Entries and nominations are now open for the new look Westpac Tauranga Business Awards, which were launched at a function at Trustpower on Thursday evening.
This year's Awards have been revamped to offer more recognition of the small business sector, with new categories created to encourage businesses with less than 10 full-time-equivalent employees to enter, says Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stan Gregec.
"We want to see more small businesses enter and we'd like to see a wider cross-section of the community there on the actual night," he said. "Think of it as 'democratising' the awards."
The new categories are: Small Retail Business of the Year, and Small Manufacturing/Distribution Business of the Year. There are now a total of 12 categories altogether, made up of seven sector awards covering Retail, Tourism/Hospitality, Manufacturing/Distribution, Professional and Trade Services and Social Enterprise. In addition there are four Business Practice categories: Workplace Safety, Business Innovation, Digital Innovation and Customer Service.
The supreme award is the Westpac Tauranga Business of the Year, for which any winner of any one of the other 12 categories is eligible.