Anne Pankhurst - the woman behind the Westpac Tauranga Business Awards. Photo / George Novak
Anne Pankhurst - the woman behind the Westpac Tauranga Business Awards. Photo / George Novak
Every year for the past 20 years Anne Pankhurst has organised a "quiet little dinner" for about 500 of her "closest friends".
And each time, Pankhurst puts on a bit of tulle and some lippy.
It's her outfit of choice for the annual Westpac Tauranga Business Awards - a nightshe has helped organise since the year 2000.
Pankhurst is no stranger to the business world, having opened some of the city's long-standing hospitality businesses.
The Tauranga Chamber of Commerce's annual awards celebration is an opportunity to acknowledge, support, and celebrate local businesses that have performed well across all facets, including financial, sustainability, customer service and staff.
Sitting relaxed and comfortable at this year's glamorous event setting at Trinity Wharf Tauranga - wearing lippy but not tulle - Pankhurst reminisces on how things have changed.
Way back when
Since the early 2000s, the awards have been held at "all sorts of places" including at the Baypark Stadium Lounge and even the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre by Memorial Park.
"It was a real challenging to make it look and feel that it was a glamorous evening."
Pankhurst won't stray from glitz and glam. "I always want it to be gorgeous."
It was also tricky to seat between 400 and 500 people for dinner.
"It's always been a very big event. It is a nice little quiet dinner with about 500 of my closest friends."
But it wasn't until about 10 years ago that Pankhurst recognised if she was a business, she would want more out of the event than just fancy dress.
The entry process became an important part of the process. Every single award entry would learn about themselves and the way they do business.
"That became the ultimate and has been very personally rewarding," she said.
"The theory for me is that if every business entered the awards and improved 10 per cent because of what they learned, imagine what the economy locally would be like. That's what this is about"
Anne Pankhurst, of the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce. Photo / George Novak
Love Local
This year's awards night has returned with a twist.
"Covid-19 has thrown an interesting challenge to us this year."
So this year was a chance to reset.
"We had to ask ourselves if we were reinventing madness by doing it the same way and getting the same result."
So this year will test a new methodology and reflect a Love Local format with a degustation cocktail event celebrating locally sourced and New Zealand food.
Pankhurst said the idea was "really cranking" and everyone was getting right into the ethos of Love Local.
"It really feels right."
Last year's Westpac Business Awards. Photo / Salina Galvan Photography
Memories
The "most wonderful" part of the event over the years, Pankhurst said, was when the awards celebrated a local business leader.
"They didn't know they were going to get the prize so they were brought along by various family or friends and every single one has often been sitting there away with the fairies," she said.
"Then they get the moment when they are celebrated and they have literally no idea. It is always a surprise."
One moment that sticks is when local real estate agent Richard Cashmore, of the Realty Group, accepted his award in 2011.
"At the time he had a really bad back so he was walking with a walking stick. But he got to the stage and he threw it away and he walked up the stairs on his own.
"Literally the room stood and clapped him and it was the most awe-inspiring moment that this leader that we all knew was recognised among his peers for being brave and wonderful."
Pankhurst also remembers Steve Saunders, of Plus Group Horticulture, whose whānau gathered on stage to sing Saunders a waiata as he accepted his award in 2014.
"Those kinds of moments are very special."
Anne Pankhurst. Photo / George Novak
Building businesses that last forever
Pankhurst's curriculum vitae is a full one.
She's been a business mentor, a former councillor, is trustee of the highly successful Tarnished Frocks and Divas trust and most recently on the scholarship's committee of the Acorn Foundation. Plus much more.
"I like helping people. I like being involved and sharing stuff with people," she said.
"Tarnished Frocks and Divas is very special to me. I've been doing that for 12 years.
"Being a business mentor is really personally fulfilling to actually think that you have been quite often at the formation of the company and you have given a couple of pearls of wisdom."
Pankhurst has also opened the Mediterraneo Cafe in Devonport Rd and the Astrolabe Bar and Restaurant in Mount Maunganui.
"That is probably one of the things I was most proud of in the city," she said.
"It's become 'the' place. It's the anchor to the city."
At the time, in the mid-1990s, Pankhurst said it wasn't about building a business that could be "flicked" but something that would last forever and would be part of the community.
"It's about building businesses that actually last."
The best advice she has given to a business is asking: How do you monetise that?
"I believe a mentor is not about giving the answers, it is about unpicking their brain. So if they don't understand how to monetise or make money out of this then maybe this idea is not the answer."
A year about resilience
While Pankhurst believed there would be some businesses that will not enter this year, interest in the 2020 awards was no less than any other year.
"While I know some businesses have had it really tough, and we have to acknowledge that, there are some who have actually down quite well out of this.
"There is still that element that businesses do want to celebrate, they do want to acknowledge the work that they've done.
"I suggest this year is about resilience and about showing we can succeed and we can get over the hurdles in front of us."
Event details
What: Westpac Tauranga Business Awards 2020. Where: Trinity Wharf Tauranga. When: November 13. Theme: Shine Like A Diamond. Nominations and entries: Open from July 20 to September 25. Visit www.businessawards.org.nz for full details and supporting documents.
