New contracts help Bay of Plenty businesses grow

Minister of Business Innovation and Employment Steven Joyce. Photo/File

The Government and Tauranga Chamber of Commerce have committed to a further five and a half years of support to help small businesses grow through the Regional Business Partner programme, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Minister for Small Business Craig Foss announced today.

Regional Business Partners are centres of business development know-how and research and development expertise for companies.

A key change in the programme is a partnership with Business Mentors New Zealand to make its full suite of services available through the Regional Business Partner programme.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce will work with the Rotorua and Eastern Bay Chambers of Commerce to deliver the programme, together with their partners Export NZ B.O.P. and Poutama Trust.

"Since 2011, more than 700 small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the Bay of Plenty have benefited from the programme," Mr Joyce said.

"The Government is working in partnership with the regions to help more than 5000 small to medium-sized businesses grow each year.

"This continued investment across New Zealand reflects the Government's commitment to help SMEs innovate, develop and employ more people. It is also a celebration of the strong partnership between Government and regional providers."

The network of regional business partners is very effective in reaching a large number of SMEs, Mr Foss said.

"Of particular value is the work by business advisors who use their local knowledge and links to the business community to work with each business, identifying their development needs and increasing their ability to carry out key activities.

"We are working in partnership across 15 regional areas of New Zealand to offer an integrated one-stop-shop approach to business support. We have also partnered with Business Mentors New Zealand to make their full suite of services available through the Regional Business Partner programme."

The ministers' office did not respond to request for information about funding but said the Regional Business Partner Network was jointly funded by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and Callaghan Innovation.

MOCA is an example of a Bay of Plenty business that has benefited from the programme.

The web agency has received capability funding that has led to the development of a robust sales strategy and execution, financial business planning and streamlined internal systems. This has led to MOCA doubling its turnover in four years.

An evaluation completed in April 2015 found that the programme has had a positive impact on the ability of small to medium-sized businesses to manage their businesses and do R&D.
The full evaluation can be found here.