Since our first breakfast network event at the start of 2020 had been so successful, we decided to kick start the year once again with the same format.
A huge thank you to the sponsors of our events during 2021 -
Over 2021 we again managed to hold just 2 keynote speaker network events as restrictions and reluctance continued from the Covid pandemic.
Our first business event for 2021 was held on 4 March again at Red Beach Surf Life Saving Club and was a breakfast event.
Our speakers for the event were Denise Bayne and Alan McDonald from the Ministry of Social Development. We picked them because of the variety of support services they offer to small/medium business and the needs after a traumatic past year.
Denise gave us some insights into the support business owners can get from MSD and Alan, who is Head of Strategy ad Advocacy gave us some economic insights, information and forecasts for 2021.
As businesses struggle after the impacts of Covid 19 Denise gave valuable information on various programmes including how Work and Income connects employers and New Zealand’s largest pool of job seekers.
Services to help grow and develop local business, include:
There were a lot of questions and the presentation was well received.
This event was sponsored by Hibiscus and Bays Local Board, Duncan Building Services and Ministry of Social Development. Once again it was a beautiful morning with a magnificent sunrise over Red Beach and was enjoyed by all attendees. This event attracted 50 attendees.
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The second Town Centre Meet Up was held at, and supported by, Cherry Cafe in Gulf Harbour Village and was intended to get Gulf Harbour businesses together and connect directly with business owners for a specific area. We had a nice turn out of approx 12 people and had a presentation and questions from our community constable, Scott. We fielded a few queries about local business and opportunities.
Whilst the turn outs at these events aren't always high they are good touch points with many local business contacts to develop the awareness of Business Whangaparaoa. Our business database for Gulf Harbour has almost 120 local business contacts.
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After continual disruption with on-going Covid restrictions our original 2nd network event booked for 3 June was finally held on 17 June with guest speaker and local businessman, Rod Jenden from Wet & Forget.
Rod is the mastermind behind Wet & Forget. A company widely recognised for its unique, quality products that are both time savers and environmentally friendly. With unique names and purposes such as Hitman, Miss Muffet's Revenge, Shower Witch and Hit the Deck. Rod told us his story and then ran us through a timeline video of the building of their new premises in Silverdale.
It was a very good evening and Rod spoke well and we had a lower than normal turn out, but not unexpected with Covid issues and being mid-winter of 35 attendees. The event was sponsored by Simpson Western, lawyers and catered by Cafe Manly.
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Subsidised business profile photo shoot – a week long opportunity for local business people to get updated profile photos. Run in collaboration with Photo Carnival and subsidised by BW by $20 for members. A number of members and non-members took the opportunity to get updated photos.
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Once again we enjoyed an evening of nibbles, drinks and casual networking at Paraoa Brewing Co. These events are a very casual affair, which we are making regular and held twice a year. The main aim is for Business Whangaparaoa to thank members for their support and offer an opportunity for casual networking as well as continue to build our profile in the local business community.
The event was open to all local business owners but Members are entitled to discounted drinks.
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Through the winter we ran a campaign to support local hospitality businesses. This was run alongside Destination Orewa and Silverdale Business. Online all three of us had a list and links to all local restaurants and cafes and categorised these by cuisine type, eg Thai, French, Kiwi, South American, etc.
The campaign was called "Eat Around the World" and was designed to get locals out and about supporting local cafes and restaurants with a wide range of cuisines and tied in with the book by Jules Verne "Around the World in 80 Days" - hence the campaign lasted 80 days.
It was successful although we didn't have many measuring tools, however the campaign was also somewhat disrupted with lockdowns.
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This event was meant to be held at Curry Leaf restaurant in Red Beach Shopping Centre however once again Covid restrictions meant this could not happen.
Instead we opted to try running it via Google Chat just to see the kind of response which wasn't too bad.
We had 11 attendees, 6 apologies and had a good discussion on what Red Beach would like as a business centre. Unfortunately there were very few attendees from within Red Beach town centre businesses. Unfortunately our community constable was also unable to attend.
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Our annual thank you to members with free nibbles for all attendees and subsidised drinks for BW members. At Paraoa Brewing Co.
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Covid disruptions continued to plague us through 2021 and therefore due to continual postponements we were unable to hold out other two planned network events in September and November. However both speakers, Rachel Klaver and Dave Wild, were able to speak at events in 2022.
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