Posted 19/07/13
There's a lot going on in the Waitaki economy which is often overlooked by the general public. When Summit Wool Spinners closed earlier in the year, a number of people interviewed by the media said "There are no jobs (to re-employ the staff being laid off.)" While it was always going to be difficult to absorb all of the staff, the North Otago economy has been doing well, largely on the back of the... agricultural industry, directly or indirectly. Allan Dick has posed the question over on his Oamaru Today FB page "Where are the jobs?" (Sorry, I don't seem to be able to link properly to it). Allan challenges us to think beyond traditional jobs and industries. My response is that we have businesses like Trustpower with its call centre employing about 70 staff, McKeown Group employing over 30 people, engineering companies like Te Pari doing very well, and so on. The following is my comment to his post:
We do have risks in Waitaki if a major employer closes so diversification is important. If we look at what businesses are doing well, we can get an idea of the potential. The following is just a sample of businesses which are currently employing good numbers of staff but it's not an exhaustive list:
Trust power
Te Pari
Hynds Metaltech
Apex Engineering
Rainbow
Plunket Electrical & associated companies
McKeown Group
PlaceMakers
Milligans
Whitestone Contracting
Plateau Works
Alliance Pukeuri
Topflite
Whitestone Cheese
Lean Meats and so on...
Most people wouldn't have a clue just how big some of these companies are! Not all of these will last forever but then industries do change. We do need to attract investment to the area and we need to be smart with what we do. We need industries like Holcim and we need the one-man-band start-ups that might become the next Whitestone Cheese! We need things like Steampunk and golf courses, and the Alps 2 Ocean cycle way. We need the hunting, fishing and outdoors which all attracts people to live here.
Oamaru has a lot to offer but for too long we have been "on the cusp of making it big." I believe we need to set a better environment which encourages business growth and THAT, more than anything, is the goal I have set myself for the economic future of the district.
There's a lot going on in the Waitaki economy which is often overlooked by the general public. When Summit Wool Spinners closed earlier in the year, a number of people interviewed by the media said "There are no jobs (to re-employ the staff being laid off.)" While it was always going to be difficult to absorb all of the staff, the North Otago economy has been doing well, largely on the back of the... agricultural industry, directly or indirectly. Allan Dick has posed the question over on his Oamaru Today FB page "Where are the jobs?" (Sorry, I don't seem to be able to link properly to it). Allan challenges us to think beyond traditional jobs and industries. My response is that we have businesses like Trustpower with its call centre employing about 70 staff, McKeown Group employing over 30 people, engineering companies like Te Pari doing very well, and so on. The following is my comment to his post:
We do have risks in Waitaki if a major employer closes so diversification is important. If we look at what businesses are doing well, we can get an idea of the potential. The following is just a sample of businesses which are currently employing good numbers of staff but it's not an exhaustive list:
Trust power
Te Pari
Hynds Metaltech
Apex Engineering
Rainbow
Plunket Electrical & associated companies
McKeown Group
PlaceMakers
Milligans
Whitestone Contracting
Plateau Works
Alliance Pukeuri
Topflite
Whitestone Cheese
Lean Meats and so on...
Most people wouldn't have a clue just how big some of these companies are! Not all of these will last forever but then industries do change. We do need to attract investment to the area and we need to be smart with what we do. We need industries like Holcim and we need the one-man-band start-ups that might become the next Whitestone Cheese! We need things like Steampunk and golf courses, and the Alps 2 Ocean cycle way. We need the hunting, fishing and outdoors which all attracts people to live here.
Oamaru has a lot to offer but for too long we have been "on the cusp of making it big." I believe we need to set a better environment which encourages business growth and THAT, more than anything, is the goal I have set myself for the economic future of the district.
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