Editorial: Just what business in Bay needs

The former Big Save retail outlet, corner of Bridge St and Ossian Rd, Ahuriri, Napier. This will be the site of the new Business Hub. Photo / Warren Buckland

The news that a one-stop-shop for business growth is opening in Ahuriri can only be good for our region.

The Business Hub, in the former Big Save retail outlet in Ossian St, will house eight business development agencies from March, with Business Hawke's Bay (BHB) the lead agency.

Work has started on refitting the building, which will house Export NZ/Business Central, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), the Callaghan Innovation, NZTE-funded Regional Business Partners, Hawke's Bay chamber of Commerce and The Icehouse.

We often talk about how we need to find ways - big or small - to grow our regional economy. Well, as simple as it sounds, having eight economic agencies in one building is a step on the road to achieving that.

This is not a merger of all these organisations, it is simply making it convenient for businesses that need help to be able to find it in one space. The plan is also to have a cafe area, where people seeking help will be greeted by a concierge rather than a receptionist. This will give businesses easier and smarter use of resources.

This is the sort of thinking that we need to get this province ahead. A fairly simple move has the potential to facilitate economic growth in our region.

Credit must go BHB chief executive Susan White and board member and Future Products Group CEO Robert Darroch, among others, for putting this together, along with Big Save's father and son team of Ray and Tom McKimm, who will be the Hub's new landlords.

It is also good to see the Napier City Council, Hastings District Council and Hawke's Bay Regional Council getting behind the initiative as well. Hopefully, the closer proximity of these agencies will result in the free flow of ideas that will benefit the region as a whole and stimulate our economy.