Business Profiles

How shared spaces slash office running costs.

Office lease rent accounts for only around a third of your total cost of occupancy, so you can see there are some hidden costs in leasing your own office. Costs that you may not understand upfront, but be locked into for at least three years, sometimes much more. So before you make up your mind between leasing an office, or...

A new era for MCL Construction

MCL Construction has built hundreds of commercial, industrial and residential buildings for others in Hawke’s Bay but for the first time in 72 years, it will commence building its own purpose-built construction facility. It will also be the first time MCL will move from the site in Kaiapo Road it has occupied since 1949. MCL Construction managing director John Bower...

Focus on team culture gives business duo the edge

When Erin Maloney was six months pregnant, husband Jared announced he was leaving his job in the meat industry and launching a start-up. Catalyst Fuel Refunds was born soon after, as was son Jack. The business captured a niche market, with staff and customer numbers growing fast. Being new to business ownership, Jared looked around for options to develop his...

School student lands key governance role on YES – Sam Wixon

A “transformational experience” has not only propelled former Havelock North High School student Sam Wixon into the business world but landed him a key governance role. Having competed in The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) for the past two years, the 18-year-old has been elected as the youth trustee for 2021–2022 on the Board of Young Enterprise Trust, which...

Investing in local businesses part of private equity strategy

The Hawke’s Bay economy has been built on the success of the primary sector for many years, but with an emergence of savvy technology businesses, local investors now have the chance to have a stake in privately owned businesses like Te Mata Mushrooms and AskYourTeam. With term investment rates at traditional banks as low as .75 percent for 12 months,...

Drainways – from supporting role to lead position

Hawke’s Bay has been a sea of traffic cones and fenced- off infrastructure work sites as large-scale civil projects such as the Hastings District water network rebuild and the many residential subdivisions and industrial projects take off. At the heart of some of these private enterprise projects and local and central government work is local civil and commercial infrastructure business...

Beca takes up permanent residence in Hawke’s Bay

“It’s awesome to be able to return to Hawke’s Bay, have a positive impact within the community and strengthen Beca’s involvement across a wide range of construction and infrastructure projects,” says Matt Sanders, Beca Hawke’s Bay Market Leader. Matt attended St John’s College in Hastings before completing an engineering degree at Canterbury University. After an OE in the UK, Matt joined Beca...

An ultra-partnership based on sound foundations

Nothing gets in the way of true love. Despite not seeing each other for over 25 years, what was a high school romance has not only been rekindled, but has created an exciting business partnership. Jody Dawson and Rohana Sergent have established Havelock North’s first independent ultrasound practice. For Jody and Rohana timing is everything and they are certainly making...

Creating successful business owners in the Bay

Creating successful businesses across Hawke’s Bay is behind the change of name for well-known Hawke’s Bay accounting firm enablebusiness to +MORE. “+MORE’s core purpose is to create successful business owners,” says Sam Ogle, owner and director of +MORE Hawke’s Bay. Over the past 12 months, Sam’s Hawke’s Bay team have been on a journey and COVID-19 has highlighted how important...

Water supply business springs up in time for busy summer season

OVID-19 might be the crisis that we will all remember 2020 for but locally, farmers will never forget the year due to one of our most severe droughts. Water demand was at an all-time high as farmers in sun-parched rural areas tanked in our most precious natural resource. Local businessman Shaun McPherson was forced to return to one of his...