Invercargill Publisher a Finalist in Awards

Invercargill Publisher a Finalist in Prestigious Business Awards

Keeping your head down and getting on with the work is a philosophy that’s paying dividends for Invercargill-based, educational publisher, Essential Resources.

The company, which has maintained an export growth rate averaging an impressive 105 percent a year since 2004, has just been named a finalist in the 2010 New Zealand International Business Awards in two categories: Exporter, $10 million and under; and Most Innovative Approach to International Business. The awards celebrate international business success by New Zealand businesses and recognise professional excellence and innovative practice.

Managing Director Nicola Smith said making the finals of such a prestigious award was an achievement in itself. “I’m really thrilled that we made the finals, and in such a strong line-up. As a company, we’re always so busy working and looking ahead that we don’t often stop to consider what we’ve already achieved, but this is an opportunity to do that,” she said.

Essential Resources is an innovative educational publisher of supplementary teaching materials. Its unequivocal aim is to make teachers’ working lives easier by providing them with current, well-designed resources.

In just 10 years the company has established its publications in 90 percent of New Zealand schools and 50 percent of Australian Schools. In 2008 it began exporting to the UK and more recently, to Ireland. Through tenaciously embracing technological innovations and exporting opportunities, the company has grown quickly, achieving an average export growth of 105 percent per year since 2004; with exports now accounting for 60 percent of the company’s turnover.

The announcement tops off an exhilarating week for Essential Resources, which in recent days, was also awarded a Southland Chamber of Commerce export grant of $7,500. The grant supports the development and advancement of the Southland export sector.

“It’s humbling to be given so much recognition all at once, said Mrs Smith. “I have a great team of talented, capable people and the company’s achievements reflect that. We’re proud of our Southland roots and honoured to receive the grant, which we’ll put to good use in the development of our export markets.”

Essential Resources started from small beginnings in the laundry of Mrs Smith’s family home. With four children ranging in age from 2–8 years, it was the quietest room in the house. “Those early years were lean,” she recalls, “but we never thought it wouldn’t work.”

From the outset, Mrs Smith and her business partner Geraldine Sloane had a strategic vision of how they wanted to grow the company. With a limited budget, they taught themselves how to build a website; a database; use graphic design software; and the whole publishing process. All the while, their sights were firmly focused on their primary aim. “To this day we live, eat, breathe, sleep and dream about making teachers’ working lives easier,” said Mrs Smith.

In 2004, after four years of hard slog they turned their first profit. They reinvested it back into the company and set off to their first Frankfurt Book Fair as part of the New Zealand publishers’ stand. “We used that money to begin our export journey in earnest,” said Mrs Smith.

ENDS

© Scoop Media