Who is the 'real' Dick Hubbard?

Thu, 10 Feb 2005

Who is the 'real' Dick Hubbard? The Mayor tells his story...

Mayor Dick Hubbard Launches The Enterprise Masters Breakfast Serial With His ‘Real Story’

Who is the real Dick Hubbard, what makes him tick and what were the lessons he learnt through the
challenges of building his business up from scratch?

Mayor Dick Hubbard will don his entrepreneur’s hat to reveal his ‘real story’ at the launch of the Unitec Enterprise Masters Breakfast Serial on Friday, February 25.

Businesspeople can learn from - and be inspired by - New Zealand’s leading breakfast cereal entrepreneur as he tells his real story, a journey that began 16 years ago when he set up a small muesli-making factory in Onehunga. Today Hubbard Foods has a $38 million turnover, makes 26 varieties of cereal, employs 180 staff and exports to Australia.

The Dick Hubbard story now continues as he lends his entrepreneurial skills to lead the Auckland City Council towards sustainable development and establish Auckland as New Zealand’s city for entrepreneurs.

The Breakfast Serial is an interactive event that aims to help businesspeople build their entrepreneurial skills and their networks.

Unitec NZ’s Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Dr Howard Frederick, said he was delighted to announce that one of New Zealand’s most successful entrepreneurs had agreed to speak at the event.

“Auckland is as much an entrepreneurial economy as it is a business economy”, he said. “Auckland’s entrepreneurial community can learn from and be enriched by the entrepreneurial experiences of a Mayor who is a much-needed role model and business leader for our entrepreneurs.”

With Mayor Hubbard at the helm and an Auckland City Council that was actively pursuing a sustainable development agenda, Auckland was well-placed to distinguish itself as New Zealand’s city for entrepreneurs. “It is now important for the Auckland City Council to follow up on these positive developments by developing and launching initiatives that will encourage entrepreneurs.”

He said entrepreneurs are not just born; they can be made and cultivated because many people possess the enterprising spirit. “Our culture and educational system must encourage self-employment.”

The majority of New Zealand entrepreneurs lived in the Auckland region and the youngest and smallest firms were creating the most jobs.

“We want to make our city a magnet for these diverse and creative people, as the platform for creating more social and economic wealth for society”, Dr Frederick said. “We need to recognise not just good businesses but also our innovative entrepreneurs.”

Business commentator Rod Oram will be MC of The Unitec Enterprise Masters Breakfast Serial, which will also feature an elevator pitch contest (where budding entrepreneurs will be honing their skills to deliver a captivating one-minute pitch to an investor before a panel of experts) and power networking.

The event is sponsored by Unitec NZ, Microsoft and The New Zealand Computer Society.

People can register for the event online by visiting www.enterprisemasters.unitec.ac.nz (under 'Enterprise News')

Event Details
When: 7.30am – 9am, Friday, February 25, 2005

Where: The Red Lecture Theatre, Building 180, Entry Three, Unitec NZ campus, Carrington Rd, Mt Albert.

ENDS

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