Tenacious small business overcomes adversity

Tenacious small business overcomes adversity to take out supreme award

When Jackie Rive’s husband died unexpectedly in 2004, he left her with two small children and a struggling business. Today, Brookby Herbs is proving to be a profitable, growing business, built around Jackie’s lifestyle with her daughters, and providing work for others. She has been able to spend time with her children as they are growing up, travelled extensively and grown the business substantially at the same time. She has just taken on her first licensee, and the future looks rosy as she expands the business using a model which benefits other women, providing them with lifestyle options and a steady income at the same time.

Brookby Herbs is the 2010 Supreme Winner of The David Awards: heroes in small business, as well as the winner of the Most Outstanding Lifestyle Business category and finalist in the Most Outstanding Triumph Over Adversity category.

Organiser of the awards, Heather Douglas, says, “The David Awards recognise the unsung heroes in home and small businesses throughout New Zealand, the “Davids” whose tenacity, courage and ingenuity place them firmly at the forefront of entrepreneurship in this country.”

The judges of this year’s event were impressed with the diversity of the businesses and the quality of the entries, from single-person home-based businesses to some on the brink of bursting onto the global scene.

Winners were announced during a live web broadcast, a copy of which can be viewed at www.thedavidawards.co.nz.
Category winners and finalists are as follows:
• Most outstanding fledgling business
A start-up business which is under two years young, smart, quirky, or just very professionally set up.

WINNER:
Mi5

OTHER FINALISTS:
Kiwishaver
Nudey Rudey
• Most outstanding transitional business
A promising business which has moved beyond the start-up phase and is more than 18 months old, which has a proven track record and some or all of the plans/people/systems/processes in place to make a well-above-average future a reality. This Award seeks to recognise a business planning for and/or coping with the changes required to take a business through expansion and significant growth.

WINNER:
Brolly Sheets

OTHER FINALISTS:
The Sleep Store
Vendor Sales Support
• Most outstanding triumph over adversity
A business which has succeeded in spite of challenges beyond the usual.

WINNER:
Vendor Sales Support

OTHER FINALISTS:
Pregoli
Brookby Herbs
• Most outstanding lifestyle business
A business which epitomises the ability to integrate business and lifestyle, with the owner(s) to take advantage of its flexibility to fit income generation around spending time on family or leisure activities or other pursuits.

WINNER:
Brookby Herbs

OTHER FINALISTS:
Home Brew West
The Sleep Store
• Most innovative business
Not necessarily the same thing, this is a business which either demonstrates a new or clever way of going about things, or is quirky from the ground up while incorporating great business principles.

WINNER:
Wonder Cap

OTHER FINALISTS:
Smart Box
Stickytiki
• Most inspired use of technology
A business which leverages technology in many guises to enhance efficiency, mobility and keep overheads to a minimum.

WINNER:
Made 4 Baby

OTHER FINALIST:
Vendor Sales Support
• Most inspired use of marketing
A business which punches above its weight in terms of getting the word out, achieving profile and attracting business.

WINNER:
The Sleep Store

OTHER FINALISTS:
NZ Art Guild
Kiwishaver
• Most community-minded business
A business which gives back to its community, e.g. local, regional or industry sector, in ways, shapes or forms which benefit the community significantly.

WINNER:
Anguillid

OTHER FINALIST:
NZ Art Guild

A full list of winners and finalists including links to their web sites can be found at http://www.thedavidawards.co.nz/winners.html.

Judges’ comments (which you are welcome to publish) and visuals of the winning businesses and more about The David Awards can be found in the webcase of the event at www.thedavidawards.co.nz

ENDS

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