Waikato’s business agenda
A new Waikato business group has made an accidental first step into the public arena.
Agenda Waikato gathered $20,000 in funding for entertainment at the Victoria on the River park after Hamilton City Council voted down the idea the week before.
But it doesn’t exactly fit the claimed think tank’s professed aim of fewer functions, more thinking and discussing.
The chairman of the incorporated society, Graham Dwyer, said he was sitting at home on the couch when he read the entertainment funding wouldn’t go ahead.
He sent a few emails to other business owners, who spread the conversation further.
Soon, a ‘‘bunch of people’’, including developer Matt Stark and other Agenda Waikato supporters, stumped up the funds.
‘‘That’s what we want to be able to do, whether it’s for Matamata or Cambridge. But we hope to be a bit higher level than that.’’
It was a branding opportunity for the new group, which announced its presence in August 2017 with a promise to achieve ‘‘evidence-based action and outcomes’’ for the region’s businesses.
Agenda Waikato aims to be a think tank and lobby group wrapped into one, aimed at strengthening the region’s position with central government.
As of February, the group had gained 22 financial supporters including banks ANZ and BNZ, Jennian Homes, Stark Property, Montana Catering and the University of Waikato.
‘‘We want to influence ‘live, work and play’. We’re a bunch of businesspeople saying, we need more leadership around this stuff,’’ Dwyer said.
‘‘There’s some really good stuff happening, but there’re some things we think we’re missing out on.’’ But what is missing is yet to be determined. Agenda Waikato has commissioned research from the University of Waikato to compare Hamilton to other cities in New Zealand against 100 data points.
Due out in the middle of March, the report will help focus the group’s platform.