Westpac Northland Business Excellence Awards for 2014 took place at the Forum North on Friday night. There were entrants from 50 Northland businesses competing in 6 business categories, 5 ancillary categories and an overall supreme winner.
Marine North Ltd was the Supreme 2014 Westpac Northland Business of the Year and was also the winner of the Golden Bay Cement Excellence in Business Medium Business Award (10-24FTE). The judges said…
The judges were impressed with the structured and effective business planning which has been carried right through to operational level, and the owners’ willingness to tap into external advice and support and implement recommendations. Processes are flow charted and constantly being improved; internal communication is excellent, great attention is paid to customer service, and the business has a genuine ‘support local’ culture.
Tony Collins from the Northland Chamber of Commerce said that the awards were a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the success of many Northland businesses. These enterprises were of varying size and often very different in structure and scale. The one thing they all had in common was their passion for what they were doing and their commitment to succeed.
Other winners were
- Waipoua Lodge (Kanale Group Ltd) – winner of the Konica Minolta Excellence in Business Owner Operator (1-3FTE) Category. (Finalists Re-vive Beauty Therapy, Whangarei Accessible Housing Trust and The Papermill Charitable Trust)
- Springboard IT Ltd t/a Northcom ICT winner of the Henderson Reeves Connell Rishworth Excellence in Business Small Business Awards (4-9FTE). (Finalists Omak Meats and Kiwi Cake Supplies)
- Marine North Ltd – winner of the Golden Bay Cement Excellence in Business Medium Business Award (10-24FTE). (Finalist Louie Berkers Collision Repair Centre Ltd)
- Onyx Capital Ltd – winner of the Vodafone NZ Excellence in Business Large Business Award (25 plus FTE) (Finalists Northpine Ltd and Northpower)
- Baby Steps – winner of the Business Coaching New Zealand Best Emerging Business Award. (Finalist Styleline Installationz and Grinning Gecko Cheese Company)
- The Papermill Charitable Trust – winner of the Top Energy Best Not-For-Profit Organisation Award.
- Grinning Gecko Cheese Company and The Papermill Charitable Trust – joint winners of the Northland Regional Council Sustainable Business Award. (Finalist Ngati Hine Health Trust)
- Claud Switzer Residential Care – winner of the ACC Workplace Safety Award. (Finalist Dive! Tutukaka, Northpine Ltd and Northpower)
- Dawn Dutton Photography – winner of the Creative Northland in Excellence in Arts Business (Finalists The Papermill Charitable Trust and Amber-Lee Florists)
- Kiwi Cake Supplies Ltd took out the Northland INC Judges Commendation Award. (Finalists Results Rule ad Amber-Lee Florists)
- Dawn Dutton Photography was voted More FM Customer’s Choice Service Provider while KiwiYo Whangarei was the More FM Customer’s Choice Retail Provider.
The NZME. Business Hall of Fame inductee this year was Wayne Cowley in recognition of his contribution to Northland business.
