| 3 WESTPAC AUCKLAND BUSINESS AWARDS Downlights Sue Russell Hand poured candles light up awards Downlights hand-poured, fragrant soy wax candles have been recognised in several business awards since 2020. For Canadian born Jennifer Del Bel, an interest in the beauty and power of fragrances has led her, by chance and by design, to start her own business, creating high quality hand-poured soy wax candles across a range of beautiful, subtle, invigorating and intoxicating fragrances. Downlights valued-based approach, innovation and drive to succeed has been recognised since 2020, in several business awards. That year, the company won the Ōrākei Business Awards Diversity Award, while the following year it received three awards – People’s Choice, Best New Business and overall Winner. In 2021 and 2022 Downlights won Best Medium Stand at NZ Gift and Homeware Fairs. This year, they took out the Girls in Business Excellence in Diversity award and the trend continues with finalist positions in the Westpac Auckland Business Awards in Excellence in Marketing, Excellence in Strategy & Planning and Community Contribution and Excellence in Community Contribution. And capping off this stunning year Downlights was nominated for EY Social Impact Award for 2022. While the awards stand as recognition of what she and the team have achieved it’s what Jennifer has enabled and created that really is the story here. In creating ‘Downlights’ Jennifer has opened the door to meaningful, valued employment experience for those in society who are often overlooked for job opportunities, given society’s perception that their disability is a limiting factor. What Jennifer has discovered is quite the reverse. “It’s a long story but it begins with me being given a beautiful candle and I couldn’t find one of similar quality to replace it with, so I decided to start making my own, to have in my yoga studio. Then my clients started buying them so from these small beginnings a passion for making beautiful candles a business called Illumina began which in time became a competitive NZ brand.” Then one day Jennifer was introduced to a man who had two daughters with Downs syndrome and the eldest who had completed college was continually passed over for work opportunities. He had thought to start a business his daughter could engage in. “I said to him, to bring his eldest daughter in to my factory and I would show her how to make candles. I thought it would be a way for her to feel valued and perhaps sell her candles in a market as a trial. For me that meeting started the conversation about all the experiences for all disabled adults trying to find work and the core values of Downlights became cemented in diversity, equity and inclusivity.” And after national publicity through featuring on Seven Sharp, following which a candle was ordered on-line every minute for 24 hours, Jennifer quickly developed the brand and the social-enterprise business ‘Downlights’ came into being. Since then, interest and word of what is being done on a daily basis and what has achieved has reached overseas. Aligning Downlights with socially-driven philanthropic groups, such as The Lindsay Foundation, and partnering with NZ Post has added further value. Lawyers, Bell Gully provide the business with pro-bono legal advice, certifications such as being a ‘Living Wage’ employer and carrying the Akina accreditation mark, which recognises the values underpinning aspirational social enterprises, have further grounded and solidified the business to what it is today. In the spirit of circular economy, Downlights launched The Downlights Charitable Trust and has donated over $40,000 to trust beneficiaries: The New Zealand Down Syndrome Association, Recreate NZ and the Living Wage Movement. Downlights joined Recreate in the first year offering weekly work experience programmes to young disabled adults and this skill based programme has been further developed with the Pegasus Unit and MIT. Today, the team at Downlights, make by hand 3,000 – 5,000 candles every week. From Monday to Wednesday two crews of staff undertake four-hour shifts while on Thursday the Pegasus Unit from MIT, which offers young adults employment opportunities, brings groups into the factory. Admitting she is very morally and ethically driven at her core, Jennifer says the business has flourished for all the right reasons. “The team we have here are wonderful. They feel real ownership and pride in what they are contributing to.” The tendency to pigeon-hole disabled people, limiting their employment options, is something Jennifer is doing everything she can to turn-around. “Come into Downlights and see what they are capable of. This business runs on a shoestring, yet the outcomes are massive. I was brought up in a Canadian mining town where everyone helped each other out. That’s the foundation on which Downlights has grown.” And continuing to innovate is just as important! On October 13, International Disaster Relief Day a new product called ‘Lifelight’ was show-cased. An emergency candle in a tin, with a set of matches tucked under the lid. “For each candle in a tin sold we will donate 50c to The New Zealand Red Cross”. Trusted bymore Kiwis to deliver their parcels. New Zealand’s favourite courier.
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