10th North Shore Business Awards

JUNE 25, 2007 MEDIA INFORMATION

Near Record Number Of Entries For 10th North Shore Business Awards

The North Shore has confirmed its status as one of the key centres of strong economic growth in New Zealand.

A near-record number of entries have been received for the prestigious Westpac Enterprise North Shore Business Excellence Awards – now in its tenth year –and a large number of them are from emerging businesses that have been helping to propel economic activity on the North Shore ahead of the rest of the country.

A total of 100 entries have been received for the 12 award categeories, with 16 companies entered into the BCS Group Emerging Business section alone, making it the largest category in the awards.

This result reflects figures from a recent BERL economic survey that shows the average size of North Shore businesses was up by 3%, compared with 1.6% for the Auckland region and the far smaller 0.8% for New Zealand. The Emerging Business category is for businesses that have been in existence for at least three years, are now well-established and on a clear and significant growth path.

Enterprise North Shore, which runs the awards, is pleased with the response that saw entries boosted by 30% compared to last year and came close to matching the all-time record number for North Shore of 103 entries set in 2005.

“We are naturally delighted with the response to our tenth anniversary awards – it has been strong in a number of areas and in particular among emerging businesses,” says Terry Hoskins, Chief Executive of Enterprise North Shore.

“That underlines the strength of business activity on the North Shore and means we are creating more jobs and more wealth, which can only be a good thing for the future. It demonstrates our focus on growing and retaining North Shore businesses.
“Importantly, we are seeing growth come in key areas such as IT, finance, services, health and education that are already substantial parts of the local economy and have the potential to grow further in North Shore City.”

Westpac General Manager for Business Banking, Bruce McLachlan said “Westpac has proudly supported businesses striving for excellence for many years and so we are delighted to receive such great numbers of entries for this year’s awards. The entries represent a wide range of organisations that realise that the awards are not simply about one night’s ceremony, but instead a chance to share best practice and gain business insights from peers and experts alike.”

The 12 individual categories being contested by North Shore businesses in the 2007 Westpac Enterprise North Shore Business Excellence Awards include:

• BDO Spicers Excellence in Service Delivery award
• ACC Workplace Safety Award
• Actionmail Excellence in Marketing Award
• Chelsea Sugar Excellence in Exporting Award
• Massey University Excellence in Technology Award
• 3M NZ Excellence in Innovation Award
• North Shore Times Contribution to the Community Award
• Smales Farm Excellence in Environmental Management Award
• Benefitz Best New Start-up Business Award
• BCS Group Best Emerging Business Award
• Smith & Davies Employer of Choice Award
• The Spencer on Byron Hotel Excellence in Hospitality and Tourism Award

Businesses were able to enter up to three categories and the winners of each category will be eligible for the Westpac Supreme Business Excellence Award. Finalists in each category will be announced by Monday 23 July and the winners will be unveiled at a gala evening dinner on August 30, featuring New Zealand Idol judge Frankie Stevens as MC.

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