Waikato Business News February/March 2020

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10 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS February/March 2020 IT jobs to Waikato Wellness retreat drawn to region Michael Horton, HCL executive vice president, Australia and New Zealand. Global technology company HCL Technologies (HCL) has won a new contract with New Zealand dairy co-operative Fonterra to modernise and manage the entire technology infrastructure Fonterra employees around the world use every day. The multi-year partnership will extend HCL’s New Zealand presence to three offices within the country and will bring around 60 new jobs to Waikato as the local support services for Fonterra employees will be based at its Hamilton Delivery centre. Equidays canned The New Zealand National Fieldays Society is exiting the equine event Equidays, founded by members nine years ago, to focus on future events. CEO Peter Nation said: “The events industry is highly dynamic, and it is tough financially for any organisation to maintain the infrastructure required to hold such a variety of events as we do at Mystery Creek. Equine events especially require a lot of equipment in stabling, pens, fencing and grandstands which can become an Achilles heel on the bottom line when they are used for just one event each year.” Equidays will cease trading effective immediately. Tools wanted The ToolShed is asking for donations of surplus tools to go to the Solomons, where they have identified a serious shortage. Donated tools will be shipped and distributed to Rural Training Centres and used to teach carpentry, mechanics, agriculture and textiles. ToolShed stores throughout New Zealand are collection points for unwanted, surplus, new, used and repairable tools. Tools required include hand tools, power tools, garden equipment, workshop machinery and accessories. https://www.thetoolshed.co.nz/ page/42/solomon-islands-tooldrive Two join Smart Waikato team Maddie Walker Penny Bunting Penny Bunting, who has interned with the Smart Waikato trust since 2017, is the new coordinator of the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme in the region, while Ngaati Porou-Maniapoto descendant Maddie Walker joins the team as projects assistant. Bunting recently completed her Bachelor of Business degree at the University of Waikato. Walker is a former Fairfield College student with a background in events coordination for ZEAL/Waikato Queer Youth, as well as retail. By RICHARD WALKER A women’s wellness retreat that may be the largest of its kind in Australasia has opened on a high-profile property beside Lake Karapiro. Resolution Retreats started operating at the luxurious Tirau Road resort, just south of Cambridge, in September when Joelene Ranby moved her business from Tauranga. It is the culmination of a 20-year-old dream for the property, which was originally developed as the ill-fated Phoenician Spa around 2000, and has lain largely unused ever since. Current owner Lakeside New Zealand Ltd have been able to achieve what no previous owner could in getting a commercial operator on board. Ranby was drawn by both the facilities and the space, giving her the opportunity to grow her business. She has fitted out 20 of the 45 chalets on site, with the ability to upscale if needed. Most guests are aged 40-60 years, she says, and they can come for stays ranging from three days to three weeks. Demand for the retreat comes mostly from around New Zealand, with about 10 percent of her business coming from overseas, mainly Australia. “We specialise in women's weight loss but also help women with a huge array of different health challenges,” Ranby says. The retreat facility near Lake Karapiro includes a tennis court. Amid coronavirus concerns, local tea exports are looking healthy, says local tea grower With growing concern for New Zealand’s economy over the spread of novel coronavirus, Waikato-based Zealong Tea Estate says it’s been asked to comment frequently on the status of exports. Despite uncertainty over the effects Coronavirus will have on trade, exports of Zealong tea are looking healthy. Zealong CEO Gigi Crawford says that the diversification of markets is essential for long term business. It’s a strategy that has been implemented since Zealong launched in early 2010. “We allocate a percentage of exports to each market. It minimises risk and means we can share our teas with more countries.” The chalets are each around 60 square metres, and a range of activities are offered in the central complex, which includes a covered swimming pool, spa rooms, a room used for yoga with views across to Maungatautari, along with a commercial kitchen and dining and lounge areas. Ranby says it is the largest complex specifically for women’s wellness in Australasia. On offer are yoga, meditation, group fitness sessions, and cooking and education workshops, all with a practical approach aimed at giving guests useful tips to take home. “We eat five meals a day - practical, healthy food,” Ranby says.”We prefer people to be able to try a menu here that they could realistically implement at home.” That includes meat and dairy where guests are open to it. Ranby says most of their clients come specifically for the retreat, but part of the opportunity with Waikato, and the resort’s proximity to huge attractions such as Hobbiton and Rotorua, is for the retreat to be part of a longer trip. “So free independent travellers, being women from Australia who are wanting to come to New Zealand, seeing a little bit of New Zealand and doing Zealong exports to a thriving world tea market, including countries like the USA, Germany and the United Kingdom, and despite concerns over the growing epidemic, the estate is increasing in popularity. In the United Kingdom, Zealong teas are found in the most famous department stores Fortnum & Mason and Harrods of London. The New Zealand teas also feature in London’s most iconic hotels and visitor sites, including Four Seasons hotel at Ten Trinity Square, and Claridge’s five star hotel. Michelin Star restaurants also love the teas with The Greenhouse in London and Blue Hill in New York featuring them. The Two Michelin Star restaurants are highly a retreat as well while they are here, I think is a pretty special opportunity,” Ranby says. She also enthuses about the nearby walks, including the banks of Lake Karapiro, Maungatautari and the Blue Spring Te Waihou walkway, along with Cambridge as an attraction in its own right. Hamilton & Waikato Tourism chief executive Jason Dawson has welcomed the arrival of the retreat to the region. “The establishment of Resolution Retreat in the Waikato is aligned to our 2016 Tourism Opportunities Plan, where we identified the opportunity to establish well-being experiences in the region,” he says. Ranby expresses frustration, however, at a perceived lack of support from both NZTE and Tourism New Zealand, despite wellness tourism being identified in a summit last year as a lucrative option for the industry. “I'm not aware of any wellness tourism push from Tourism New Zealand or support of any description,” Ranby says. She started running retreats in Tauranga in 2012 as a sideline while working as a chartered accountant. She had gone through what she describes as a “health transformation” in her 20s and discovered there was a scarcity of women-only wellness retreats. The sideline grew to become a full-time business and now has 21 staff and contractors, including nurses, workshop facilitators and consultants, beauty and massage therapists and personal trainers. “I'm glad that it started out as a hobby because it genuinely is something I'm really passionate about.” Her accountancy background also plays its part, contributing to her pragmatic approach, she says. “I really understand that these women don't have 20 hours a week to spend in the kitchen. They need a pragmatic and a solutions focused approach to health. And in their massive list of things on the to do list today, if I'm going to add another 10 things to that list, I'm actually Joelene Ranby at the retreat. probably not helping.” Instead, women are encouraged to prioritise, and start with one thing to change and one thing to add, she says. There is potential for growth at the complex, and Ranby has been approached by organisations interested in running conferences on site. She says there is the possibility for that to happen between retreat offerings but also sees an opportunity in running more retreats back to back, retaining the intimate feel. The complex itself has a colourful history that takes in successive ownerships. It was kickstarted by Henry Holt as the Phoenician Spa, which collapsed in 2001. Balmoral Marketing picked it up before going into receivership in 2005 and it was then acquired by subsidiaries of the Tony Tay Group who almost completed the property as the Karapiro Wellness Centre before going into receivership. It has finally opened for guests under current owner Lakeside New Zealand Ltd. The companies register lists Luigi and Antonio Muollo as the owners of Lakeside. The Muollos have extensive property and horse racing interests. Owner representative Greg Cobb says Lakeside began acquiring the property post- GFC in a tortuous process that popular and booking is advised two months in advance. In Chicago, Zealong teas can be found at all four Mojo Coffee sites, including the historic landmark, the AMA Plaza (American Medical Association). Zealong is also in the process of exporting one tonne of their tea by air freight to Germany in order to cater to the growing demand for tea. Distribution of products to France, Czech Republic, and Singapore are also growing. Along with foreign exports, branching into cafes and restaurants around New Zealand is also a priority for the Waikato tea farm. Crawford said it was important to work with the growing list of local businesses and distributors, a list including Mojo Coffee, Hilton Hotels, Smith & Caughey saw them buying separate unit titles from multiple owners and then making the property compliant. “We had something like about 15 or 18 different purchases to make to acquire them,” Cobb says. “We bought this thing off liquidators and mortgagees at a price that allowed for our expectations of what may need to be done and the time we were going to do it. And we weren't far off the mark at the end of the day.” They also bought two neighbouring properties, one with a five-bedroom house used by the caretaker and the other currently being grazed, collectively giving them 35 hectares. The property was briefly back on the market two years ago. Nick Thompson, who marketed the property, says there was a lot of interest and offers but the price wasn’t right and ultimately the owners decided not to sell. Cobb says Tay had done a “damn nice” job of the construction. “We came along and saw great bones.” Lakeside has done some landscaping and building repair and maintenance. “We're very proud of what we've done there,” says Cobb. “It's 100 percent compliant, it looks great.” and Ballantynes. - Supplied copy
Law firm Norris Ward McKinnon wins national contract Debbie Lee and Sam Hood. Hamilton law firm Norris Ward McKinnon has secured a major contract with Federated Farmers in a win for the Waikato region. The two-year contract to provide legal advice to the farming organisation’s members nationwide was awarded to Norris Ward McKinnon based on its scale, professionalism and rural affinity, says Federated Farmers general manager corporate services Debbie Lee. Lee ran the tender process which saw the organisation looking nationally for a provider before deciding on Norris Ward McKinnon in November. They needed a firm with the scale to provide a range of information by phone, taking in employment, health and safety, tenancy and property issues, among others. The legal service is very important to Federated Farmers. It is used by members as part of their membership benefit package and is very popular. Federated Farmers members come from a range of farm types, including dairy, meat, wool, and arable production, so it was important to find an advisor company that had an affinity with farmers and farming. “Dealing with a farmer on the phone, you've got to know that that farmer might have been up since 3am and had a rough morning and they've got an issue they’ve probably been worrying about all night,” Lee says. “The person giving the advice on the phone needs to have a natural understanding of that background. “We are really pleased. So far it’s been working well,” she says. Norris Ward McKinnon managing partner Sam Hood says it was clear to the firm that Federated Farmers wanted not just legal knowledge and advice but a relationship. “The concept of partnership is really important to them and the ability for us to not only provide this phone line with really good staff, but also what was sitting behind that - our commitment to learn a lot about them and their members and actually work with them as partners,” he says. “For us, it's a massive privilege - normally when we're acting for a client, we're also representing Norris Ward McKinnon and the legal profession, but this phone line’s a bit different because we're also representing Federated Farmers. “The way in which we deal with the members has a massive impact on their attitudes towards Federated Farmers and the value they are getting out of their membership. That's a massive privilege and responsibility.” Practice Manager Carmen Simmonds says the phones ran hot on day one of the contract, January 6, when they fielded 39 calls - and resolved them all. “It was a very successful day for the team, a baptism by fire.” That number has since settled down to about 15-20 calls daily, and based on previous years the firm can expect to take up to 5000 in 2020. The 0800 calls, which typically take 15 minutes, are triaged at Federated Farmers’ London Street office, two blocks from Norris Ward McKinnon on Victoria Street. Hood says most of the enquiries are employment-related, and are generally resolved on the spot. As well as the phone line, which operates from 8.30am-5pm on weekdays, the agreement requires Norris Ward McKinnon to review and update contracts and agreements Federated Farmers offers its 12,500 members, and also provide input into seminars, publications and other content. The firm is attending some Federated Farmers meetings to provide support and education to members as well as being alert to any broader developments that could affect the organisation. different lawyer will be called on. “Internally, we're really well set up to deal with this because we don't have a hierarchical structure or culture,” Hood says. “We've reduced physical and other barriers to people approaching others for support. That makes it so much easier to get the right answer to the member in a short space of time. It also means we can be proactive not reactive.” The relationship aligns two organisations each with a long and strong history: Norris Ward McKinnon marked its 100th anniversary last year while Federated Farmers was formed in 1945. Hood says the relationship is a validation of Norris Ward McKinnon and its capabilities, and is also a Waikato success story. “It shows that Waikato firms can compete with national law firms and in some instances provide a better offering to iconic organisations like Federated Farmers. That's the Waikato success story to me. “This is a region for growth and I think large organisations are starting to see that and the value that Waikato businesses can provide over national ones.” “ This is a region for growth and I think large organisations are starting to see that and the value that Waikato businesses can provide over national ones.” The team is also getting out to farms to spend time with Federated Farmers members, including a sheep and beef farm visit in February. Norris Ward McKinnon has dedicated a room in its offices to the service, and it is staffed throughout the day. Depending on the nature of the inquiry, sometimes a P: 07 834 6000 E: lawyers@nwm.co.nz www.nwm.co.nz
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Waikato Business News February/March 2020

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