The economic effects of Covid-19 and New Zealand's subsequent nationwide lockdown have been felt far and wide by our business community. Journalist Stephanie Arthur-Worsop asks Scion chief executive Julian Elder to reflect on his own company's survival and what he thinks needs to be done to help the local economybounce back.
How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected your company?
We have seen a drop in revenue from commercial sources and this is expected to continue through the next financial year (to July 2021).
Part of our staff worked through as we had essential services we had to maintain on behalf of the country.
Under alert level 3, about 80 to 90 staff were back to allow them to continue with their work that required being on site.
Now under alert level 2, we are close to 100 per cent returned to working on site. There has been a variety of lessons through the lockdown about potential ways of working in the future and we will take the time to fully evaluate what worked well and what that might mean for the future ways of working.
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What are you doing to ensure the company survives the pandemic and/or thrives after it?
As our core purpose is to drive innovation and growth in the forestry and biomaterials sector, our focus has been on how we can use our expertise and knowledge to help the recovery phase, both for Rotorua and for the country.
The global move towards a circular economy rather than the old linear fossil fuel-based economy offers great opportunity for New Zealand's future.
Forestry is at the centre of this and fits our competitive advantage of being world-class in growing trees. We are proposing the establishment of a Biopilot Facility here on the Te Papa Tipu innovation campus to help the transformation of the sector to higher-value products and the creations of new industries.
The Bay of Plenty is the natural centre for this and our efforts are with local and central government decision-makers to recognise this opportunity.
What are the benefits and challenges of running a business in the Bay of Plenty?
The benefits for Scion is that we are at the centre of forestry activities and in a great place to live, also the ability to have the majority of our staff in one location, co-located with industry and agencies, working with mana whenua is a huge strength.
The challenges come from being remote from Wellington and the need to get key messages across in Wellington.
What do you believe should happen in order to revitalise and rebuild the local/regional economy?
The opportunity is to build back better – business activities that are environmentally sound and help in diversifying the local economy. We believe all projects should have these lenses applied to get central government support.
