After a postponement last year, the Hauraki Coromandel Business Awards are back! The awards are not all about financial profit and recognise the huge value businesses of all sizes add to their communities. Check out all the information here and get those entries in. You can keep up to date on Facebook. The gala night takes place on 23 October.
Industry Connect
Lou Beer - Event and Business Support Coordinator
An opportunity for Trades, Manufacturing and Agricultural Businesses to network with each other and representatives from organisations who may be able to support you with recruitment, wage support and growing your business and other areas.
Gr8 Job Hauraki has achieved 51 placements since July 1, 2023. Our target was 38 before June 30, 2024.
Rangatahi Leadership
Our Rangatahi Leadership programmes at Hauraki Plains College and Paeroa College have recently concluded. Daz and Emily from The Good Day Matrix worked with students during a six week programme delivering messages about leadership, confidence, resilience, and perspective! Students were guided toward making a positive impact and leaving a legacy at their respective schools. This concluded with a fantastic 'Ideas/Solutions Pitch' which showed an amazing transformation from the students compared to the beginning of the programmes. Some of the topics included the school bathrooms, water quality, lunch lines, a second hand uniform initiative and communication. The principals of the schools sat in on the pitch sessions and were astounded at the research and ideas that had come out. Waihī College is scheduled for term three.
Paeroa College students taking part in the Rangatahi Leadership Programme
Kei a koe te Tikanga (Job Ready)
We have completed our nine-day Kei a koe te Tikanga (Job Ready) programme. It has been a resounding success and we worked with a great group of rangatahi who were motivated and engaged.
One of our attendees was offered an exciting work trial opportunity and this has resulted in a permanent job, while two others will be attending the Whakatipu course at Outward Bound. We have been able to engage with Waihī College to seek an alternative educational journey for another of our participants and will continue to work with all participants as they transition from school to employment.
Some of the students taking part in our Kei a koe te Tikanga programme volunteering at a native planting project at Kopuarahi Primary School
Restricted Ready
We are currently supporting Hauraki Plains College to establish a driving navigator programme. “Restricted Ready” will use voluntary trained navigator drivers to help rangatahi prepare for restricted driving tests. A car has been secured as well as funds to help cover the running costs. The school are seeking funding for a programme coordinator and navigator driver training. Hauraki Plains College are very keen to engage with volunteers who are willing to be part of the programme and keen to be trained as navigator drivers. Keep an eye out for the new “Restricted Ready” programme.
The Three P's (Planning, Preparation and Persistence) key to funding success
Lyn Randall - Community Advocacy Officer
The road to funding can feel like a long and complicated one, but with the right planning and determination, you can create the best opportunities for success and less stress.
Planning - is a priority when considering funding. Whilst you may think a couple of months is adequate, unfortunately it is not. Considering the documentation required and the application funding rounds, you will need to factor in a variety of requirements so you often encounter a lead time of 6 months or sometimes more. Think about what you will need 12 months from now and start planning as soon as possible.
Preparation – funding organisations usually require similar documentation when applying and some have portals where you must register your group before completing that application. Registering well in advance and ensuring the documentation is saved and ready will help relieve the stress of that last minute panic before a funding round closes. In addition, if you have any outstanding accountability reports from previous successful grants, now is the time to remedy that. Get those sorted ASAP so you’ll be ready to apply again when possible. If you are unsure of your requirements, contact the funder for advice.
Persistence - many groups get deterred from applying following an unsuccessful application. My recommendation is ‘don’t let the funders grind you down’. With the right preparation, you can dust yourself off from the disappointment and get right back to reapplying with very few changes to your documentation. Remember, unless you have been specifically advised that you are ineligible to apply, you can usually reapply.
If you would like to have a discussion or meeting regarding your group’s funding needs, please get in touch by email atinfo@hauraki-dc.govt.nz.
Get Set to Thrive in '25
Lou Beer - Event and Business Support Coordinator
Regional Business Partner Registration
Lou Beer - Event and Business Support Coordinator
We are encouraging all our small-to-medium business owners to register. Perhaps you’re facing some challenges and would like some help to work through them. Or maybe your business is tracking well, and you’re keen to grow to the next level.The Regional Business Partner Network is a gateway that connects you to the right advice, people and resources and you get support from people who live and work in your region. There are no entry criteria, and it's free to join. web.regionalbusinesspartners.co.nz/business/
It's up to you how you use the network, and which services you want to access – there are no minimum requirements, so you've got nothing to lose by taking that first step and you can get some great discounts on workshops that will be running as part of our Thrive 2025 programme of events.
Infometrics Quarterly Economic Monitor Extract – March 2024
Lou Beer - Event and Business Support Coordinator
Overview of Hauraki District
Infometric's provisional GDP estimates suggests stable economic activity in the Hauraki District as quarterly growth picks up from a 0.3% decline in the December 2023 quarter to a 1.3%pa gain in the March 2023 quarter, taking annual growth to 1.3% in the year to March 2024. Hauraki outpaced national growth of 0.2% in the year to March 2024. Growth in mining, local and central government, and healthcare have helped boost economic activity in Hauraki.
Employment of Hauraki residents rose 2.8% in the year to March 2024. Health care, local government administration, and mining made the largest contributions to job growth in Hauraki over the year to March 2024, while jobs in agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and retail eased. Employment growth has not dipped as noticeably this quarter as the Waikato regional average and is double the 1.4% population growth the region experienced in 2023.
Hauraki’s unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4% in the March quarter and remained around 0.6 percentage points below the district’s ten-year average and slightly above to the 4.0% national rate.
Consumer spending in Hauraki ticked up by a slight 0.4% in the year to March 2024, although this significantly lags national growth of 2.8% and consumer price inflation of 4.0%, indicating a pullback in real spending activity. Guest nights paint a picture of strong tourism recovery in the 2023/24 summer, with Hauraki’s March 2024 quarter guest nights up 36%pa from the cyclone affected March 2023 quarter, pushing guest nights up 8.4% in the year to March 2024. International visitors are a key driver of tourism growth, with Hauraki’s international guest nights rising 19% in the year to March 2024.
Hauraki’s house values fell 4.5%pa in the March 2024 quarter, like the 6.3%pa fall in Thames-Coromandel, and both well short of national growth of 1.9%pa. However, Hauraki’s average house value of $641,900 remains considerably more affordable than the national average of $933,600 and Thames-Coromandel’s $1.16m.
High interest rates have discouraged residential construction across the country, with a 25% fall in national new dwelling consents over the year to March 2024. Hauraki’s new dwelling consents fell 18% in the year to March 2024, with just 16 issued in the March 2024 quarter, the district’s lowest since 2014. Non-residential consents in Hauraki have fallen 35.2% in the year to March 2024, coming off an elevated level of activity between December 2022 and September 2023.