Ownership move about sharing joy, pride in firm

EMPLOYEES at Firebrand are encouraged to take ownership of their work — literally.

Studio director Georgina Guthrie, digital director Alex Murray and lead developer Taua Piri now own 5% each of the Dunedin marketing and digital transformation agency.

Rewarding and recognising staff who have helped them along the journey by giving them a stake in the business is something Firebrand managing director Bex Twemlow believes is not common enough among employers.

‘‘It needs to be a conversation, I want to inspire other organisations [to do similar]. How many other people could you give a feeling of joy and pride? It feels so good,’’ she said, issuing a challenge to other businesses.

The trio, along with Mrs Twemlow and her husband Paul, are now the owners of Firebrand and it is a step towards a bigger strategy for the entire team.

Next year, it was hoped to implement a full employee share ownership pool for those that met certain criteria so they could be part of the ‘‘great things’’ Firebrand was about, Mrs Twemlow said.

While they would not have a clear shareholding ownership like the trio, they would benefit in the ongoing profitability of Firebrand, which she expected was ‘‘going to be pretty awesome’’ in the next few years.

A leader in Dunedin’s business community, Mrs Twemlow has also been a passionate advocate for the city and providing opportunities for employment in it.

But it had ‘‘never been about it being the Bex show’’, she said, and she wanted to reward and recognise those who had helped the couple along the journey, create a legacy for enduring business and sustain the future of Firebrand.

Too often, celebrations were held when people left a workplace but the importance of the role they played was rarely celebrated during their tenure, she said.

Having some ownership of the business was what the three employees deserved and the pride they had from it was visible, she said.

There would be a nominated director who would represent the trio on Firebrand’s board, while she and Mr Twemlow still owned the controlling stake, Mrs Twemlow said.

There was mana and pride associated with being a shareholder or partowner. She recalled her original business partner saying to her, before she was a shareholder, that it would ‘‘make a difference’’.

Mrs Twemlow said she worked hard before owning any of Firebrand, and getting a slice of ownership did made a difference.

‘‘The pride, the glow I got, knowing this little piece of Firebrand was mine and I could talk about that and share that feeling with young people and other business people — it did mean something really special,’’ she said.

The ownership change had been supposed to happen in early 2020 but Covid19 had caused a delay and she was grateful the staff had ‘‘hung in’’ and believed in her.

She wanted to be able to continue to step away from the

❛ The pride, the glow I got, knowing this little piece of Firebrand was mine and I could talk about that and share that feeling with young people and other business people — it did mean something really special

Firebrand director Bex Twemlow

daytoday running of Firebrand and focus on more strategic relationships and projects, and other organisations it was involved with.

A big part of that was building the Firebrand Academy, which had been on the list of projects for four years; it was supposed to happen in the first quarter of 2020.

It was a pathway for young people to work on reallife community, notforprofit and charity projects that Firebrand worked on.

They would be paid a living wage and be mentored, educated and peersupported by the Firebrand team and shaped to gain either employment or entry to an alternative education provider.

Taking care of young people is something Mrs Twemlow — one of the drivers of the Youth Employment Success initiative which was now in seven locations — is passionate about.

She said there were some young people who suffered from a lack of confidence — they did not see the world as being a place they could survive and thrive — and they could not be expected ‘‘to rock on up and work a 40hour week and be able to hit the ground running’’.

What the academy would look like was what Firebrand looked like — ‘‘we are a motley crew man’’, she laughed.

‘‘There’s this microcosm of culture and diversity within Firebrand.’’

With a small team of about 18, it was also a safe environment for young people.