Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Making new friends all in a day’s work
A programme designed to help young professionals make friends has seen its president shortlisted for a Young Business Person Of The Year award.
Blenheim-based Gascoigne Wicks Lawyers solicitor Savannah Carter helped start Marlborough Young Professionals in a bid to help young professionals meet people outside their workplace.
The 25-year-old said she struggled to meet new people when she first moved to the region 18 months ago, and hoped a new networking platform for young professionals would solve the issue.
Her diligence saw her named a Young Business nominee ahead of the 2018 Marlborough Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards.
‘‘In my first year of being here, my only friends were my colleagues,’’ Carter said.
‘‘I wanted to branch out and meet more people, but there wasn’t really a platform where we could do that.’’
Together with the other founding members, Carter kick-started an end of month bar hang-out in April, which encouraged young professionals to share drinks and stories at a bar in Blenheim.
The first meet-up attracted about 40 young professionals from around Marlborough and showcased the need for likeminded events.
Following months of growth, the group decided to incorporate themselves as a society under the Marlborough Young Professionals banner and elected committee members, a secretary and a president.
‘‘I put my hand up for president as I haven’t done that sort of thing before,’’ Carter said.
‘‘Everyone was on board with it and I had a lot of support from the committee.’’
The group had since applied to become a legal entity and had opened its own bank account, she said. Carter said she met two of her current flatmates through group meet-ups, along with ‘‘many other friends’’.
She was pragmatic about her nomination, saying it was an ‘‘exciting and great win for the Marlborough Young Professionals’’ which would also ‘‘look good on her resume’’.
Carter said seeking sponsorship from businesses was the ‘‘next big step’’ for the group, as it would allow them to hold subsidised events with the potential perk of discounted drinks.
Businesses owners had so far provided ‘‘great feedback’’ on the group, as it was seen as a way of encouraging young people to remain in Blenheim for longer.
‘‘A lot of them have said, ‘we get young people in who’ve just finished university, they start their job, we train them up and then after a couple of years, they leave,’’ Carter said.
She suspected one of the bigger reasons young people had such a quick turn around rate in Blenheim was because they hadn’t made a lot of friends.
‘‘We’re hoping that people might be happier if they have the forum to meet new friends and maybe they’ll stick around to see how great Marlborough is.’’
While bar hang-outs were still held on the last Friday of each month, Carter said the group had also expanded to include at least one other event per month.
‘‘We’ve held a bowling night, with spot prizes, and we split people into new teams so they could meet people outside their own groups,’’ she said.
‘‘In the future we hope to do paintball and lawnbowls.’’