Nth Shore Businesses Keen To Win 04 Awards

Start-up and emerging North Shore businesses keen to take honours at this year’s Awards

Recently established businesses on the North Shore are signalling strong interest in the latest category to be added to the Westpac Enterprise North Shore Business Excellence Awards.

The Local Directories Best New Start-up Business Award, is open to all businesses on the North Shore that were established during the past three years and have been trading for a minimum of 12 months as at March 31, 2004.

Judges require businesses entering this Award to demonstrate significant achievements, to give evidence of an effective business/marketing plan and to demonstrate an understanding of the business market and its issues and risks. As well, judges will look favourably on businesses with effective systems, processes and policies, a proactive approach in seeking advice and funding, and strategies for long-term sustainability.
Gillian Taylor, an experienced corporate strategist and planner, is one of four facilitators who are guiding entrants in all categories with their entries. She says the process of entering the Awards has a huge spin-off for new businesses.
“Entering the Awards is a reflective process for all businesses. It makes them look at where they are at and what they have achieved. Many new businesses find this helpful and it gives them a huge morale boost,” she says.

Businesses a little further down the track in their development can enter the Vector Best Emerging Business Award, which is open to all North Shore businesses that have been operating for a minimum of three years and can show a significant growth, particularly over recent years.

Ms Taylor says that a typical entrant in this category is a business that has recently achieved growth resulting from a strategic change or the addition of a new product or service. By way of example, she talks of one business entering the Vector Best Emerging Business Award 2004, that opened 12 years ago and has recently experienced significant growth through creating a tool that improves their capability.

“The interesting thing about this is that the product that has generated the growth is not the company’s core business. It was needed as a tool for its business. After a worldwide search, it became apparent the tool they needed didn’t exist. So, the company decided to manufacture it themselves. As a result they have significantly increased revenue and they now plan to sell and export the new tool.”

The Westpac Enterprise North Shore Business Excellence Awards, in its seventh year, provides North Shore businesses with a forum where they can be publicly acknowledged for their achievements.

The Awards celebrate excellent business performance that significantly contributes to the development of North Shore City’s economy and business community.

Categories in the Westpac Enterprise North Shore Business Excellence Awards 2004 are:
Clearlite Excellence in Service Delivery Award
Massey University Excellence in Technology Award
3M Excellence in Innovation Award
Vector Best Emerging Business Award
Local Directories Best New Start-up Business Award
Actionmail & Alliance Construction Excellence in Marketing Award
North Shore Times Advertiser Community Contribution Award
Veritas Employer of Choice Award
Smales Farm Excellence in Environmental Management Award
ACC ThinkSafe Work Safety Award
North Shore City Council Excellence in Tourism Award
Chelsea Sugar Excellence in Exporting Award

Category winners become eligible for the 2004 Westpac Supreme Business Excellence Award.

Entries for the Awards close at 5pm on Thursday, June 17. The 12 category winners and the overall Westpac Supreme Business Excellence Award 2004 winner will be announced at a Gala Dinner at the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna on August 26. For further information email team@enterprisens.org.nz or visit www.enterprisens.org.nz/awards May 27, 2004

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