Now in their fifth year, the World Class New Zealand Awards were created by KEA NZ and NZ Trade and Enterprise to celebrate this country’s “tall poppies” – people who, by being leaders in their fields, are helping this country make its mark in the world.
This year’s winners are an inspiring lot and if they share something in common, it’s passion for what they do backed by capacity for hard work and perseverance. Chosen from over 100 nominations, they not only reflect New Zealanders’ ability to succeed in wide range of fields but how that success helps build the Kiwi image for innovation and excellence in international markets.
There are seven award categories: ‘New Thinking’ was awarded to Bruce Farr; ‘Information & Communications Technology’ to Rod Drury; ‘Research, Science, Technology & Academia’ to Margaret Brimble; ‘Creative Industries’ to Phil Keoghan; ‘Biotechnology’ to Garth Cooper; ‘Finance, Investment & Business Services’ to Craig Norgate; and ‘Manufacturing’ to Maurice Prendergast. The winner of the overall Supreme Award for 2008 is Snowy Peak’s Peri Drysdale.
Judges for the event were Mai Chen (Chen Palmer), Theresa Gattung, Garry Muriwai (CEO NZ Institute of Chartered Accountants), Peter Maire (president/founder Navman), Paul Callaghan (director, The MacDiarmid Institute) and Stephen Tindall (chair, KEA NZ).
Peri Drysdale
CEO/Founder, Snowy Peak & Untouched World. Founder, Untouched World Charitable Foundation
Her fashion label can boast high profile fans like Bill Clinton, Cameron Silver and Reese Witherspoon – it’s also the first in the world to carry United Nations Certification because of the company’s stance toward sustainable development. Both say lot about how Peri Drysdale, Untouched World’s CEO and founder sees New Zealand’s place in the world.
“I think we have great opportunity to really meet the demands of an emerging global consumer where they are moving strongly to values-based purchasing. It’s about positioning New Zealand as country brand so that someone on the other side of the world instinctively knows this [New Zealand branded] product comes from country that leads the world in environmental, social and cultural best practice.”
It’s something Drysdale not only talks about in both national and international forums. She lives it. As one recent citation (accompanying her award of an honorary doctorate from Lincoln University) puts it: “Untouched World is no ordinary fashion statement but an ethical lifestyle brand based on the best of New Zealand values and personal creative desire on Peri’s part to contribute to positive, sustainable future not only for New Zealanders but globally.”
Drysdale blends her idealism with businesswoman’s pragmatism. Very aware New Zealand can’t rest on what are already fading green laurels, she is also throwing her efforts into educating youngsters so they not only value but do their bit to conserve the environmental attributes that underpin eco-brand New Zealand. Projects being funded by the charitable foundation she started in 2000 range from an education/conservation in partnership with the Department of Conservation to restore Blumine Island in the Marlborough Sounds to Sustainable Cities Youth Project in Auckland in partnership with the ARC and University of Auckland.
Her own education on this values journey started when she was kid growing up in South Canterbury’s Rakaia Gorge with the snowy peaks of the Southern Alps as backdrop and inspiration. Drysdale was just 12 when she had her first business fling – using scraps from her mother’s sewing drawer to make soft toys and dressed animals. The second venture followed stint in nursing and the arrival of two children. She got neighbour to teach her how to knit and in 1981 founded Snowy Peak, designing and producing high quality fibre-blend knitwear – including the ‘merinomink’ blend of possum and superfine sheep wool.
Within few years the company had moved to industrial premises, bought state-of-the-art computerised knitting machine and Drysdale started series of overseas odysseys to build international markets. Her company now exports mainly to Australia and Japan but has clients throughout Europe, North America, Canada and China.
Along the way, Drysdale has picked up an MBE for services to manufacturing and export, been named South Island Businesswoman of the Year, earned the title New Zealander of the Year from North & South magazine, gained the Kensington Swan Ethical Governance Award at the Deloitte/Management Top 200 Awards, the honorary doctorate from Lincoln – and an invite to talk at the UNESCO workshop on Corporate Education for Sustainable Development in Germany. She also had something of an epiphany.
“Travelling as much as I did to some of the world’s beautiful places, I started noticing how they were changing for the worse. That was happening in parallel with news stories about what we’re doing to our environment – the Financial Times did whole feature about what cotton growing does to the planet.”
After attending 2000 conference which featured Paul Hawken (author of The Ecology of Commerce: declaration of sustainability) she was prompted to shift the company’s sustainability ethic into even higher gear. Untouched World uses only certified organic textiles and has recently expanded its branding to incorporate skincare, jewellery and gourmet foods which sell in upmarket outlets like Tokyo’s Isetan store.
That premium brand/sustainable philosophies mix is one she’d like to see the whole country embrace but she believes we have to act quickly and collaboratively (pooling the efforts of government, education, business and not-for-profit sectors rather than acting in silos) to ensure the pure New Zealand brand doesn’t get tarnished. “I don’t think it’s that hard – though we have to be courageous. First of all as country, we have to stop thinking just about GDP today but about our long-term future.”
At 54, Peri Drysdale has chalked up lot of personal achievements – but is proudest of her immediate family (son Tim is nanotechnology researcher who recently earned New Zealander of the Year award in the UK and daughter Emily is Untouched World’s designer) and her work family. She is, she adds, just the person who fronts great team.
While reluctant to offer advice to aspiring young Kiwi leaders, she’s happy to share her personal experience.
“If you have passion and belief in something – go and do it. Don’t let anyone talk you out of it – follow your belief.”
Maurice Prendergast
CEO, Pumpkin Patch
It’s real ragtrade to riches story. You buy into mail-order kids’ clothing business because you have the wherewithal to do the mail-order thing really efficiently. Then you grow it into an enterprise that extends around the globe with more than 250 stores, over 3000 employees and turnover of $365 million.
Pumpkin Patch has gone well beyond being Kiwi icon in the kiddy fashion stakes. It’s world-class success story – but not one that its CEO of 15 years wants to take the credit for. Maurice Prendergast’s first reaction to being dubbed “world class” is that the company success has been real team effort.
It is, he adds, really nice to be nominated. “But pinning success on one person is bit of an anomaly because we have great crew here and number of them have been with me from the start.”
For Prendergast that was 1993. By then he’d already spent some years in series of public and private accounting roles in New Zealand and Australia. The latter included stint with medical company that was growing off limited cash flow and, later, property development venture that offered similar
challenges.
“It was about learning how to manage business on next to nothing.”
He’d also started general merchandise mail-order company in Australia and in the early ’90s brought it to New Zealand. That’s what led to the interest in Pumpkin Patch, which had been founded by Sally Synnot in 1991 as mail-order busi
