Poutama Newsletter
The Poutama office will be closed from December 23rd, 2009 – January 11th, 2010.
December 2009 - Meri Kirihimete!
- GlobalHort - Patrick Watene
- Auaha Event and Conference Management - Sandra Julian
- Whakatane Networking
- Loyalty Direct Ltd – Darcy Sollitt
- Poutama celebrates 21 years with announcement of a new initiative to assist Maori SME’s’
- Contacts
- Other News
GlobalHort - Patrick Watene
By Poutama CE Richard Jones
There is no shortage of global Maori business people you just don’t know they exist until you stumble across them, Patrick Watene is one of them.
Based out of the Chinese city of X’ian (home to the world famous Terracotta Warriors), Patrick is the founder and Managing Director for GlobalHort a fully integrated fruit company with R&D, large scale modern orchard production, post-harvest, added value and marketing and distribution.
GlobalHort is the largest producer of high-paying kiwifruit varieties in Shaanxi province - China's largest kiwifruit growing region with red, gold and green kiwifruit available.
Wayne Mulligan, Patrick Watene & Richard Jones standing in front of the
GlobalHort
orchards
The company has proprietary rights to two exciting new kiwifruit varieties including their own golden and red kiwi.
GlobalHort is also one of the largest exporters of apples from Shaanxi Province (the world's largest apple producing region) to major markets.
Under Patrick’s guidance GlobalHort has concluded several exciting cooperation agreements in mainland China which have paved the way for large scale bare land orchard developments and development of an integrated value chain from orchard to market.
GlobalHort is working in close partnership with the Provincial Governments in several of China's leading agricultural producing provinces. Their aim is to transform the primary sector industries in these provinces into world class export oriented industries.
On a recent visit to China, Poutama CEO, Richard Jones and Tekau+ Project Manager, Wayne Mulligan spent two days with Patrick and got to see the substantial work and investment GlobalHort has put into their horticulture ventures.
Fortunately GlobalHort’s enterprises are located close to NW Agriculture University, China’s second largest agriculture university and therefore have access to a huge talent and research pool of PHd students. Patrick also lectures in an Associate Professor role at the University.
GlobalHort is also a key partner of the Fo Ping Panda Nature Reserve of Shaanxi Province - one of the largest wild Panda reserves in China situated in the Qin Ling mountains on the southern border of Shaanxi province. GlobalHort is a proud sponsor and supporter of the Panda reserve so that future generations may continue to enjoy this loveable and amazing animal.
Patrick believes there is a lot of untapped potential in Shaanxi Province as concerns foreign direct investment into the establishment of agriculture ventures such as dairy and beef farming as well as viticulture. He says that once you show you are committed as a foreigner to the region and can introduce expertise and skills, then there is a lot of local and provincial government support that you are able to tap into.
The city of X’ian with a population of around 8 million and one of China’s tier two cities (tier one cities being the likes of Beijing and Shanghai) is an exploding economic dynamo that presents huge potential. Patrick urges Maori businesses with an interest in exporting and investing into China to focus on cities such as X’ian and a province like Shaanxi rather than Beijing or Shanghai simply because of their fast growing economies and market demand for foreign goods and services.
Poutama and Tekau+ will be working with Patrick to take a Maori trade mission to Shaanxi Province to look at agriculture and viticulture investment. It is intended to time this mission with events around the Shanghai Expo 2010.
Auaha Event and Conference Management - Sandra Julian
Iwi - Ngati Mutunga, Ngati Tama
Hapu - Ngati Rahiri
Auaha Event and Conference Management’s recipe for success is simple – everyone has to have fun! It doesn’t matter to managing director Sandra Julian and her talented and committed team what event or conference they are working on, it doesn’t matter how diverse the client group is, nor does it matter where in the country they are working... everyone has to have fun!
It’s a formula which pays dividends time and again with the majority of Auaha’s business coming from word-of-mouth or repeat business, some clients having been with the New Plymouth based business since its inception nearly 10 years ago.
A firm client base and growing demand for Auaha’s products and services in the capital saw Sandra open a Wellington office in January this year where two full-time staff members take the total staff numbers to eight.
A point of difference for Auaha which has brought them many clients is their ability to appropriately work within whatever cultural context requested by the client, confidently offering advice and organising cultural input to maintain the integrity of any event. Sandra says this ability to be so responsive is reflective of her team which is committed to continuously learning from each other and the safe environment Auaha presents to foster those learning opportunities.
Auaha offers a full range of online conference registration products, financial administration, marketing and communication services as well as their event and conference management facilities, giving clients the ability to mix and match to create the solutions they need, another very popular selling point among their wide variety of clients.
Her team are experts in their fields, each offering specific skills and talents which combine to create innovative, creative and fresh ideas. They love the challenge of coming up with something new, something special for each client, resulting in much of their repeat business over the years. Each is also actively involved within the community in a wide variety of voluntary capacities.
Sandra also firmly believes in having a family-friendly business, where her staff can be and are able to work flexibly around the needs of their families. Organising remote online access to business systems means staff are able to work from anywhere at any time which has proven to work extremely well.
Auaha belongs to Conventions and Incentives New Zealand, being New Plymouth’s only CINZ PCO Member, the New Zealand Association of Event Professionals, the Professional Conference Organisers Association and the Wellington and New Plymouth Convention Bureaus. Sandra has recently participated in the ATTTO Industry Advisory Group responsible for reviewing the Certificate and Diploma Tourism Convention and Incentive qualifications.
Whakatane Networking
Poutama Business Advisor Oscar Nathan pictured with Pihi Hei from Maraehako Bay Retreat at
Poutama’s Whakatane Networking Function held with businesses and suppliers.
The event attracted more than 60 people from more than 35 businesses.
Loyalty Direct Ltd – Darcy Sollitt
 Darcy Sollitt |
Loyalty Direct Ltd was started in the last 7 years, when we realized that Life Insurance was a grudge purchase as is fuel.
So with 23 years working in the Life Insurance industry specializing in Key Man/Business Owner insurance and assisting lawyers when they had claims against insurance companies, the opportunity presented itself to fill a gap in the market.
From there we went out and sourced our own fuel deal and linked it with life insurance, well before the supermarkets started down this track.
From there we worked out that with our very large databases, a lot of companies wanted what we had. It was from this that we have been able to leverage other deals where we could save our clients more money.
We assisted in brokering the deal between Kiwi Bank and the Engineers Printers and Manufacturers Union (EPMU) for the EPMU members to receive money saving benefits.
We are still in talks with the EPMU plus we are also working with Unite Union (Matt McCarten) to provide similar opportunities.
As I grew up in Wanganui, Michael Laws and I were next-door neighbours and went to school together as kids. It was from this relationship that a suggestion to do something for Wanganui was born. This is how we set up Loyalty Wanganui. It has been our model and now with many of the problems ironed out, it is all about continuous improvement.
From the Loyalty Wanganui concept, I was approached to facilitate a similar framework of benefits for the Petone Workingmens Club (PWMC). We have worked with them for 18 months and this concept will now benefit their 10,000 plus members.
A launch date for March 2010. Check out their site at www.petoneclub.co.nz under Loyalty Programme.
The last 12 months has seen progress with new products. We now have an alliance with an insurance company who has given us our own branded personal insurance products with extra benefits that you can only access if with us.
These products can be purchased on line or face to face through us or one of our other alliance partners. Check out the one here for Poutama.
https://www.pinnaclelife.co.nz/default.aspx?aff=459
Our concept is all about using the power of networks and leverage to get better deals than otherwise available.
With Poutama we realised that there is no programme out there that has a slogan WHANAU SUPPORTING WHANAU. People talk about it but the reality is our company would like to set this up for all members and the Poutama whanau whanui.
Poutama celebrates 21 years with announcement of a new initiative
to assist Maori SME’s’
As we greet signs of some recovery from the recession, a new initiative being driven by Poutama Trust will see the organisation spread its range of business assistance even wider with the development of a relationship with rising banking star, Kiwibank.
Over the past year, Poutama has been working with Kiwibank to look at ways to help facilitate Maori SME access to Kiwibank’s business banking services. This includes providing assistance with deposits to help obtain loans as well as mentoring micro and small businesses through the banks financial red-tape.
Chief Executive, Richard Jones said “we’re working with Kiwibank to break down barriers between small and medium Maori businesses and the banking sector. If the divide between the two can be narrowed, we should see more funds flowing into the SME sector, the real backbone of our domestic economy.”
Last month Poutama celebrated 21 years of service to the Maori business community.
With its long and proven track record of providing investment and business services to Maori, the charitable entity now has a sufficient capital base which it has grown through careful management, to ensure that it can continue to support Maori-owned micro and small businesses for another 21 years.
Board member and Chair, Mavis Mullins said “Maori will be key participants in the economy by 2020 but accessing finance is still a challenge. By working with SME’s to help consolidate their activities to achieve growth and sustainability, our aim is to help them to become more attractive to lenders.”
She says that most lenders are still uneasy about the risks involved in financing SME’s and often fail to see quality in small portfolios. This attitude is worsened by that fact that SME business owners are notorious for not having sufficient collateral or capital. Due to these constraints, the sector is still perceived to be a low profit arena for banking operations.
Kiwibank representative, Mana Hogan, stated that Poutama Trust clients fit perfectly with its small business lending focus. “It’s about acknowledging our Maori heritage and the role that Maori have to play in economic development. We recognise that 97% of businesses in New Zealand are SME’s and that the future wealth of our economy will be built on their successes,” said Mr Hogan.
Poutama believes that the partnership with Kiwibank will help support its efforts in developing and growing the Maori SME sector which has been vulnerable to market changes caused by a volatile global economy. Jones says it’s about encouraging and validating Maori micro and small enterprises, particularly those which have struggled over the past year. “We hope that message will resonate with the wider NZ Inc. community particularly concerning the many and varied business activities that Maori are involved in”.
Other News
Inaugural Rotorua Sydney flight
Poutama Business advisor and former Rotorua Tourism boss Oscar Nathan said that trans-Tasman services were a long time coming for the region which had waited almost a decade to get through negotiations and investment planning in order to operate direct flights from Australia.
Poutama CEO Richard Jones, as well as Rotorua dignitaries and business leaders, including Mayor Kevin Winters and Australian sister city Mayor Greg Piper (Lake Macquarie) were amongst those on board inaugural Air NZ flight NZ978 when it landed at the renamed Rotorua International Airport at 2.35pm on December 12th.
Greeted by a formal powhiri and a huge welcome crowd, the new service will run twice weekly on Saturdays and Mondays until the end of January, after which they will operate on Saturdays and Tuesdays.
Commenting from the pre-launch celebration function hosted by Air NZ at the Museum of Sydney on the Friday evening, TIA chief executive Tim Cossar (also an ex-Rotorua Tourism boss) said the challenge now was to ensure flights were booked at above 75% loadings in order to sustain the service with Air NZ long-term.
Poutama will be planning a series of trade development visits in 2010 to maximise the new services that open up not just Rotorua but the entire Central North Island to significant trade opportunity.
Te Hiringa Maori Business Expo 2010 - Reminder
WAITAHA EVENTS CENTRE
COPTHORNE HOTEL & RESORT
BAY OF ISLANDS
SATURDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2010 9am - 5pm
OVERVIEW
The 2010 Expo showcases Maori business excellence, in a business-to-business market place
The first of its kind for the North, Bay of Islands Waitangi Day – A National day of celebrations Saturday 6 February 2010 offers the Maori business owner and Maori collective asset owner the opportunity to market their products and services directly to other Maori businesses, locals, national and international tourists, day sightseers, politicians, the media and others that make up the myriad of foot traffic in the Bay of Islands, Waitangi.
The 2009 Waitangi commemorations attracted in excess of 45,000 visitors to the area. The Bay of Islands venue will celebrate Maori business success and promises to be entertaining and lively.
Space is limited. There are 54 booths for purchase, two meeting areas and an expo presentation area. Exhibitors are from a wide range of business sectors. It is an efficient and cost effective way of reaching business customers and decision-makers and provides you, the business owner with the unique opportunity to network and grow your customer base.
FOR AN APPLICATION TO PURCHASE AN EXHIBITION BOOTH
Please email Vonese -
Contact Us
Tom Manaena, Commercial Manager ( 021 538 838 or 04 495 1132) – Tom is responsible for the finance, investment and accounting side of the business and also spends a lot of time out on the road covering the lower North Island, Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Central and Upper South Island regions. He also deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors.
Oscar Nathan, Business Adviser ( 021 801 559 or 07 348 8903) – Oscar covers the wider Bay of Plenty and East Coast regions and deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors.
Vonese Walker, Information Manager ( 021 683 681) – Vonese covers the Northland, Auckland and lower North Island regions. She deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors.
Gail Maxwell, Office Manager ( 021 375 090 or 04 473 2652) – Gail is often the first point of contact for Poutama clients. She also supports Tom with the accounting function and provides back up to all of the team.
Kylie Stafford, - Communications, ( 021 494 977 or 03 570 5333) – Kylie is responsible for Poutama’s newsletter and communications. Feel free to make contact with her with any relevant information or networking events for publication in the newsletter.
Richard Jones, CEO ( 021 619 075 or Skype richtj) – Richard looks after the national and international stuff, strategic issues/relationships/development and also deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors.