Industrial Park takes top accolade
It came out of the blue, but a father and son team took the supreme winner’s crown at this year’s Te Puke Business Excellence Awards. Jellicoe Industrial Park was winner of the Ag/Hort/ Industrial category at Friday’s awards.
Director John Dohnt said he was blown away when he realised the industrial park was also named supreme winner.
“I had been wondering ‘who the heck is going to get this one?’. It came right out of the blue. It took me about 10 seconds to get my brain around it,” he said.
Judges noted the industrial park has a detailed and well thought-out 10-year strategic plan. It is supportive and active in attracting new business to Te Puke and meeting specific customer requirements for commercial and industrial activity.
“They operate with excellent business systems and they are committed to the well being, growth and development of the Te Puke district.
“They are a business of significant scale with plans for continuing growth.”
John runs the business with son Warren and it was this partnership he felt made it a success.
“We’ve put lots of thought, lots of hours and lots of worry into it and we’ve built ourselves a pretty good little business,” said John.
“Well, it’s quite a big business actually.”
He said the park has expanded over the past couple of years and he was excited about the future.
“That’s down to my son coming in with me. It’s a new generation. There’s more drive there than us old fellas. We complement each other well. “If you don’t have the vibe, passion, vision and ambition, you aren’t going to get anywhere.”
John said the awards are good for Te Puke.
“It gives the chance for businesses to display their ability and management skills and get recognised for that.” Street to Surf Clothing, The Daily Cafe, Dobsons, and Kansai Sushi were also recognised as winners in their fields and Jenny Wotton was named Te Puke’s Employee of the Year.
Te Puke Economic Development Group managing director Mark Boyle said each of the winners had demonstrated high performance and had striven for excellence.
“In the case of the supreme winner, they were deemed to be outstanding, very strategic and they were focused on growth and what Te Puke needs in the industry sector,” Boyle said.
Commendations went to Taryn Komene from Tony’s Kebabs and Pizzas, Archway Group, Mitre 10, Pongakawa Service Centre, Tarnix Security and Marigold Cafe.
Western Bay of Plenty Mayor Garry Webber said in his view Te Puke would continue to grow, and that he thought development at the Rangiuru Business Park would start in “the not too distant future”.
“In terms of Rangiuru the wider Te Puke Community owes a debt of gratitude to Mark Boyle for his relentless drive to bring that project to fruition.”
The awards were themed to the Sikh culture, and Mark acknowledged the “huge contribution” the Indian community made to Te Puke business.
Sir Gordon Tietjens was the evening’s guest speaker and one of the highlights was the presentation of a special award to acknowledge the contribution Des and Shirley McGregor, who recently retired, have made to the Te Puke community and economy since they arrived in the town in 1960.
We’ve put lots of thought, lots of hours and lots of worry into it and we’ve built ourselves a pretty good little business. Well, it’s quite a big business actually. — John Dohnt Director of supreme winner Jellicoe Industrial Park
■ The Business Excellence Awards also saw the launch of a new video promoting Te Puke — go to the TePukeTV channel on You Tube to see it.