| 3 REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Taranaki Chamber of Commerce Innovation fuelling Taranaki growth Kim Newth Business high achievers are regularly celebrated at Top Shop and Business Excellence awards, while a local business showcase event attracted 72 participants this year. Looking back over the past few years, Taranaki Chamber of Commerce chief executive Arun Chaudhari is proud of how New Plymouth businesses and the wider community pulled together to get through the Covid pandemic. It was tough at the start, particularly on New Plymouth’s large industrial area, Bell Block, where some 150 people were laid off from engineering and service businesses in the first few months of the pandemic. Responding quickly to help affected people get back into work, the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce together with the Ministry of Social Development, launched a skills and jobs hub at Bell Block called the Chamber Hub. “In the first eight months we were helping one person every three days to be placed in full-time employment – it was a high success rate,” says Arun, noting that another similar hub was also successfully established in Hāwera with a focus on assisting at risk rangatahi. The important role played by the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce in providing timely and relevant communication to help steer the region’s business community through lockdowns was acknowledged last year when Arun was nominated for the Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year 2021. Local businesses were actively kept informed of opportunities and financial assistance available to them, including for training, (through programmes such as Mana in Mahi – Strength in Work). “Our team called every single member to check on how they were doing and how we could help them and people really appreciated us reaching out in that way.” Recognising the impact of the pandemic on people’s resilience, Taranaki Chamber of Commerce ran two wellbeing conferences, one last year and the latest one in September 2022, both very well-received. Taranaki businesses are doing much better now that Aotearoa New Zealand is moving on from Covid. Business high achievers are regularly celebrated at Top Shop and Business Excellence awards, and a local business showcase event attracted 72 participants this year. Growth industries in the region include the energy sector and tourism. In the past, Taranaki’s oil and gas resources have been pivotal to the strength of the region’s economy. Arun says alternative forms of energy are now being developed with Taranaki’s Future Energy Centre – Ara Ake – pointing the way to a more sustainable future. “Taranaki is leading the country with hydrogen and is actively investigating how to make a just transition to a low emissions economy for employees in the energy industry and other related services.” With borders open again, the local tourism sector is very busy. Arun says that is due in part to Kiwis coming home from overseas, reflected too in the region’s buoyant new housing market. “We’re also seeing people leaving the bigger cities due to the higher costs of living there and finding that New Plymouth is a great place to live. It all adds impetus to regional growth.” New Plymouth was named the world’s most liveable city (for a population between 75,000 and 150,000) last year. It is also something of an entertainment capital, hosting the iconic WOMAD festival, the American classic car extravaganza AmeriCARna along with big touring acts at the Bowl of Brooklands. Visitors enjoy exploring the Len Lye Centre, renowned for experimental film and kinetic art, along with the adjoining Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Te Huanui Takutai Coastal Walkway is another key attraction. This award-winning coastal walkway is a 13.2km sea-edge promenade stretching from Pioneer Park at Port Taranaki all the way to the eastern side of Bell Block Beach. Along with new roading and infrastructure investment, exciting new projects planned for the region include Stratford Park, a unique multi-events facility comprising of motorsport, equestrian, education, community and events facilities; and Destination Play, set to transform New Plymouth’s Kāwaroa Park for all ages to play, enjoy and explore. Entertainment capital: New Plymouth hosts the iconic WOMAD festival, while the Len Lye Centre, right, is renowned for experimental film and kinetic art.
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