Electra Business Excellence Awards Attract Quality Entrants

MMEDIATE RELEASE

18 June 2018

Electra Business Excellence Awards Attract High Quality Entrants

Entries in the 2018 Electra Kapiti Horowhenua Business Excellence Awards have closed with organisers hailing the overall quality and variety of this year’s entrants.

Entries in the Awards, which recognise and celebrate local business excellence, closed on 31 May with 23 entrants vying for the honour of being named the 2018 Business of the Year at the gala dinner in Levin on 12 October.

Chief Assessor for the Awards, Mark Ternent says this year’s group of entrants is the best spread of entrants he’s ever seen. “In terms of the Excellence Awards, the 23 entrants are well spread across the large (6), medium (4), small (3) and owner-operator (10) categories. Six of our entrants have entered the Awards previously which is always a great endorsement of the Awards programme and the value businesses see in it.”

It’s a similar story across the six Achievement Awards with the entrants well spread across the different categories. “It means we’ve got a decent contest for every Award, and it indicates that every Award has a good degree of attraction to businesses.”

And a particularly popular Achievement Award is the “Give Where You Live” Award – a brand new category for 2018 that has attracted six entrants. The Award seeks out businesses who are committed supporters of their local Kapiti and Horowhenua communities, and recognises the contribution they make to societal well-being and community support.

Category sponsor, Nikau Foundation, is the perfect partner for the new Award. As the community foundation (independent philanthropic organisation) for the Greater Wellington Region, the foundation attracts gifts, handover trusts, legacies and community organisation endowments which it invests and uses the income from these investments to distribute to charitable organisations in accordance with the donor’s wishes.

Louise Parkin, General Manager of the Nikau Foundation says they are excited to be able to support an Award that recognises local businesses who are giving back to the communities in which they operate. “Nikau Foundation is thrilled to support the launch of the new ‘Give Where You Live’ Achievement Award. As the community foundation for the region, a significant part of our work is enabling generosity to the community from businesses, and the individuals that work in them. The benefits of being involved in corporate social responsibility are great – when done well it not only benefits local causes, but can build staff engagement and retention and help achieve marketing goals. Everybody wins!”

Another new sponsor for 2018 is Makahika Outdoor Pursuit Centre, the 2017 Business of the Year. The company will be sponsoring the “New Thinking” Achievement Award which has five entrants competing for the prize this year.

With entries in the Excellence and Achievement Awards now closed, the attention turns to the hugely popular Customer Choice Awards with registrations opening on 2 July and closing on 31 July. As in previous years there are three categories: Service, Retail, and “Age Friendly”.

This year the “Age Friendly” Award will be co-sponsored, with Horowhenua Masonic Village partnering with foundation sponsor Kapiti Retirement Trust. The Horowhenua Masonic Village is an integral part of the Horowhenua community offering rest home and hospital leave care, caresuites, respite and a community activity programme. Wendy Huston, CEO of the Kapiti Retirement Trust says having both Trusts involved provides a champion in each region for this significant Award. “Having sponsored the Age Friendly Customer Choice Award since its inception in 2015, the Kapiti Retirement Trust is thrilled this year to be partnering with the Horowhenua Masonic Trust to support this Award.”

Sponsorship, Marketing & Event Manager, Carmel Leonard says the Customer Choice Awards offer businesses a much easier process that relies solely on public voting, rather than an in-depth entry form and assessment process. “The cost to enter is $249 + GST and it’ a great way to generate publicity and engage with your customers. In addition, every business is provided with a report containing the results of their customer survey.”

“You can learn more about the Customer Choice Awards and enter online at: www.bkh.org.nz.”

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