The Hawke's Bay Business Mentoring Team, based at the Napier City Council, has been named the winner of the inaugural Business Mentors New Zealand Competition.
The award was announced by the CEO of Business Mentors New Zealand, Ray Schofield, who said the Bay mentors had produced results at the "highest levels."
Theoverall results were measured by an independent client satisfaction survey over the past year.
Mr Schofield paid tribute to the "tremendous contribution" made by Keith White and Ron Massey, and said special acknowledgement also went to the team of 25 volunteer business mentors who had met client expectations at the highest levels in Hawke's Bay.
"Without their commitment to both the mentoring programme and the Hawke's Bay region the success of the mentoring programme could not have been achieved," Mr Schofield said.
During the past two years more than 100 small and medium enterprises (SME) businesses in the Hawkes Bay region had benefited from using the mentoring programme.
The programme is focused on making a significant contribution to SME client businesses, improving their performance capabilities and ensuring increases in profitability and employment that flow directly into adding value to both local economies and their communities.
Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott was delighted in the result.
"Our staff and their volunteer mentors have done a great job, but what is most important is that the service has assisted so many local business to plan better, trade better and either retain or add staff numbers; all during a period of difficult trading times."
Mentoring units in Northland and Waikato were second and third, respectively.
