ay of Plenty-based fertiliser giant Ballance Agri-Nutrients is sometimes in the news for what it sees as the wrong reasons.
Mainly, that is because of Ballance’s preference for the specific qualities of the phosphate rock supplied from the
Western Sahara area in the south of Morocco categorised by the UN as a non self-governing territory. Morocco contains some 75 percent of the world’s finite reserves of phosphate. Details of the differing views on the phosphate story can be read in our accompanying story on page 5.
But chief executive Mark Wynne told the Bay of Plenty Business News that the big challenge for the farmer owned co-operative was to help its 19,000 farmer members-owners become future ready.
“That’s primarily it in a nutshell,” he said, adding that farmers felt almost under attack at the moment.
Changing attitudes towards farming It had been a reasonably rapid change from the days when shepherds and their dogs were revered, and Footrot Flats and Fred Dagg were cultural icons, he said. Farmers had woken up to the fact that they were in a Continued on page 3
funding tightens despite demand for produce.
new era when people were letting them know they didn’t like everything they were doing.
“People talk about the urban rural divide. I don’t think there is that big a divide. But there is frustration around certain areas where we know we’ve got to fix the rivers, and get it together.”
Ballance’s role was not just to manufacture effective fertilisers, he said.
“Essentially we need to get right the four ‘rs’ – the right product, in the right place, in the right amount, at the right time,” he said.
Ballance has about 45 percent of the fertiliser market, with main competitor and similarly farmer-owned cooperative Ravensdown accounting for about 35 percent, said Wynne. The market was highly competitive, with a total of around 40 importers making up the remainder of supply, he said.
The company – which has around 260 of its 800 New Zealand staff based in the Mount, a fertiliser manufacturing plant at Awarua in the South Island, and three pelletised feed
operations in Morrinsville, Wanganui and Ashburton, and contributes “10s of millions of dollars” to Bay GDP.
Ballance also runs the urea/ ammonia plant in Taranaki –site of a fascinating new partnership with Hiringa Energy to use alternative energy-produced hydrogen for fuel.
Creating efficiencies
Wynne emphasised that its key concern was to do the best it could to make its farmer members more efficient and effective.
“Our innovation programme essentially wraps around that mind set,” he said.
“For example, late last year we launched a new, world first product, called SurePhos – a low water-soluble superphosphate,”
SurePhos can reduce the phosphate solubility (or runoff into rivers) by up to 75 percent, said Wynne.
“Everyone talks about Nitrogen in rivers, but phosphate is just as bad,” he said With the new product, the water soluble element can be washed off the land in the event of a major rain event and
getting an excellent market response, he said.
Wynne said he believed Ballance’s major tool was its nutrient specialists.
“We have about 100 people on the road who are advising farmers,” he said.
reduce leaching into waterways, he said.
The new product, which is currently only being manufactured in the Mount, had been
“Now everyone thinks they are there to flog fertiliser, but they are actually there to talk about their farms and make sure they can help them achieve their objectives.
“How do nutrients fit into
that farm system? We spend a lot of time training them so they understand nutrients, they understand farm systems and they know how to tease out from the farmer their real issues.”
Building digital capability
Wynne said the company’s biggest changes in the Bay had been around digital capability and innovation, including tools such as Mitigator. This
3D map of a farm taking in all available information on nutrients use, stock, farm systems, contours and soil types. It operates on the basis of finding where the majority of phosphate leaching, nitrate leaching, your sediment runoff, and e coli buildup and ranks the farm in terms of how best to mitigate the unwanted side effects.
“I think we’re making progress.”
CONTACT INFORMATION
PUBLISHER
Alan Neben
Ph: (07) 838 1333
Mob: 021 733 536
Email: alan@bopbusinessnews.co.nz
EDITOR
David Porter
Mob: 021 884 858
Email: david@bopbusinessnews.co.nz
PRODUCTION
Copy/Proofs/Graphic Design
Times Media – Clare McGillivray
Ph: (09) 271 8067
Email: clare@times.co.nz
ADVERTISING INQUIRIES
BUSINESS DIRECTOR
Pete Wales
Mob: 022 495 9248
Email: pete@bopbusinessnews.co.nz
Bay of Plenty Business Publications specialises in business publishing, advertising, design and print media services. www.bopbusinessnews.co.nz
Bay of Plenty Business News has a circulation of 8000, distributed throughout Bay of Plenty between Waihi and Opotiki including Rotorua and Taupo, and to a subscription base. www.bopbusinessnews.co.nz
Bay of Plenty Business Publications 210/424 Maunganui Road, Mount Maunganui, 3116
This month’s cover story takes an in-depth look at major Bay of Plenty company Ballance Agri-Nutrients, which contributes millions to the Bay’s GDP and has 260 of its 800 New Zealand staff based in the Mount. Although in the media because it sources phosphate from a disputed area in the Western Sahara – an issue we also cover – chief executive Mark Wynne says the big challenge for the farmer owned co-operative is to help its 19,000 farmer members-owners become future ready.
“That’s primarily it in a nutshell,” he said, adding that farmers felt almost under attack at the moment.
“People talk about the urban rural divide. I don’t think there is that big a divide. But there is frustration around certain areas where we know we’ve got to fix the rivers, and get it together.”
Ballance’s role was not just to manufacture effective fertilisers, he said.
“Essentially we need to get right the four ‘rs’ – the right product, in the right place, in the right amount, at the right time,” he said.
Meanwhile, the dairy sector is not alone in struggling for
bank finance, with the horticultural sector also finding funding tougher to come by since the New Year.
Mike Chapman, chief executive of Horticulture New Zealand, said he is hearing anecdotally from growers in every sector of horticultureincluding kiwifruit - that banks are proving tight fisted over funding options for the sector.
“Banks demand security and they have increased the security that they demand to reduce their risk,” he says. “As a result, the opportunity for the rural sector to expand has been reduced. This situation is for new loans, as well as for the renewal of existing loans.”
Chapman said the funding limitations also come off the back of the new Reserve Bank capital requirements coming into play. “It also seems that if you are going to plant a forest, there is plenty of support there, but that is very much a one trick pony policy,” he said.
And finally, some good news for the Bay from China.
In our Special Focus on Zespri’s formal opening of its new headquarters, we report that it has also just received welcome key trademark protection status against copyright infringements in mainland
China.
The trademark protection will deliver a boost to Zespri’s in-market protection through significantly stronger legal and administrative powers open to it for pursuing breaches of its intellectual property.
Zespri now shares this reinforced protection with such high profile companies as Disney and Ferrero Rocher, and is the first New Zealand company to be offered it. The protection has been issued by the Shanghai government, but it is being circulated throughout China to other provinces, ensuring it receives national priority for brand protection.
Meanwhile, here in New Zealand, Zespri has been awarded $15 million in damages in a civil court case against an individual who allegedly sent SunGold G3 plants to China.
David Porter
Phosphate dispute’s colonial roots
Ballance Agri-Nutrients recently hosted a delegation of officials from Morocco’s OCP. The visit was one of several regular visits to New Zealand aimed at countering the campaign by representatives of Polisario, the organisation that claims to reflect the views of those Saharawi people largely living in refugee camps in Algeria.
BY DAVID PORTER
Representatives of OCP – the world’s biggest phosphate mining company – spoke to Bay of Plenty Business News. The Boucra mine OCP controls is in the disputed Western Sahara region, which is regarded by the UN as a non self-governing territory under the legal administrative authority of Spain, but under de-facto Moroccan civil and military occupation.
The OCP representatives emphasized that the Boucra mine was a key source of social development for approximately 500,000 Sahawaris living in the disputed region, and the 2100 directly employed by the mine.
The mine supplies approximately 70 percent of the phosphate imported by New Zealand. But according to the OCP officials, the Western Saharan phosphate represents only two percent of Morocco’s total phosphate reserves, most of which are in the north in undisputed territory.
Small portion of exports to NZ
Last year Boucra sent approximately 22 percent of its output to New Zealand, the balance going to other countries worldwide. Between them Ballance Agri-Nutrients and its main competitor, fellow farmers cooperative Ravensdown, import about $30 million worth of phosphate a year from the disputed territory.
Hajbouha Zoubeir, president, Phosboucra Foundation, OCP, said the total Boucra exports were approximately
“We’ve been visiting the region for 20 years now and seen huge development of infrastructure over that time.”
– Mark Wynne
400,000 tonnes, compared to the 11 million tonnes OCP produced.
“That is nothing to what we sell around the world,” she said.
Zoubeir, whose father originally worked in the mine, is a Sahawari. She said families in the region benefit from OCP’s massive investment in the community, including schools, hospitals and social programmes.
Major phosphate source
Morocco holds around 75 percent of known worldwide deposits, only around two percent of which are in the Western Sahara.
Boucra was originally owned by a Spanish company and the regional dispute has its origins four decades ago when Spain left its former colony. Polisaro regards Morocco as having invaded the region in 1976 when Spain withdrew as an occupying power, driving out many Sahawaris into refugee camps on the Algerian side of the border.
OCP took over the mine in 2002, when, according to Zoubeir, it was not producing any income.
According to Zoubeir, Boucra did not make a profit until 2008 and the parent company still did not receive any income from it, instead reinvesting it in the development projects in the region.
“People say the mine doesn’t benefit local people,” she said.
“What I can say is it does. They say it is the biggest mine in Morocco – but it is actually the smallest. They say the money goes to the north, whereas none goes to the north.”
The trade was completely in conformity of international rules, she said.
Ballance chief executive Mark Wynne told Bay of Plenty Business News that its superphosphate was made up of approximately 70 percent from Boucra, with the remainder from South Africa, Vietnam and some from Christmas Island. The Boucra phosphate is low in cadmium, and high in carbonate, making it particularly suitable for application to New Zealand’s soils, he said.
According to Ballance, without phosphate fertilisers, New Zealand rural production would fall at least 50 percent, which equates to a $10 billion per year hit to the economy.
“We’ve been visiting the region for 20 years now and seen huge development of infrastructure over that time,” he said.
“We have met many of the employees who have directly benefited from the social, health and educational programmes that OCP continues to deliver.”
But ultimately, it was something the UN needed to resolve, said Wynne.
Hajbouha Zoubeir and M’barka Bouaida,president of the Regional Council of Guelmim Oued Noun,withTauranga mayorTenby Powell during OCP’s recent visit to New Zealand. Photos/Supplied. (Main picture,Boucra phosphate)
Inflation remains subdued, central banks remain committed to low interest rates, and trade tensions between the US and China have de-escalated (for now) with the signing of a Phase 1 trade agreement in mid-January.
The progress in trade negotiations between the world’s two largest economies appeared to have helped stimulate improved economic activity highlighted by improved commodity prices and better manufacturing data.
Consumers remain an economic strength in most developed markets. Jobs are plentiful, and real wages and salaries are rising. Low interest rates have reduced debt servicing costs, and strong asset prices, including for housing, have made consumers feel wealthier. Consumers will continue to spend (outside of coronavirus fears), and housing construction is buoyant.
But then came along coronavirus
Markets don’t like uncertainty, and coronavirus was an unanticipated risk.
Health-scares impact economic activity through factors such as people spending and
travelling less. If it becomes significant enough – such as the coronavirus – quarantine measures are put into effect and places of work are closed. China has quarantined an estimated 60 million people and extended the annual Lunar New Year holiday beyond the traditional one-to-two week celebration period. Because coronavirus is centred in China where so much of the world’s manufacturing is based, work closures can disrupt global supply chains meaning companies around the world are not able to obtain products and services essential to their businesses.
No one knows how far and wide the coronavirus may spread, and therefore what the impact on global markets may be. Other recent series viral epidemics include SARS (2003), MERS (2012), Zika (20152016), and Ebola (2018).
The most comparable to the Wuhan coronavirus is SARS, which infected thousands
across the Asia Pacific region. At the start of that epidemic, the regional global equity index (MSCI Pacific ex Japan) dropped -13 percent. In the US, equities dropped as much as minus five percent. Markets did not fully recover until the virus was contained. China is now a far larger contributor to the global economy than it was in 2003, so the threat the virus represents is more significant today. However, if the coronavirus follows the pattern of previous epidemics, then the economic impact will be relatively short-lived.
Investors still need returns
The dominant influence on markets since the beginning of 2019 has been the world’s central banks’ commitment to low interest rates. Last year the markets climbed a wall of worry to deliver exceptional returns despite headline-grabbing risks such as trade wars,
WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR MONEY
> BY BRETT BELL-BOOTH
Investment Adviser with Forsyth Barr Limited in Tauranga, and an Authorised Financial Adviser. Phone (07) 577 5725 or email brett.bell-booth@forsythbarr.co.nz.
Brexit, Hong Kong protests, and US-Iran tensions.
In a world of ultra-low interest rates, we suspect equities will likely continue to be supported by the “TINA” effect. For many investors “there is no alternative” (TINA) to equities to generate an acceptable investment return. Meaning, as we have seen in early February, any pullback in equity prices will likely be met with good buyer demand.
Mergers and acquisitions remain a feature of the market
An additional consequence of low interest rates has been a sharp resurgence in corporate merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. 2019 saw a number of companies acquired and delisted from the NZX, including TradeMe, Methven, Orion Healthcare, and SLI Systems. Late last year the boards of both Abano Healthcare and
Metlifecare recommended takeover offers, which are pending shareholder approval. And this year Augusta Capital has followed suit. Conditions remain ripe for M&A activity to continue. High stock prices provide companies with a strong takeover “currency”, interest rates and funding costs are low, and private equity funds around the world have record levels of cash they are looking to deploy.
Diversification is the best risk management tool
Equity markets finished 2019 very strongly and that momentum carried on into 2020. The recent volatility due to coronavirus concerns should be taken in that context. Interest rates remain historically low and central banks are expected to provide further support to markets if needed this year.
The outlook for global corporate earnings remains positive although we expect companies will now be more conservative around their outlooks. The future is inherently uncertain, and markets can always face unexpected shocks. Diversification remains the key risk management tool. We recommend clients maintain a balanced approach with diversified exposure to both equities (across a range of geographies and industries) and high-quality fixed income. This helps cushion short-term volatility while also offering the potential to capture long-term capital growth.
This column is general in nature and is not personalised investment advice. This column has been prepared in good faith based on information obtained from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. Disclosure Statements for Forsyth Barr Authorised Financial Advisers are available on request and free of charge.
BEWARE OF FOREIGN IMITATIONS.
There’s no shortage of great ideas in New Zealand. But for an innovative bunch, we’re not the best at realising the full potential of our innovations, particularly when exporting them.
At James & Wells, we can identify your competitive edge, offer business strategies for specific markets and help you own and leverage your intellectual property to ensure no one steals the fruit of your labour.
achieve more
Exceed your expectations with us
Nothing substitutes for dedication, persistence and hard work. Nothing amplifies that like working with professionals that share the same values and goals. Achieve more with the best real estate team in New Zealand.
If you don’t know where you are going, then any road will do
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUES
> BY DAVID MACASKILL
David Macaskill is a Senior Associate at James & Wells with expertise in all areas of intellectual property and a particular focus on Intellectual Property Strategy. He can be contacted at 07 957 5660 (Hamilton) or 07 928 4470 (Tauranga), and davidmacaskill@jamesandwells.com.
The competitive and fast-changing business environment is posing new challenges for all businesses. An effective tool in combating these challenges is the development of an intellectual property (IP) strategy.
Although it sounds complex, an IP Strategy is simply a plan detailing how a business will use IP rights and knowledge to help achieve its objectives, by developing its intangible assets and reducing risk.
Managed well, IP can be a powerful tool.
For instance, it can help with attracting and retaining customers, improving margins, increasing productivity, competing more effectively in the market, or securing a deal with a partner or distributor.
Is IP Strategy relevant to me?
IP Strategy is relevant for all businesses because it secures and leverages your intangible
assets, ensuring that you can continue to enjoy the benefits of your competitive advantage.
Many businesses have never considered how IP rights are relevant to them and whether better outcomes could be achieved by controlling and leveraging those rights.
The process of developing an IP Strategy is also an opportunity to reassess your existing assumptions and critically evaluate your business.
Businesses that will find an IP strategy particularly beneficial include:
• Existing businesses investing in R&D and new product development. These businesses need to be able to identify their outputs and make informed decisions.
• Established or emerging
exporters. These businesses are exposed to new and variable threats as they encounter new markets, unfamiliar legal considerations and different competitors.
• Businesses commercialising a new product or innovation. These businesses are often creating a new market segment, disrupting an existing market, or competing with an established market leader. This can bring them onto the radar of the incumbents, who are only too willing to leverage their market dominance to squeeze out the new player.
• Businesses that are raising money to help start or grow a business. Investors want assurance that a business can operate without
infringement risk, and that they own the assets critical to the business’s growth.
• Businesses looking to generate passive income by licensing their innovations to third parties for commercialisation. These businesses must have control and ownership of their IP rights in order to leverage them in licensing deals.
• Businesses looking to pivot or redefine themselves to compete in a changing environment. Basically, any business looking to maximise return on investment and improve its chance of success.
What does an IP Strategy involve?
The scope and scale of an IP Strategy is limited only by a business’s goals and its willingness to commit.
There’s no one-size-fits all approach, but that means that you can easily and cost effectively develop an IP Strategy to meet your business’s needs.
An IP strategy may include:
• Integrating and embedding IP thinking into your overarching business strategy.
• Identifying early what IP is owned or generated in your organisation and how it will sustain or grow your business.
• Identifying and capturing your IP in a timely and systematic way. This will help with identifying and controlling your IP.
• Considering timing of disclosure of innovations and when to make decisions.
Confidentiality can mean the difference between securing certain IP rights or not.
How do I develop an IP Strategy?
Knowing how to start is often the hardest part of the process.
Initially it pays to talk to someone with experience developing and implementing an IP Strategy, who can answer your questions and reassure you that the investment of time and effort is justified.
This may be other business owners and leaders, or an IP advisor with proven strategic experience.
The Innovation IP® program is a useful tool for getting started with IP Strategy.
An IP professional will start by gaining an understanding of your business perhaps by talking with key team members, learning about the business’s history and growth, understanding future business plans and goals, and touring premises.
Innovation IP®, is a two-stage programme that Callaghan Innovation part-funds in which businesses work with an IP professional to create and implement a bespoke IP Strategy. During Stage one, businesses build on their knowledge of IP rights and learn how they can be managed to achieve the defined business goals. They identify their key IP assets and develop an IP strategy that aligns with their business strategy. During Stage two, businesses implement the strategy.
Where can I find out more?
James & Wells is an approved provider for both Stage 1 and Stage 2 provider of the Innovation IP® programme – see our website www.jamesandwells. com for more details.
The importance of walking the talk
I am continually amazed at what appears to me to be a growing gap between what people say and what they actually do.
In the business world one would expect it to be relativity simple, be clear on what you are offering, and deliver on that. Walk the talk – or just do what you say you are going to do. In other words, deliver. These gaping holes appear everywhere. From how long it takes to get a cup of coffee and the quality or lack of said coffee, through to having supposedly customer-centric large companies address customers’ issues.
What’s this got to do with
franchising? I believe the franchise business model can address the delivery of walk the talk in a number of unique ways.
Franchise systems provide frameworks
Franchising involves the systemisation and documentation of a business process, service or product.
To be successful as a brand, a franchise system needs to be not only be good at, but able to reproduce the process, and train others to do it. Reproduce, refine, develop. A franchise is also more likely to monitor feedback and use it as a proxy measure of customer delivery versus solely revenue. Whatever it is, chances are that it will evolve over time and benefit from group learnings.
The franchise mind set
As a business model, franchising is not for everyone, but a successful franchisee will be one that is able to follow a model or process.
This starts at the beginning when they apply for or examine a franchise business. The franchisor is able to see quickly whether or not the franchisee can follow an application process. If they can follow the systems here they are more likely to follow the systems that are designed to walk the talk in the business itself. The franchisee picks up the system, and one supports the other.
Human nature helps. As competitive individuals, franchisees often share and compare information on performance, which leads, no great surprise, to improved perfor-
FRANCHISING
> BY NATHAN BONNEY
Nathan Bonney is a director of Iridium Partners. He can be reached at nathan@iridium.net.nz or 0275-393-022
mance. Corporates may have similar benchmarking, but for franchisees it’s far more personal, which leads us to the last area where they have a great incentive to walk the talk.
Everyone has skin in the game
Here’s the big kicker and it’s a factor that is very difficult for a corporate model to emulate. A franchisee has a personal and vested interest to deliver.
Incentive programs, KPI’s and the like cannot reproduce for an employee what the personal skin in the game provides for a franchisee. It’s personal – their livelihoods depend on it. They are closer to the customer interaction and as such more motivated to walk the talk. Add the next layer to this. A good franchisor will ensure that the franchisee is walking the talk. They will receive coaching, training and if ultimately, they are unable to walk
the talk, the franchisor will assist them in walking along. I am not saying that a franchise business is going to deliver the goods each and every time, because obviously there are multiple factors involved. However, starting with a systemised approach for a business that has already proven that it works, delivered by an individual that has a personal interest in delivering well on the business offering, sounds promising to me.
Tell ’im he’s dreaming
A few of you may remember the 1997 Australian movie, The Castle. It was a comedy classic about a family in Melbourne whose home was being compulsorily acquired by the airport – and the family’s efforts to fight this. A few times in the movie one of the sons, Steve, reads the local trading newspaper (two years pre TradeMe) – and after telling the dad Darryl about an advert, he responds with the now timeless line “tell ’im he’s dreaming.”
Now here is where I tell you what this has to do with buying a business.
I suggest it is not uncommon for a prospective business buyer to go to an accountant all excited to tell them about the potential business they have found to buy. And sometimes the response is effectively “tell ’im he’s dreaming.”
Now of course at times this is absolutely the right thing to say. There are vendors out there who want moonbeams for their business – and it is our job to advise our clients that that price is too high in that case.
However, I believe there are other occasions where we risk pouring cold water on an idea – without necessarily holding all the facts.
It’s not just about the money
Generally, accountants see a lot of businesses across many industries – which means we see success, but also failure. We want to protect our clients from poor decisions. But what we do not see as often as business brokers, is what businesses sell for.
Most of the time when a client brings us a business to consider, they do not want to pay for us to do our own valuation. They just ask us for our views on whether it is worth the price. We must watch out that we give advice based on facts – and not any inherent bias that a value should not be over say a 3x multiple etc. There is a risk that if we do
not take the time to understand the opportunity, the motivations and plans of the buyer and the reasons why the business is asking for a particular sum, we may do our clients a disservice.
People buy businesses for many reasons – and money is just one of them. Sometimes it is for lifestyle and location reasons. Sometimes it is just to have the opportunity to be self-employed. Often it is a bit of all the above.
BETTER BUSINESS BUYING
> BY TOM BESWICK
Director at Ingham Mora Chartered Accountants in Tauranga, is a business advisor who specialises in buying and selling businesses. He can be contacted on 027-5744- 019 or tom@inghammora.co.nz
Now accountants are not taught what to do about any of the touchy-feely reasons, so we gravitate to the numbers by nature. Sometimes that can risk souring a buyer on an idea they were previously excited about – and that might not be in their best interest.
As a rule, I think it is fair to say that most asking prices bear some relationship to the valuation the broker has done on the business. That appraisal should reflect what other people have paid in recent times for similar businesses. So, it should (for the most part) be a reasonable starting point in a negotiation.
Overall, I believe the accountant’s role is to understand why the vendor is asking for what they are, and then to help the prospective buyer understand the wider opportunities and risks of the acquisition – not just the multiple of profits being asked. I think this is more valuable advice then a default setting of “tell ’im he’s dreaming.”
ENSURE IT’S ALL PLAIN SAILING FROM HERE
As a busy business owner, you may not have had time to consider what will happen when you want to exit your business.
That’s where Tabak can help.
A successful sale and smooth transition out of business ownership depends on achieving a clear understanding of market conditions and the potential sale value of your business.
Our team of business brokers are experts in guiding business owners through this process.
So if you are looking for expert, tailored advice on how to prepare your business for sale we want to hear from you.
Trustpower Baypark – the Hub of Entertainment in the Bay of Plenty
Recognised as the Bay of Plenty’s Hub of Entertainment, 2020 is keeping up the tradition and is shaping up to be extremely busy. The calendar of upcoming events is jam- packed full of a diverse range of things to do and see.
Speedway
Speedway season is in full swing, with many more action-packed nights of racing for the whole family still to come including February 8 & 22, and March 7 & 21.
If you are interested in watching the races from the comfort of one of our Corporate Boxes contact events@ bayvenues.co.nz us for more information. Check out www. bayparkspeedway.co.nz for further race details.
Tattoo and Art Extravaganza
The NZ Tattoo and Art Extravaganza is back again on 14 & 15 March.
Prepare yourself for the best international and local tattoo artists festival, indoor and outdoor zones, live entertainment, Wearable Art Show, Creative Village, caravan street art exhibition, bike stunts, live bands, ‘The Island’ – with a variety of food and drinks and more. Come along to celebrate creativity & celebrate life.
Netball
The new domestic league was launched by Netball New Zealand as a successor to the ANZ Championship, a Trans-Tasman netball competition that was contested by five Australian teams and five New Zealand teams starting from 2008.
The ANZ Championship saw netball reach the status of a semi-professional sport in both countries, with players making significantly higher salaries than in previous competitions.
Seniors and Travel Expo
The Seniors and Travel Expo 2020 is on March 28 & 29 from 10am to 3pm. The Expo has expanded to many more exhibits offering many more options from Ocean Cruising, River Cruising, travel within New Zealand destinations, in fact, 50 plus destinations to learn about.
There will be caravans on show for tripping around, and lots more options to suit all tastes and budgets. Colin explains “The purpose of the Expo is to provide seniors with first-hand opportunities to discuss products and services usually advertised in magazines and newspapers alone.”
The Expo is showcasing a vast range of services and products for seniors in one convenient location and it’s all for free. This year Ray Woolf
Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic Netball Team play against the Otago Northern Stars in Round 2 of the ANZ Premiership competition on 23 March at Baypark. The ANZ Premiership is the premier domestic netball league in New Zealand.
entertains us, live at 1pm, both days, singing 60s and 70s hits, including songs by Matt Munro, such as Walk Away, Born Free, Portrait of my Love, etc. An event not to be missed, loads of information and entertainment, and tastings for all.
Pacific Rim Gymnastics
Tauranga has secured hosting rights for the 2020 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships which will take place 17 to 19 April.
The biennial international event gathers the best of men’s and women’s artistic, rhythmic and trampoline gymnastics from the 21 eligible Pacific Rim nations, including traditional power houses. The US, Russia, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Chile and Mexico are among the countries already registered.
The Pacific Rim Championships is one of only three events on the international calendar that competes all four Olympic sports under one roof.
As in other Olympic years, the event is expected to continue to play a key lead-in for Tokyo 2020 Olympians.
The 2016 Pacific Rim Championships saw several subsequent Rio Olympians take the floor including world gymnastics phenomenon Simone Biles, alongside New Zealand’s own Olympians
Dylan Schmidt and Courtney McGregor.
Schmidt is no stranger to the Pacific Rim Championships having won bronze in 2016 in the lead-up to his Olympic debut in Rio. In 2012, he gained recognition
on the world stage by winning gold in the junior division. 2020 will be Schmidt’s fifth championships.
Trustpower Baypark offer a complete package for any event with state of the
conference and meeting rooms, full Professional Conference Organiser (PCO) event management services, in-house catering, audio visual services and marketing/promotions. Meet at Baypark for your next event.
art
International gymnastics likely to be a proving ground for the Olympics. Photos/Supplied.
Zespri officially opens new Mount Maunganui head office
Zespri officially opened its Mount Maunganui head office in February as part of the kiwifruit industry’s marquee Momentum 2020 conference.
With phase one of the new building complex completed in April 2019, phase two has seen the completion of a new meeting wing featuring an additional 486 sqm space, five meeting rooms and a demonstration kitchen. The building project saw Zespri work with a range of construction partners including Beca, Hawkins, Rider Levett Bucknall and Warren and Mahoney.
The office was officially opened by Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor, with four previous Zespri Chairmen – Craig Greenlees, Peter McBride, John Palmer and Doug Voss – cutting a commemorative ribbon in front of around 500 growers, Zespri customers, representatives from NZKGI, KVH and the post-harvest sector.
Zespri Chair Bruce Cameron said the completion of the
complex represented a significant milestone for the kiwifruit industry.
“We’re very proud of our story and the contributions our industry has been able to make to growers and our local communities.
“This building was always designed to be a hub for the industry and to celebrate its completion with so many of our industry stalwarts and customers during Momentum 2020 is a fitting way for us to start what we hope will be another successful year for our industry.
“With the building’s completion and our recent brand refresh, Zespri now has an excellent platform for its next phase of growth which we hope will enable us to create continued strong returns for our growers and help people, communities and the environment around the world thrive through the goodness of kiwifruit.”
Multi-functional centre
The total office complex is now 5264 sqm, with the meeting wing’s demonstration kitchen designed to enable the industry to host tour groups and provide a multi-functional space for significant events.
“Last year alone we hosted nearly 800 visitors and the new meeting wing provides not only a stunning space to host them, but also educate them about our industry’s history,” said Cameron.
“The meeting rooms all carry names of significance to our industry, recognising people like Alexander Allison, Isabel Fraser or Hayward Wright, and important locations around the world.”
Within the complex there is also a redeveloped greenspace which Cameron said would provide a fantastic spot for both the Zespri team and the
mentum 2020, the building also features a number of sustainable design features.
We hope that being able to enjoy a fantastic open green space in the heart of Mount Maunganui might encourage some of the next generation to think about a future career in our industry.” – Bruce Cameron
wider public to enjoy.
“We hope that being able to enjoy a fantastic open green space in the heart of Mount Maunganui might encourage
some of the next generation to think about a future career in our industry.”
Reflecting the commitments announced during Mo-
“Embracing sustainable design principles was certainly a focus for us in this build,” said Cameron.
“The complex features solar roof panels, energy efficient sensor lighting, grey water storage, electric vehicle charging stations, ability to charge 16 electric bikes and improved recycling options. We’ve already seen some efficiencies and we’re looking forward to that continuing with the new wing now in action.”
HAWKINS is proud to have built the new head office for Zespri
Cutting the ribbon:Craig Greenlees,DougVoss,Peter McBride,John Palmer and Dan Mathieson. Photo/JamieTroughton,Dscribe Media.
Growers urged to yell louder on produce benefits
Kiwifruit growers have been urged to sing their own praises louder in the market to their consumers, as plant-based foods risk stealing the limelight after several years of phenomenal growth.
Cathy Burns heads up the Produce Marketing Association (PMA), a global trade organisation representing more than 2000 floral and produce producers and accounting for several billion dollars of global produce trade.
Addressing delegates at the recent Zespri Momentum conference in Tauranga, she said one of the biggest emerging trends in consumer behaviour in six regions surveyed globally was “healthy living”.
“This includes a desire to shed things from the diet that are not good for me, and it has become a proxy term for ‘intelligence’ and ‘social acceptance’,” she said.
“There are two main pathways are been seen in behaviour to achieve that outcome, choosing organics and plant-based foods in the diet.”
Organic produce accounted for 36 percent of total organic spend in the US, with dairy products next accounting for about 18 percent in a sector that
has enjoyed almost 10 percent per annum growth for the past 10 years.
“For the first time we have seen the US organics market break the US$50 billion mark for sales in 2018 and we do not see that slowing down at all.”
Obviously, PMA members got to enjoy the growth organic produce has experienced in recent years. But it was the growth in plant-based foods and the claims those foods were making that gave Burns and her executive most concern.
“We are the original plantbased food [as produce growers], and someone else is going out and talking our story.”
This sector was now at US$19 billion and expected to be valued at US$85 billion by 2030.
Stronger
messaging needed
Claims of low environmental footprint and good health benefits were already well
substantiated by the fresh produce sector, but simply telling people “eating fruit and vegies is healthy for you” was not enough, she said.
The kiwifruit sector had already made major advances by validating its gut health claim several years ago.
This had in turn been linked to a product supported with strong marketing and connections to growers, something consumers were seeking more of when considering purchases.
The use of videos to tell product stories on the internet was a valuable plank for promotion, given this year videos are estimated to form 80 percent of all global internet traffic.
Worldwide, people were spending 84 minutes a day watching video on line and 50 percent of video watched on line is on a mobile device, with 90 percent shared with friends.
Add in the most popular social media platform of choice, which is now Instagram, 89
percent of users were aged under 35.
“I cannot think of a better time to capitalise on what you are already doing.”
The message about fresh produce’s health benefits was one increasingly easy for growers to back up with evidence.
Burns pointed to health practitioners in the United States who “prescribed” fruit and vegetables to their patients.
A programme in Connecticut, “Wholesome Wave,” had 55.3 percent of participants reporting an increase in their fruit and vegetable consumption.
Over one-third of child participants showed a decreased Body Mass Index, the metric used for measuring obesity, since enrolling in the program.
Sustainability policy ramping up
Zespri also used the Momentum conference to announce its sustainability policy for heading towards 2025, by which time all products used for packaging would be reusable, recyclable or compostable.
It has committed to reduce its packaging footprint by 25 percent per kg of fruit produced by 2030, building on a track record of consistent packaging improvements.
Burns said PMA had identified consumer concerns over environmental footprint, and plastic waste in particular was a key area influencing consumption decisions.
In the US, 72 percent of
We are the original plant-based food [as produce growers], and someone else is going out and talking our story.”
– Cathy Burns
consumers expected grocery chains to have a sustainability policy, and 62 percent expected the same from their restaurants.
But recent research out of Holland had also highlighted how much of an issue food waste was. Researchers now maintain food waste may actually be almost double the 1.3 billion tonnes a year estimated by the United Nations at present.
Zespri chief innovation and sustainability officer Carol Ward said the packaging announcements were based on the company’s belief in respecting and enhancing the natural environment, optimising natural resources and fostering health and wellbeing.
Zespri already had 95 percent of its packaging used to transport our kiwifruit to market as cardboard, but realised there was more to do, she said. “Today’s consumers care about what their food is wrapped in, want to know more about where it comes from and are seeking reassurance that it’s been grown in a way that enhances the environment and supports livelihoods.”
We have been a tiny part of your huge success, from the very begining. We have been a tiny part of their huge success, from the very beginning.
We have been a tiny part of your huge success, from the very begining.
Jenkins is proud to be supplying the kiwifruit industry with the worlds first fully certified food grade, compostable fruit label.
Jenkins is proud to be supplying the kiwifruit industry with the worlds first fully certified food grade, compostable fruit label.
Produce MarketingAssociation CEO Cathy Burns:Kiwifruit companies should sing their own raises louder. Photo/Supplied
Zespri boost to Chinese trademark protection
As Zespri works to identify plots of illegally grown kiwifruit in China, it has also just received welcome key trademark protection status against copyright infringements in mainland China.
By RICHARD RENNIE
The trademark protection will deliver a boost to Zespri’s in-market protection through significantly stronger legal and administrative powers open to it for pursuing breaches of its intellectual property.
Zespri now shares this reinforced protection with such high profile companies as Disney and Ferrero Rocher, and is the first New Zealand company to be offered it.
Zespri’s general manager for greater China, Michael Jiang, said there was significant kudos for the company to be awarded such protection. It was a conscious acknowledge-
ment of the high profile it held as a foreign brand in China, he added.
To be circulated throughout China
The protection has been issued by the Shanghai government, but it is being circulated throughout China to other provinces, ensuring it receives national priority for brand protection.
Jiang said having the boosted protection meant Zespri will be able to act on companies using the brand for products other than just fresh fruit, something it was unable to do before.
Meanwhile, here in New
The recognition also reflects the challenges Zespri is facing with counterfeiting in China, including with the unauthorised growing of our Zespri SunGold kiwifruit variety there.”
– Michael Jiang
Zealand, Zespri has been awarded $15 million in damages in a civil court case against an individual who allegedly sent SunGold G3 plants to China. (see accompanying story)
The trademark protection afforded Zespri, marks moves by Chinese authorities to clamp down on the notoriously high level of counterfeiting that has blighted most aspects of Chinese commerce in the past.
New trademark protection laws came into effect from 1 November last year, with the
be
maximum penalty doubled to just over US$700,000.
Two years ago, the sale of more than a million pieces of fake Dole, Zespri and Sunkist labels resulted in a company’s directors and staff being sentenced, including a two-year jail term.
Over 100 trays of fake Zespri fruit were also intercepted by government officials in the Xiamen province.
Zespri welcomes successful defence of IP rights
ZBy DAVID PORTER
espri has welcomed the successful result of legal action taken against a forrmer kiwifruit grower who took Zespri’s protected plant material to China, where it has continued to spread.
The court awarded Zespri almost $15 million in damages. Zespri will now consider its options in China in relation to Gao and his associates, as well as seek to collect the damages awarded.
The civil action was launched in 2018 against kiwifruit grower
Haoyu Gao, his wife Xia Xue and their company Smiling Face Limited, after Zespri discovered that two of Zespri’s protected kiwifruit varieties had been taken from New Zealand to China and propagated by Gao and his associates.
Efforts by Zespri to work with Chinese authorities to identify and prosecute owners of the illegally grown fruit make it the first fruit
company to dispute such an instance on Chinese soil.
The Court found that Gao had fraudulently offered to sell Zespri’s varieties as well as the right to licence them to parties in China – a right exclusively retained by Zespri. It had also facilitated the planting of Zespri’s varieties on Chinese orchards and breached his contractual obligation to notify Zespri of any infringement that they were aware of.
Important decision for growers
Zespri’s chief grower and alliances officer Dave Courtney said it was an important decision for New Zealand’s kiwifruit growers, as well as for other New Zealand horticultural businesses. It gave them the confidence that if they continued to invest in research and development to create value for New Zealand, they would have protections against
those who seek to undermine that, he said.
“Gao’s actions, along with those of his associates, put at risk the livelihoods of New Zealand’s 2,800 growers, directly contributing to the unauthorised spread of Zespri’s SunGold Kiwifruit in China which has the potential to cost New Zealand communities significantly.
“Zespri has been investigating
the spread of unauthorised plantings of its varieties in China and has identified parties associated with Gao, as well as others who were involved in the establishment of SunGold in China and who knowingly misled Chinese investors and growers to plant Zespri’s varieties without authorisation.”
Courtney said the Chinese Government had strong Plant Variety Right (PVR) legislation, which it is in the process of strengthening further, alongside enforcement provisions.
Encouraging development
“We’re very encouraged by that, as well as by China’s broader commitment and efforts to clamp down on other types of intellectual property infringement in China and we hope to work alongside Chinese officials to strengthen the protections of investors and IP holders further. “
“New Zealand and China are
Zespri staff have fought an ongoing battle with companies duplicating company logos and packaging, often with only minor detectable variances from legal versions.
“The recognition also reflects the challenges Zespri is facing with counterfeiting in China, including with the unauthorised growing of our Zespri SunGold kiwifruit variety there,” said Jiang. “And is another demonstration of the support we have received from Chinese authorities.”
Food fraud is becoming an increasing focus for Chinese authorities, with a 40 percent increase in the number of food-related cases heard by Shanghai courts between 2015-17.
both in the process of bringing their PVR legislation into line with the latest UPOV [International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants] standards. This decision is a clear recognition of the importance of governments continuing to progress multi-lateral protection mechanisms for innovation and intangible assets.”
Courtney said investment in new plant varieties was becoming an increasingly important way of creating value around the world and the sector needed to protect intellectual property rights to encourage that investment and to feed the world.
“Zespri is talking to other plant variety rights owners in New Zealand and around the world about how we can work together to protect those rights for the benefit of growers and consumers who receive the benefit of the extensive quality and food safety innovation and practices that plant variety owners place around their protected varieties.”
Fake“Zespri”lookalikes could
a less of a problem,following Chinese support in curbing counterfeits. Photo/Supplied.
New refreshed branding for Zespri. Photo/Supplied.
New sustainability commitments
Zespri has announced a new commitment to make all of its packaging 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
By DAVID PORTER
The announcement is one of a suite of sustainability commitments shared recently with growers, consumers and suppliers at the New Zealand kiwifruit industry’s marquee conference – Momentum 2020: Standing Up and Standing Out.
Zespri also revealed commitments that by 2025, any plastic packaging will be made from at least 30 percent recycled plastic, and that it will reduce its packaging footprint by 25 percent per kg of fruit produced by 2030, building on a track record of consistent packaging improvements.
Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer Carol Ward says the packaging announcements are based on the company’s belief in respecting and enhancing our natural environment, optimising natural resources and fostering health and wellbeing.
“While we are already one of the lowest impact foods produced, we can do even better,” she said.
“Today’s consumers care about what their food is wrapped in, want to know
more about where it comes from and are seeking reassurance that it’s been grown in a way that enhances the environment and supports livelihoods.
Zespri already had 95 percent of its packaging used to transport our kiwifruit to market as cardboard, but realise there was more to do, she said.
New Plastic Economy commitment
The announcements follow Zespri joining some of the world’s biggest brands in 2019 to sign up to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and working with its industry partners to create a circular economy for plastics.
Ward said a dedicated
work programme focusing on sustainable packaging had been established to build on actions already undertaken by Zespri, including reducing the weight of liners used in cardboard transport packs, trialling fibre-based solutions for pocket-packs, implementing improved recycling options, and eliminating all unnecessary packaging.
Ward said this was a time of great opportunity for Zespri, and the commitments were designed to enable the industry to succeed in the right way, helping to both lift people up and take better care of our environment.
“We’re confident these commitments reflect what matters most to our customers and industry partners, and will allow us to deliver better value to our consumers.”
Other Zespri sustainability commitments
• Carbon positive by 2035
• Zespri will disclose its climate risks and opportunities by August 2021 and develop an industry-wide climate change adaptation plan by December 2022
• By 2025, the industry will more effectively monitor nutrient inputs and losses as well as its impact on water.
Levett
The development, which embraces sustainable design principles, will provide Zespri an excellent base for growth and also a place for the wider public to enjoy and learn about the Kiwifruit industry.
Medal awarded to Ian Greaves
The kiwifruit industry’s Fresh Carriers Hayward Medal recognising outstanding contributions has this year been awarded to Ian Greaves, for the life-saving pastoral care he provided the industry during the Psa outbreak.
Kiwifruit Industry Advisory Committee chair and Zespri director Tony Hawken presented the medal to Greaves at the industry’s Momentum 2020 conference dinner, recognising the efforts he put in to caring for the health and wellbeing of growers during the Psa outbreak through his Grower Support Network.
“The judging panel unanimously awarded Ian this year’s Fresh Carriers Hayward Medal,” said Hawken.
“The outbreak of Psa was truly distressing for our kiwifruit growers and the wider industry, and an event that would forever change the trajectory of our industry, putting those involved in the industry at the time under real pressure.
“However, as a grower himself during the outbreak, Ian stood up to advocate for mental health awareness and suicide prevention within the kiwifruit industry. He established a support system that previously didn’t exist, and which ultimately saved lives.”
Hawken said Greaves
clearly met the judging panel’s criteria, which assessed the nominee’s length of service, the benefits from their contributions, their leadership within the industry, their selflessness and the legacy they had created.
During the Psa outbreak, Greaves brought together a team of volunteers and created a pastoral care plan which provided a variety of services to support growers. Under his Grower Support Network which launched early in the Psa outbreak, he helped arrange industry-wide seminars, counselling, grower discussion groups and other support avenues in growing regions across New Zealand.
These services not only empowered growers to ask for help but supported the collaboration of the wider industry during a stressful and unprecedented situation.
His work is now used as an example for other rural industries, and Greaves was the recipient of the Kiwibank Local Hero Award in 2013 and also awarded the inaugural HortNZ
President’s Award in 2015 for his life-saving pastoral support.
“The Hayward Medal was established in 2012 to honour the dedication, knowledge, excellence and passion of the kiwifruit industry’s world-class leaders, and Ian has truly been a leader in our kiwifruit industry,” said Hawken
“Ian showed true leadership and selflessness during the Psa outbreak,” said Hawken.
“Our wellbeing is so important, but often in times, rarely considered or talked about. Ian understood the anguish our people were feeling, and he was motivated to step up, even though he was an affected grower too.”
Hawken noted Greaves’ compassion extended outside of kiwifruit and included funding and establishing micro-enterprises in India that employ people out of poverty, and acting as chairman and trustee of The Life Foundation.
Hayward Media winner Ian Greaves. Photo/ Dscribe Media JamieTroughton.
Hort sector finds funding tight
The dairy sector is not alone in struggling for bank finance, with the horticultural sector also finding funding tougher to come by since the New Year.
Mike Chapman, chief executive of Horticulture New Zealand, said he is hearing anecdotally from growers in every sector of horticulture – including kiwifruit – that banks are proving tight fisted over funding options for the sector.
“Banks demand security and they have increased the security that they demand to reduce their risk,” he told Bay of Plenty Business News
“As a result, the opportunity for the rural sector to expand has been reduced. This situation is for new loans, as well as for the renewal of existing loans.”
Chapman said the funding limitations also come off the back of the new Reserve Bank capital requirements coming into play.
“It also seems that if you are going to plant a forest, there is plenty of support there, but that is very much a one trick pony policy,” he said.
All funding aspects getting tighter
Chapman noted all aspects of financing for orchardists have got tighter, whether for seasonal financing or for orchard projects.
“It may not be a silly idea to have a conversation with
banks about the fact the sector is very positive, and there is plenty of opportunity there to do more with it.”
In the Ministry for Primary Industries Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries Report, released prior to Christmas, apple exports were expected to be up 7.2 percent to almost 1 billion dollars this year, kiwifruit to be up 8.6 percent and approaching $2.5 billion, and wine up 1.8 percent to $1.8 billion.
Chapman said there was a sense in the horticultural sector that growers were being treated like their more indebted dairy farming colleagues when it came to securing finance.
The dairy sector accounts for two thirds of the $61 billion agricultural debt market, compared to less than 10 percent for horticulture.
Debt per dollar of exports equates to $2.79 for dairying, compared to only 68c for horticulture.
Dairy debt averages $2.9 million per dairy farm business, compared to $523,000 per horticultural business.
Kiwi demand still strong
MyFarm investment syndication company received an unprecedented 40 enquiries for its latest kiwifruit orchard syn-
dication project, located near Edgecumbe.
Con Williams, MyFarm head of investment research, said the level of enquiry was unprecedented, and indicated there was a strong appetite among investors to put funds into a promising sector.
He said it was an unusual point in time in the sector, when predictions were positive across almost all crop types for strong market returns, but money was hard to get.
“It would not be as hard to raise the funds as it is in dairying right now, but it is definitely harder than it should be.”
Williams said funding for new green field projects was particularly hard to come by, with banks spooked by the delays in cash flow new projects inevitably involve.
He agreed restrictions around foreign land ownership in New Zealand were only further constricting the availability of capital here.
It is only possible for foreigners to purchase up to 24.9 percent of farm or orchard land greater than 5ha by gaining regulatory approval.
Investors getting more innovative
Syndication or private pur-
The Veros project management team is delivering landmark projects for the Bay.
Banks demand security and they have increased the security that they demand to reduce their risk.” –
Mike
Chapman
chases were often becoming the main vehicle for orchard purchases, outside of iwi deals, and investors were having to get more innovative about how they structured deals.
MyFarm’s latest syndication incorporates lease income and orchard profit.
Williams said leasing was a common income stream for kiwifruit and viticultural operations. His company was trying to take more of a commercial property approach to earning streams from orchard operations, something that worked better for some operations than others. He said shortages in root stock plants for establishing apples and cherries can push development times and costs out further in new developments, making bankers less likely to lend on those longer time frames.
Our extensive range of project management services provide a total solution to your property needs and include:
• Project Planning
• Programme Management and Planning
• Tenancy Co-ordination
• Relocation Management
• Risk Management
• Consultant Procurement
• Design Management
• Local Authority & Consent Management
• Main Contractor Procurement
• Value Management
• Contract Administration
• Budget Estimating & Cost Control
Put your next project in safe hands and contact Veros today.
Hort NZ CEO Mike Chapman:All funding aspects for orchardists have got tighter. Photo/Supplied.
Production for export
While there’s unprecedented demand around the country for industrial property from logistics, warehousing and distribution companies, there’s also increasing need for industrial space to cater to food and beverage processing, and the production of complementary medicines, cosmeceuticals and nutraceuticals.
According to Plant & Food Research, a New Zealand government-owned Crown Research Institute, the international food and beverage industry is growing at around five percent a year and global expenditure on food products by consumers is expected to reach US$20 trillion by 2030.
It says key trends for new product development are in health, convenience, naturality and sustainability with the intrinsic “health halo” of natural produce meaning products derived from fruits and vegetables are highly sought-after in the global marketplace.
Manuka honey led the way, but “functional foods” – that is, foods that offer benefits beyond basic nutrition – is one of the fastest growing segments of the global food industry and it’s taking off in New Zealand. There’s a lot of talk about mussel derivatives to help combat inflammation, cherry concentrates deemed to assist with sleep, probiotics said to improve gut health, trending superfoods like blackcurrants said to aid exercise recovery and post-exercise immune function, along with extracts from seaweed, kelp – even na-
tive tree ferns with health-giving claims.
New Zealand is also jumping on the “nootropics” train. These are plant-based supplements, and other substances that may improve cognitive function, particularly executive functions, memory, creativity, or motivation, in healthy individuals.
And then there’s plant-derived protein products which are starting to make waves.
Agri-food exports expected to grow
Plant & Food Research says the broad category of agri-food exports from New Zealand are predicted to treble by 2025, to around NZ$58 billion. This is primarily due to the production of new high-value food and beverage products, combined with value chains that enhance the delivery of New Zealand products to its premium customers.
An example of a business with a consolidated presence within an industrial estate, is Hamilton-based dairy biotech company Quantec which operates from the Waikato Innovation Park.
Quantec has received mul-
tiple awards, including the Cawthron Institute Innovation Award, for its specialist approach to extracting high-value bioactives from natural ingredients which are then developed into proprietary ingredient formulations for use in human and animal products.
One of Quantec’s main business growth areas is within the gut health and immune health sector in China. Quantec is combining omega-3 oil with an aqueous milk protein powder to produce a high-end innovative nutraceutical product to be marketed to the mother-baby supplement market.
Natural Health Products
NZ, a national industry organisation representing the natural products, functional foods, complementary medicines, cosmeceuticals, and nutraceuticals industries, says New Zealand’s natural products industry is worth NZ$1.4 billion annually and growing. Major markets are already established in Asia and North America, and there’s a developing presence in Europe.
A report released by research and consulting group Coriolis in conjunction with the Ministry for Business, In-
novation and Enterprise, The Investor’s Guide to the New Zealand Processed Food Industry 2017, says New Zealand has robust credentials to attract new investment in food-related industries and the potential to drive strong export growth. It says as a country, we have significant untapped potential to generate more product, to add value to large volume of raw material ingredients which at present are exported as unprocessed commodities, and to bring a distinct and unique edge to the sector.
This signals that there will be increasing demand for industrial space to accommodate this growing sector and it is likely that location will be pinned to areas with good distribution links for export.
Prepare your business for the minimum wage increase
The Government has announced that from 1 April 2020, the minimum wage is going to increase from $17.70 to $18.90 per hour. This is an increase of 7.27 percent or $1.20 per hour. It will mean an extra $48 per week before tax for employees on minimum wage working a 40-hour week.
The training/starting out wage also sees an increase from the current rate of $14.16 to $15.12 per hour on the same date. The training/starting out wage rate is set at 80 percent of the adult minimum wage rate.
The Government has indicated a likely further increase to lift the minimum wage to $20 per hour in 2021. So, what can you do to prepare your business for this change? Here are some practical tips to help.
Update your payroll system
Most payroll systems should either automatically update or provide you with instructions on how to adjust settings to manage the increase from 1
April. We recommend that you confirm well in advance if any action is required to ensure compliance.
Consider moving to a cloud system
If you are currently using a manual or desktop payroll system, it is timely to consider the benefits of moving to a cloudbased solution. There are many options available to suit the needs of your business.
Cloud-based means you can access payroll from anywhere with an internet connection, ensures that you are always using the most up to date version of the software, and means you are not reliant on in-house backup procedures. You may also be able to link
with time sheeting and finance systems to reduce the opportunity for data input error.
Prepare an annual budget
Understanding the financial impact of the increase is vital so you can plan and make adjustments as necessary. Preparing an annual budget on a month by month basis with the help of your accountant will
MONEY MATTERS
> BY STEPHEN GRAHAM
Stephen Graham is a Director and Managing Partner at BDO Rotorua, Chartered Accountants and Advisers. To find out more visit bdorotorua.co.nz or email rotorua@bdo.co.nz
highlight the effect of the increase both on wage cost and holiday pay liability.
Using tools such as Spotlight or Futrli can help you visualise the impact in a user-friendly format.
Review other employees’ wages
The minimum wage increase is likely to have a bearing on
wage expectations from those employees who are currently receiving more than minimum wage because of their skills/ loyalty.
You may wish to consider whether to maintain wage parity across your employees by offering increases to those above the current minimum wage.
As this increase is not required by law (provided they are already on or above $18.90 per hour), you could stagger these.
There may also be other non-financial benefits, such as flexitime or training, that you could offer to those more skilled employees in order to keep them motivated and engaged.
Review your pricing strategy
All other things being equal, the cost of operating your business will increase on 1 April 2020. Just as you would look at your options if any other supplier passed on increased costs, the increased wage cost should prompt a review of your current customer pricing, if this has not been carried out recently. Is your market such that you could raise prices across the board incrementally? Or should you focus on increasing selected product/service pricing only? Other ways to look at pricing include reviewing discounts offered and how you bundle goods/services.
CONNECTING BUYERS AND SELLERS OF QUALITY BUSINESSES
When is the right time to sell your business? Right now.
At TABAK, we promise to guide you through the sales process with focus, integrity and complete confidentiality.
First on the scene
3 6 8 1 2 4 5 7 9 10
Photos from the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce’s BA5 networking event hosted by BlueOcean at the Tauranga Club.
Photos by Laval Photo & Video
8 Ben Cain,James andWells and Kat Macmillan,Dale Carnegie,BOPWaikato. 9 Alison MacKenzie, MacKenzieIP and Blake Ramage,TheArtistry Online. 10 KateTaitimu and Nicole Langton,Alignz Recruitment.
6 Susan Lock,Design Clad and Jo Burns,BlueOcean. 7 Geraldine Hutchison,TrinityWharf,DanAllen-Gordon,Graeme Dingle Foundation BOP and Miriam Hauke,TrinityWharf.
1 Henrik Arlund, BlueOcean. 2 Fiona Lysaght,Lysaght Consultants,Dale Koerner,BlueOcean,Leanne Elder,and Lee Hunter and Roland Leemans, BlueOcean.
3 SamTabac,HOBEC andAaron Fitchett,Design Clad. 4 SamWilliamson,Business Networks International (BNI) and Mark Collins,n-Gon Group. 5 JacquiWren-Hilton,Wharf42 and Matt Cowley,Tauranga Chamber of Commerce.
Bay Export awards open for nominations
Entries are now open for this year’s Bay of Plenty ExportNZ Awards 2020, sponsored by Zespri International, in early March, says ExportNZ Bay of Plenty executive officer Joanna Hall.
The organisers of the Bay of Plenty ExportNZ Awards are encouraging local businesses to nominate companies and people in their networks that deserve showcasing for their contribution to the ex-
THE CATEGORIES THIS YEAR ARE:
• Best Emerging Business – sponsored by You Travel
Recognising success for exporting businesses with up to five years’ history of international operations with growth.
• Excellence in Innovation – sponsored by Page Macrae Engineering
• Best Medium-Large Business – sponsored by Sharp Tudhope Lawyers
Recognising success for exporting businesses with total annual revenue over $5 million.
• Export Achievement –sponsored by Beca
port sector for what will be the 30th anniversary of the awards, to be held on 19 June.
“We welcome exporting companies who’d like to get recognition for their hard work, objective feedback from experienced judges, and boost their staff morale to enter the 2020 awards,” said Hall.
of this world”, said Hall.
The theme for this year’s awards will be announced in early March and Hall said the event was sure to be ‘out
Entries close Friday, 8 May, 5pm so ExportNZ BOP is encouraging early nominations.
For further information, please contact Joanna Hall at joanna@exportnz.org.nz
Recognising success in developing and commercialising innovation in international markets, incorporating intellectual property, strategy, processes, and monitoring.
Recognising a particular individual within a business who has made a material contribution to their export success through processes, products or technologies, team dynamics, ultimately resulting in export growth and profitability.
New co-working space at The Lakes aims to support contemporary working styles
A drive to support small businesses in the local community has resulted in the opening this month of Bloom Co, Tauranga’s newest concept in shared work, meeting and event space.
Founders Jade Maddox and Sheree Merrick said that Bloom Co provided a workplace home. In fact, it is located in a former show home in The Lakes.
The Bay had become a real magnet for entrepreneurs doing wonderful things, but many were also feeling the limitations and isolation of their working space, they said.
Bloom Co is a space to support them, a place where they can thrive individually and in the company of others, and an alternative to more traditional leased offices, they added.
“Bloom Co draws inspiration from the need for connection and collaboration amongst independent businesses,” said Jade Maddox. “It also fills a local need for small, beautiful spaces for events, workshops and classes.” Bloom Co provides options for full time, part time or casual office and meeting space, with all the expected professional resources included.
From glass whiteboards and ultra-fast internet to ergonomic chairs and standing desks, Bloom Co is fitted out to high standards, but it looks less like an office and more like a beautifully crafted day spa, according to Maddox.
Ideal for different businesses
The founders said the space is ideal for different businesses, community groups, and ventures to coexist and gain the benefits of collaboration. The workspaces range from individual rooms or offices through to open plan co-working spaces.
The larger break-out spaces are ideal for groups, catering for more than 30 people for meetings, seminars or community events.
“What makes Bloom Co unique is the unexpected – a zen garden surrounded by bamboo and a waterfall, indoor plants, essential oil diffusers, contemporary art and comfy chairs to sink into,” she said.
Bloom Co’s location in The Lakes, a community-focused suburb, was a deliberate move, said Maddox, in order to offer an environment that reflected the more serene, laid-back vibe of the region.
“The feel of this suburb, designed with the community in mind, completely fits our ethos. We are away from the hustle and bustle of the city, surrounded by homes, cafes, small businesses, and a whole lot of greenery.”
Jade Maddox said that Bloom Co is committed to making a positive difference in the community, supporting, mentoring and collaborating.
“Supporting local charities is also an important part of our culture,” she said. “When a new member joins, we plant a tree locally through Trees That Count, and have already funded the planting of over 100 trees.” Bloom Co will be at the Smarter
All category winners from last year’s Bay of Plenty ExportAwards:(from left) Dan Meade and Hemi Coates,ManaakiAdventures; Brian Smith,Automation & Electronics NZ; Murray Denyer,Cooney Lees Morgan; Ruby Grant,HeilalaVanilla,and Greg Jarvis,Bluelab.
Bloom Co co-founder Jade Maddox:offering a new approach to the co-working environment. Photo/Supplied
Beware of ‘bad credit’ loans
CREDIT MANAGEMENT
> BY NICK KERR
Nick Kerr is Area Manager BOP for EC Credit Control NZ Ltd.
He is also a director of International Private Investigations Ltd.
Nick can be reached at nick.kerr@eccreditcontrol.co.nz
In the responsible lending code (June 2017) it is suggested that one role of a responsible lender is to “assess whether a borrower will make repayments without substantial hardship, the lender should conduct more detailed inquiries for products or borrowers where the consequences of default are serious or there is a greater risk of default”.
Unfortunately this seems to be at odds with a great deal of the lender behaviour displayed by information that is in the market as of writing this article.
Just this evening while scrolling through Facebook’s marketplace looking at cars that my wife will never let me buy, I have seen three posts advertising “quick and easy” auto loans specifically encouraging “beneficiaries with bad credit” to apply for loans – and that was over a 30 minute period.
In the past I would have thought that these “Bad Credit” loans would be for small amounts. And surely they would not have been for people with really bad credit, ie outstanding debts. But after being involved in more than 300 repossessions, hundreds of investigations and consulting
to numerous financial institutions, the things I have seen have proven that assumption is untrue.
I have seen $10,000-plus loans given to applicants with no job, numerous outstanding loans and in several cases court judgments for fraud involving accessing credit. When I say bad credit, I am talking about credit scores of 180 out of 1000. To put that in perspective, such a rating gives an approximate 18 percent likelihood of the applicant paying the debt based on their fiveyear credit history.
Now I know that this looks bad from the lender’s perspective. But it can be just as bad or worse from the borrower’s perspective and can lead to severe hardship.
You are considered insolvent when you are unable to
pay your debts when they fall due. The very fact that applicants have unpaid debts when they are granted additional credit means, in my opinion, that a current insolvency is being made worse and the chances of the applicant becoming debt free is once again reduced.
Although many reputable lending institutions have software and strict processes for determining affordability ratios, there are quite a few lenders that rely on the applicants’ own supplied information or the information passed on to the lender via a finance broker who receives a fee for each successful loan drawn down.
Readers may think it doesn’t really matter because if the loan is secured against a car, then the lender can simply repossess it and sell it to recoup
their money.
Not so. The following is a real situation that proves why this is not always the case. A debtor financed a car for $10,000 from a yard with a $200 loan establishment fee, plus a $1200 mechanical warranty. The debtor made none of the agreed $193 weekly payments, damaged the car while drink driving, and after three months the car was repossessed, incurring around $1500 in repossession, storage, default and admin fees.
The car was auctioned and sold for $3450 (the word repossessed in an auction or list-
ing generally halves the value to a buyer) minus a $500 + GST commission to the auction house giving a net result of $1375 from an outlay of $11,400 paid by the lender.
The debtor is technically liable for the $10,025 but in this case the debtor applied for a NAP (no asset procedure) and the debt was legally wiped, leaving the lender out of pocket with absolutely no chance of ever being paid.
We are also seeing a resurgence in debt consolidation loans that promise to get people “debt free faster”. These are great when the original
contracts allow for an early repayment without penalty or a low early repayment fee. If not, the applicants can often find themselves paying back a good portion of the interest payable on the original loan as well as the interest on the consolidation loan, in addition to any loan establishment fees. As with any agreement, the Devil is in the detail, but having one payment rather than several looks so attractive to people that may be struggling, that they compound the problem rather than alleviating it. Just a thought.
Keys to small business marketing success
Successfully getting a new business off the ground is a feat of prioritisation. There are myriad ways to spend your time and energy, not to mention your starting capital.
One of the questions I’m often asked by people starting a business is “what marketing efforts should I prioritise?” These business owners all grasp the importance of marketing, but with so many options available, many find it difficult to know where to start.
The good news is that there are some obvious areas any starting business should invest in if it wants to maximise its chances of success. Developing a plan, creating a powerful brand and establishing a solid web presence are three critical foundations for growth. Have a plan
So you’ve come up with that business idea and decided it’s a winner. Maybe you’ve done your market research or even gone as far as outlaying some cash for your first production run or to lease a store.
Before you book advertising across all New Zealand radio stations or lock yourself in to attending every trade show in the country, it’s worth developing a marketing plan. That way you can ensure your marketing spend is contrib-
THE LAST WORD
> BY JAMES HEFFIELD
Director of Bay of Plenty marketing and PR consultancy Last Word. To find out more visit lastwordmedia.co.nz or email james@lastwordmedia.co.nz.
uting to your objectives and reaching the right people, in the right place, at the right time.
A good marketing plan will identify your objectives, the audiences you are trying to reach, your unique selling point, and the avenues you can use to best reach those audiences. It’s worth timelining each of your planned activities so you can hold yourself or your team to account, and including measures you will use to determine whether your plan is working.
Create a strong brand
A strong brand is critical to any new business. This is much more than a logo – it’s what you say about yourself in your marketing messages and how you and your team con-
duct yourselves when you do business. Ultimately, it’s how others perceive you. Creating a strong brand is about knowing what you stand for and knowing what really drives your prospective customers. It needs to be authentic too. If it’s based purely on what you think your customers want to hear, and not reflective of the way you and your team behave, it will fall flat. That’s not to say your brand can’t be aspirational but make sure the values and story you are telling are demonstrated in the way you do business now, or at least the way you want to do business in future.
Develop a web presence
These days, the first tangible marketing output most new businesses should make is a
website. This doesn’t need to be perfect in its first iteration – websites are forever evolving – but it should portray your brand and business in a positive light.
It’s particularly important that your site is easy to navigate and makes it easy for customers to find what they are looking for. Ensure the written content reads well and that the overall look and feel –including the photos you use –reflects your brand as well as the values your target audience holds dear.
It’s also worth taking steps to ensure your website will be easy to find in a Google search as – other than word of mouth – this is the most likely way people will find your business in the early days. With this in mind, it’s worth researching search engine optimisation or
enlisting the help of an expert in this area.
Last, but not least, a strong web presence should typically include social media. There will be some rare cases where this isn’t the way to go, but for most businesses, getting on board the social bandwagon is worth the money. Facebook is particularly well used in New Zealand, but others worth consideration are Instagram, LinkedIn and possibly TikTok and Twitter. Keep in mind that it’s better to build a community and following well on one or two of the platforms that reach your target audience well, than to run accounts
across all social channels in a mediocre way.
There’s much you can do outside of these three areas and what will work best will vary wildly by business and industry. Once you have these foundational elements in place, you can explore the many other channels available. That might be digital advertising, print advertising, public relations, attendance at trade shows and events, or something else. Getting the mix right requires regular investment and experimentation – the key is measuring progress and being willing to adapt your approach based on what’s working best.
Business continuity and contingency planning
As the world and New Zealand react to the threat of the Coronavirus Virus, employers are finding themselves wondering how this may affect our own businesses and what we can do to plan for what may eventuate.
We are already seeing the effects of this in crucial sectors here – such as tourism – with some devastating consequences.
Time to dust off the Business Continuity Plan – a revisit and refresh to ensure we are ready for what may lie ahead. As a business who provides advice to employers, and also as an employer of my own staff, I’m finding it is timely to revisit the planning around the possible interruption of business operations.
Over the past few years we have seen issues arise from earthquakes in the South, businesses who have suffered losses through fire and flooding, as we as SARS and the Bird Flu scare.
Planning for business continuity will help you to identify the most important aspects of your business and the critical risks in these areas. The aim is to help you to recover as quickly as possible. Think about the following aspects: what are your specific risks if something were to go wrong? And it doesn’t need to be a pandemic or natural disaster. How would you get back
to a business as usual state?
What options should you consider if you couldn’t return to business as usual.
To start your business continuity plan you’ll need to identify your key products or services, the most profitable, least profitable and what are the essentials you need to carry out these activities.
Who are the key people within your business? And this won’t always be limited to employees. What about your vital business connections –for example suppliers, service providers, regular customers, etc.
Plant and equipment – what do you need in order to do what you do? What is essential and what would you do if you didn’t have access to your usual equipment? In terms of location, where could you work from if you didn’t have access to your usual work premises?
When planning for the unexpected, think outside the square in terms of where your business could potentially operate from.
For example, if your premises were damaged or unavail-
HUMAN RESOURCES
> BY KELLIE HAMLETT
Kellie Hamlett is Director and Recruitment & HR Specialist, Talent ID Recruitment Ltd. She can be contacted on kellie@talentid.co.nz
able, could your staff work from home or another location and how easily could company information and data be accessed in order to do so? How would your customers know how to find you or contact you?
Do you have appropriate insurance cover in place to protect you against losses?
Business interruption insurance can help cover businesses with their normal operating expenses and this will likely include covering wages for a period of time while your business may not be generating an income.
If you couldn’t run your business, who could? Have you identified key roles within the business and their roles in helping your business operate?
It might even be a good idea to talk to your bank manager about managing cash-flow should a disaster occur.
In terms of managing your staff, employers have obligations to their employees under the Employment Relations Act. Business interruption can present itself in many forms – not necessarily through a national disaster. Businesses
can’t rely upon outside assistance as a given. An important factor when dealing with any interruption in your business and then subsequent decisions around running the business and negotiating with your staff, is to keep communication lines open and active.
It’s a stressful time for all concerned and a flexible and common-sense approach is needed to get businesses up and running and staff back on board.
There is a general obligation for employers to pay salaried and wage workers who are fit, willing and able to work, but can’t because their place of employment is closed or damaged.
There are other options, which include the negotiation of using annual leave for a period of time, negotiating a reduction in wages, unpaid leave or the offering of alternative work.
Planning and communication are key in times of adversity and we can take practical steps to minimise the impact such an event could have on our own situations.
Smarter Business Event
The National Business Network – Smarter Business Event
will bring together hundreds of businesses from corporates to SME’s in one location for one day across all business categories attracting business owners, decision makers, managers and staff. The purpose of the event is to bring Bay of Plenty wide businesses together annually at one location for a day to hear from leaders and well-respected business people to network, make contacts, build new relationships, find new business partners, contractors, suppliers and clients to do business.
The event is designed to provide every business that attends with a return on their investment by offering fantastic value at a very competitive price. This is a ticketed only event with all businesses attending being paid attendees.
Consider this before signing a commercial lease
If you are about to lease a commercial property to run your business from, it’s not just the real estate agent you need to talk to. Commercial leases come in different shapes and sizes and before you sign, there are several things to consider. Make sure to do your homework and don’t forget to consult your lawyer before you commit to anything.
Whether it’s a showroom, retail space or hospitality business, or even just an area to park your company vehicles, it’s important to have a lease which ensures that both you and your landlord have a clear understanding of each other’s rights and obligations.
Paula Lines, director of The Law Shop, says that the Auckland District Law Society has
a standard form Deed of Lease that can be used. She says it is the easiest option because the terms are well known, tested in other cases, and fully unambiguous.
Paula explains that many people settle for an Agreement to Lease, often prepared by the real estate agent who has marketed the premises, and while the Agreement to Lease does say that the terms of the current Deed of Lease apply, she points out that it is still important to also follow up with a formal Deed of Lease.
“One of the reasons for this is that an Agreement to Lease doesn’t contain all the terms and conditions you need to be aware of. If you haven’t seen the Deed of Lease, you may not be fully informed of what you are agreeing to,” she clarifies.
“The Agreement says you’re bound by the Deed of Lease that is used at the time, but as that Deed is updated
Commercial leases come in different shapes and sizes and before you sign, there are several things to consider. Make sure to do your homework and don’t forget to consult your lawyer before you commit to anything.”
from time to time, you need to know which version applies to you. Some significant changes have been made after the Christchurch earthquakes for instance, so it’s important to know whether it’s an earlier or latter one that applies.”
Signing a commercial lease is a big commitment, and you’ll have to make sure you’ve addressed every aspect
and issue before you sign. Renegotiating a lease is much more difficult once the terms have been agreed and the lease is signed.
The team at The Law Shop is highly experienced in Business Law and happy to help if you require guidance on your commercial lease. They can explain the ins and outs in a no-nonsense manner and help
finalise the documents to make sure they suit your business needs and goals.
“No matter if you’re starting out in business or if you’re expanding your existing venture, you are welcome to book in a meeting with me or one of our other business lawyers to make sure you’ve thought of everything on the legal side of things,” Paula says.
“In most cases, we can quickly asses what you need to suitably protect your business as well as your personal assets.”
The Law Shop works from a virtual space in Tauranga and in Rotorua, the office can be found at 1268 Arawa Street. Call 0800 LAW SHOP or email team@thelawshop.co.nz to get in touch.
