A down-to-earth Kiwi product - the electric fence - helped Bill Gallagher to win the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.
While his family-owned Hamilton company, Gallagher Group, is best known for electric fences, it has branched into security fences, fuel pumps, plastic moulding and swipe cards.
The
company exports widely, and employs more than 400 people in New Zealand and a similar number abroad.
Carol Campbell, director of the awards, said one of Gallagher's outstanding attributes was his ability to recognise and nurture talent and productivity.
In the 1998 New Year's honours, he became a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to business and export.
In last night's awards Gallagher also won the Master Entrepreneur category.
Other winners included: Hamish Conway of Rock and Ice NZ (young entrepreneur); Tony Davies-Colley of TDC Sawmills (manufacturing); Scott Unsworth of Orca Performance Speedsuits (services/retail); and Brian Peace of Peace Software (technology/communications).
