Increased prosperity, more employment and greater investment in the district are just some of the aims of the recently formed Wairarapa Development Group.The group, described as a “high powered think tank” is headed by Chairman Mr. Shane McManaway. A Carterton farmer and born and bred local, Mr. McManaway is also general manager and director of Allflex, Australasia, the world’s largest suppliers of ear tags for stock identification.
Describing himself as a someone who loves the ‘cut and thrust’ of big business, Mr. McManaway travels extensively in his role with Allflex, spending two weeks of each month in Australia and the rest of the month on his Carterton farm. He believes he has a very good “feel for grass roots New Zealand” and wants to see the Wairarapa grow by attracting new business and investment to the region and providing greater opportunities for those who live here.
“Our aim is to nail down ways of attracting new business, more investment and better job opportunities for people. The region has so much to offer but unfortunately it is only running at ‘half throttle’. The Wairarapa has some amazing people living here, people who are world leaders in what they do and they live here because they want the lifestyle. Many of these people have come out of the wood work since they heard about us and want to be involved.”
The ‘stand alone group’ is made up of a number of people who have a wealth of knowledge and business experience to contribute. Company director Dr. Kaye McAuley of Martinborough; John Tulloch, a managing director of Carterton; Wairarapa Federated Farmers president Anders Crofoot; Masterton engineer Peter Munn; Tui Breweries marketing manager Nick Rogers; business consultant and prominent Maori leader Paora Ammunson of Greytown; broadcaster Richard Griffin of Greytown and Mavis Mullins, Golden Shears president and Dannevirke business woman.
Mr. McManaway says the makeup of the group is that of “people with track records of being strong achievers. By virtue of who the group’s made up of we will not be happy with small gains. We cannot afford to let the dollars out of the Wairarapa. We want to mentor and foster things such as greater service levels which at present are often average. This could be done for example by giving a monthly award to a business providing excellent service, as an acknowledgement of what they are doing.”
Another aspect the group is considering is a training component - actually going into schools and colleges to talk about aspects like attitude and leadership.
“The Wairarapa is a wonderful place with enormous potential. If you just look at tourism for example there are great opportunities there to develop. Air New Zealand is being very supportive, they already fly in five days a week and there is a huge opportunity to get them to work harder and faster to bring in more tourists. We definitely have some ‘stand out places’ in the region.”
“As a stand alone group we have no intention of cutting across existing groups, but with all the expertise we have we may be able to work with and assist them. We do have a wealth of knowledge.”
Mr. McManaway says the group, which had been in the ‘melting pot’ for about a year before it got up and running, will spend time working on “what it can do”, not ‘‘counting ants while the elephants run by”.
“We are all about good news and we don’t focus on the negative.”
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