UPFRONT Awards for business support

Organisations and individuals that help make life easier for New Zealand’s smaller businesses last month earned some recognition for themselves – and The Open Polytechnic’s tertiary training contribution proved winner.
Presented at dinner following The Small Business Expo on July 21, the inaugural Vero Excellence in Business Support Awards were set up to celebrate the best in business support and those organisations that help small business growth.
“The biggest inhibitor to business growth for small business is that owners are time poor and spend too much time working in their business rather than on it,” explains award creator (and business support specialist) Sarah Trotman.
“The awards benchmark and give mark of quality to organisations which legitimately add value to business owners – be they in banking and financial services, telecommunications, IT, human resources, business mentoring, government, business and advice support or marketing.”
Setting the benchmark this year were eight organisations: Gosling Chapman for its work in helping build business capability; Business Network International for its business referral service; National Bank for its small business services; the Employers and Manufacturers Association (northern) for its business services; Venture Taranaki for economic development initiatives; the Department of Labour for its employment agreement builder; and overall winner, The Open Polytechnic.
The awards also recognised two individuals – Heather Douglas and Sir James Fletcher – for their personal contributions to business support.
Winners were selected from 32 finalists ranging from multinationals to sole traders. NZ Business Excellence Foundation CEO Mike Watson was impressed by the range and quality of services available. And, as awards sponsor Vero’s CEO Roger Bell said on the night: “It’s certainly time we celebrated the very best on offer to the small businesses of New Zealand.”

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