CXC Hosiery Company Founder Set For Harvard: PM Scholarship

CXC Hosiery Company Founder Set For Harvard On PM Business Scholarship

A handful of compliments about tights she’d been sent from overseas is the spark Corinne Callinan needed to create her million-dollar hosiery business – now she’s set for Harvard as one of the 2012 Prime Minister’s Business Scholarship recipients.

Alongside some of the world’s brightest business minds, CXC founder Callinan will attend Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program in Boston.

Callinan will travel to Harvard in April next year and spend eight weeks completing the postgraduate management course.

“I'm honoured to have been chosen and intend to relish the experience. I think the best way I can say 'thank you' is to grab it with both hands and gather as many skills as I can,” says Callinan.

“My objective is to get updated on global issues, strategic business planning and international business leadership. The more I can develop myself and the company, the more opportunity I can provide for the 45 women who are part of this company’s success and the more future wealth I can generate for the country’s economy.”

Established in 2004, CXC’s StepOut hosiery brand has rapidly grown its marketshare to become the number two brand and is now stocked in 340 supermarkets and other outlets around the country.

Callinan has this year released a new eco-range of hosiery, StepOut Nature, which is available in all supermarkets and already contributes to 15% of StepOut’s total sales.

The PM Business Scholarships are designed to build business capability and enhance New Zealand’s opportunity for growth by developing skills in management and international business leadership.

Prime Minister John Key says the scholarships recognise the skills, achievements and potential of some of the best and brightest business minds in New Zealand. Other scholarship recipients were in senior management roles with major New Zealand companies including Beca, Orion Health and Zespri.

The PM Business Scholarship is not the first time Callinan and CXC have been singled out as having high-growth potential, she was recently sponsored to attend the Business Dominoes course after ANZ Bank spotted the hosiery company’s capabilities.

CXC was also previously recognised by Deloitte as one of the fastest growing companies in New Zealand in 2009 and has continued to grow at about 30% year on year.

Callinan will attend an award ceremony for the PM Business Scholarship tomorrow (Tuesday, 13 November) from 5.45pm – 7.30pm, at the Beehive in Wellington.

ENDS

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