The Thrive team has a new home in Taupo Quay. From all manner of backgrounds, the team led by Nicola Patrick bring a diverse range of skills to the young organisation.
"The common thread is that we all feel passionate about people getting their lives together and moving forward," says Niki
Vernon, financial coach.
"And making a difference," adds Nicola.
"For a lot of people this is a life-changing thing … and they need a team of people who tell them they can do this," says Niki.
There are seven people on the team of Thrive, most part-time and one full-time.
"We're in the start of our fifth year," says Nicola. The team has produced a review of progress, available in PDF and soon in hard copy.
"The first year was me being a volunteer, getting started, sounding out things, forming relationships and finding a lot of support, and also the Thrive Expo – we got more than 200 people; the second year was getting the Generator contract and we started working with people and helping them set up their own micro enterprises. Then we had the year of Covid and we'd actually started working with other people, doing workshops and other things; then we had the year that's just finished – our year runs July 1 to June 30 – and the Ministry of Social Development [MSD] was able to support our work in a much more financial way and opened a ton of doors, partly because our work is a response to Covid, part of a Covid recovery strategy."
This year she says they're starting with an MSD contract and some capability building funding.
"In another few months we'll be feeling really comfortable and certain of what else we can deliver."
Thrive helps with coaching and support for people starting, growing or changing enterprises.
Thrive also helps people on the Be Your Own Boss programme.
Nicola says their direction and criteria have had to change because of the pandemic.
"It's an interesting concept when you think about, what are communities learning through lockdowns, around what makes communities resilient and what matters to people. It is not big, international operators that shut up shop and make people redundant at the first sniff of a downturn, it's actually small, locally-owned, family / whanau businesses, maybe even single operators, that are the ones that sustain and care about our community and do things that matter."
