Waikato Business News April/May 2021

32 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS April/May 2021
VIBRANT CAMBRIDGE
Cambridge roaring ahead
From page 30
Eight months later, they
have placed more than 60
people in jobs, and have
even taken on one graduate
themselves, a former pilot
who is now managing their
warehouse. Others have been
employed by firms including
Wealleans and Waharoabased
horticulture company
LeaderBrand.
The AgDrive idea wasn’t
actually mine, it was an
off the side comment
made by a friend of
mine. He made the
comment completely
out of the blue. He said,
‘What’s going to happen
to all these contractors
when they can’t get
overseas staff?’
AgDrive not only gives
trainees the driver training
but also supports them in
their job applications.
Along with redeploying
Ag Technology engineers,
they have taken on four new
staff for AgDrive, and have
just signed a contract with the
Primary ITO to run both tractor
driving and motorbike and
quad driving microcredential
courses for NZQA credits.
Aimed at people already
in employment, the weeklong
tractor course will have
intakes of 10 or 11, while
the bike training is set to
become a twice-weekly, twoday
course, with a 10-strong
intake for each.
General manager Janine
Peters says the AgDrive ITO
initiative came after they
were looking for other avenues
to ensure the business’s
long-term future.
Early signs were encouraging
after Syben’s wife
posted the news on their
Facebook page. “All I heard
all night was ‘ping’ ‘ping’ on
her phone. It was inquiry, just
unbelievable,” Syben says.
They have built an indoor
bike training track at the back
of their warehouse, meaning
the training can be held in all
weathers. It is carpeted with
astroturf Syben bought before
Christmas from the Cambridge
tennis courts, with the
planned track in mind.
But they are also looking
at taking the offering
on-farm for employers such
as iwi with a large number of
employees on grouped farms
Ag Technology is also
growing its Diesel Tune
business with the addition of
imported TJM four-by-four
accessories, the first time
they have sold a physical
product through the business.
Meanwhile, their 2500
sq m warehouse, a business
which they started just before
Covid lockdown, is almost
full.
Business leader of the year
Having a plan to deal
with Covid-19 and giving
the team confidence
there was light at the end of the
tunnel were key elements in
Hamilton Airport chief executive
Mark Morgan winning
Waipā business leader of the
year. The airport is setting
records despite experiencing
lockdown and uncertainty
because of the pandemic.
“The award represents
a few things, I think it represents
the fact that we got
through Covid,” says Morgan,
who was nominated by
his team.
“A lot of it was about the
success of the business in the
past year. And whilst I can
take some of the credit for
the leadership aspect, it was
a much wider leadership contribution
by the whole team
that got us to that point.”
Faced with the uncertainty
of Covid, it was important to
hold the long-term course, he
says. The airport put together
a Covid response leadership
team, and Morgan says his
approach was for people to
be clear on what needed to be
done and then getting on with
doing it.
“I think I’m pretty clear on
my expectations,” he says. “I
was conscious of hopefully
never portraying to the team
any uncertainty, any kind of
inability to make decisions.
I just tried to get the team to
focus on what we could control,
what we needed to do.”
His background in operations
management, including
leadership stints at Smith and
Smith, Scenic Coachlines
and Budget Rent A Car, gave
him a solid background in
crisis management.
“I learned very good communication
skills, good delegation
skills, but also I think
I’ve got a pretty good sense
for when stuff’s getting done
and when it isn’t getting done
and seeing roadblocks.”
The wage subsidy helped
them retain their airport hotel
staff in particular, with a further
boost coming when it
became an MIQ facility, and
there were only “one or two”
redundancies in the terminal’s
retail store, which they
decided to amalgamate with
the Propellor Cafe upstairs in
the terminal building.
Morgan says in the early
days of lockdown, he couldn’t
be sure about the security of
his own job, nor those of his
leadership team and staff,
however he chose to move
forward in as positive and
transparent manner as he
could. “We took things one
day at a time and responded
quickly to what was needed,
but always had a strong focus
on the future,” he said.
AgDrive took out both Excellence in Emerging/New Business and the Innovation and
Adaptation Award at the Waipa Networks Business Awards. Photo: Cornegiephotography
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