Clever Kiwis vie for export awards

Media statement Thursday, May 23, 2013

Clever Kiwis vie for export awards

New Zealand designers and suppliers of jewellery, yacht masts and aeroplane safety checks are doing such good business on distant shores; they are among finalists in the Air New Zealand Cargo ExportNZ Auckland Awards 2013.

Entries in the awards were from companies making a surprising variety of unique products and services and selling them overseas, eg, colostrum products, shellfish products, training and staff communication systems, software for a range of industries, noise reduction technology, fences and dairy milk meters, home yoghurt-making, clothes for superyacht crews, tow bars, fruit sorting machinery, meat snacks, wine and beer.

Executive officer Catherine Lye from Export New Zealand Auckland that organizes the awards, says, "It was a tough field, with such highly motivated and innovative exporters.

"The entrants in this year's awards were totally unlike each other as far as their businesses and customers were concerned. Yet each of them demonstrated particular

areas of excellence. This was so much in evidence that once the judges tallied up their scores they found small variations between each of them. This was especially

surprising because they also differed greatly in the number of people they employed, their markets, their aspirations and how they went about achieving their growth objectives.

"This goes to show the variety of clever ways Kiwis are succeeding on the world stage."

The award categories and finalists are:

Westpac Exporter of the Year (total sales over $25 million)

* Tru-Test Group - make agricultural products such as milk meters; electric fences and fence tools; weighing, electronic identification (EID) and dairy automation systems.

* New Image Group - colostrum products

* Compac Sorting Equipment - fruit sorting machinery

* Southern Spars - yacht masts, booms and rigging

QBE Insurance Exporter of the Year (total sales under $25 million)

* Best Bars - tow bars and towing systems and other automobile accessories

* Events Clothing Company - design, manufacture and supply crew uniforms to superyachts and motor yachts

* The International Travel College of New Zealand - training courses for the airline, airport, travel and tourism industries

* Merlot Aero - Airline Operations Management software to forecast, organise, plan, predict, measure and report on activity to optimise daily aircraft and crew utilisation of airlines

BDO Food & Beverage Exporter of the Year

* EasiYo Products - home yoghurt making systems and sachets of yoghurt, yoghurt drinks and yoghurt ice-cream

* Greenshell New Zealand - mussel farming and mussel products manufacture

* Invivo Wines New Zealand - wine grower and label

* Jack Link's NZ - beef jerky snacks

TNT Express Emerging Exporter of the Year

* SnapComms - company internal communications systems, eg, desktop alert messages

* Kagi Jewellery - designer jewellery

* Moa Brewing Company - beer

* Straker Translations - translations software

Baldwins Intellectual Property Commercialisation of Innovation for Export

* Greenshell New Zealand (see above)

* Phitek Systems - electro-acoustics (noise reduction technology incorporated into phone jacks and headphones)

* Southern Spars (see above)

Endace Tech StartUp of the Year - leader: Chris Komatas - Endace

* FuseLMS - tools to build and manage eLearning websites

* TranscribeMe - audio transcription

* Vend - point-of-sale and inventory software for retail sales transactions usable on all digital devices

The Supreme winner will be selected from all categories' winners and announced at the gala awards dinner on June 21.

All businesses are invited to the gala dinner in Auckland where they can hear the winners announced and celebrate with hundreds of guests.

Comedian Jeremy Corbett (and host of television show 7DAYS) will be the MC; and New Zealand singer Will Martin will perform - he's the youngest man to top the UK Classical Charts, has sung at our Rugby World Cup final, The Royal Albert Hall and Wembley Stadium.

A limited number of complimentary tickets are available to media representatives. Those planning to attend are asked to register with Catherine Lye (contact details below).

Bookings open: Gala dinner details:
What: Air New Zealand Cargo ExportNZ Auckland Awards 2013
When: Friday, June 21 from 6.30pm and seated for dinner at 7pm
Where: The Langham Auckland hotel, Symonds St, Auckland central
Dress: Black tie/formal
Tickets: www.hookedonexport.co.nz

ENDS

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