Allan's/Big Alz Driving School has been training Rotorua drivers for 16 years. The driving school is a family-run business consisting of owner and instructor Allan Koller and daughter Angela, also an instructor.
In a nutshell, what does your business do?
Teach people of all ages and ethnicities to drive safely.
What inspired you to set up your current business?
I wanted to run my own business and decided teaching people to drive was my forte.
What was the best business decision you have made?
Starting Allan's/Big Alz Driving School.
What was your worst business mistake (if any) and what did you learn from it?
The biggest mistake I made was not starting my driving school earlier, as I love what I do now.
What do you see as the biggest opportunity for your business in the year ahead?
Getting more students through the stricter driver testing system first time up and teaching them the skills to be safer drivers.
If you could do any other job for a day, what would that be?
Captain the Spirit of Adventure teaching people to sail.
How do you maintain a healthy work/life balance?
Walking daily in our wonderful Redwood Forest with Christine my wife, dogs Vinnie and Buddy and playing bowls as often as possible in the summer.
What's the best thing about being in business in Rotorua?
Meeting young people and people new to New Zealand when teaching them to drive. There are many people of different nationalities arriving in our lovely city and I find them so interesting and I strive to help them get their licence and make them safer drivers on our streets. Rotorua being a relatively small city, I also find repeat family business is so important and much appreciated.
If you were mayor of Rotorua for one day, what one change would you make?
I would love to somehow promote our international airport more and, hopefully, we would be able to attract an airline to add other overseas destinations such as Brisbane or perhaps one of the Pacific Islands. It is such an asset for Rotorua and I would love more people to use it.
It is the first increase in private school funding in 15 years, David Seymour said.