Lawrence Yule says “These are usually 24/7 operations so there could be capacity for many new high value jobs to be generated and the flow on effects of new employment can give the whole community an economic boost. We know our regions can offer great value that can attract Australian companies. We plan to work with national IT providers who have experience in setting up these centres and sales teams in Australia to jointly present a compelling opportunity.”

Rod Drury, CEO of the online accounting software company Xero, says “As we've quickly grown to over 300 staff in New Zealand and Australia we're seeing online product experts becoming a stimulating career that is location independent. New Zealand staff are under 60% of the cost of Australian equivalents. If we can package our regional towns as high value contact centres there is a fantastic opportunity to create modern regional jobs.

"I’m delighted both Mayors have committed to this exciting project. This is the sort of leadership that needs to happen in New Zealand.”

The next step will be to bring both regions economic development departments together to work on a more detailed model and seek technology partners to take these offerings to market.

ENDS

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