Business North May 2021

6 | Support for businesses ‘a lifesaver’ T T Karen Phelps A wide range of businesses in Northland benefited from Covid funding. Northland Inc “We are still encouraging and welcoming further new Regional Business Partner registrations from businesses looking for on-going business support. Our Business Growth Advisors can support businesses in a variety of ways.” Murray Reade REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT N orthland Inc has distributed more than $3m in Covid-19 support since March 2020, including the Tourism Transi- tions Fund and the Management Capability Development Fund, to help local businesses weather the pandemic. And according to Northland Inc CEO Murray Reade for many the assistance has been a lifesaver. “Northland has around 22,000 small businesses and they are a very large and important part of our economy. And of course Covid-19 hit many small businesses hard so the support has been vital,” he says. Northland Inc is a Council Controlled Or- ganisation that supports economic activity in Northland. It is part of the Regional Business Partner Network funded by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and Callaghan Innova- tion. The network aims to assist business growth by providing eligible businesses with special- ist advice, support and funding to enhance business capability including research and development. Murray says that throughout the evolving Covid-19 situation Northland Inc refocused its team’s resources to enable it to support more businesses in areas such as human resourc- es, health and wellness, business continuity planning, finance and cashflow management and strategy and digital capability. Murray says the latter has been particularly important for many businesses to ensure they could continue to operate and connect with customers during the various level restric- tions. Auckland of course has had the most lock- downs in New Zealand but Murray says when this occurs Northland effectively becomes isolated putting more pressure on local busi- nesses and supply chains. He says key agencies worked collaborative- ly to manage Auckland entry and exit points with the aim of mitigating supply chain issues affecting Northland businesses. Overall, despite the tough times, Murray thinks many Northland businesses have been incredibly resilient. “Most have been able to pivot and deal with many of the issues that have cropped up. The wage subsidy scheme and other initiatives really helped businesses to survive. ” Going forward he expects that Covid-19 will have a long lasting impact on how those in the Far North do businesses. He cites things such as increased digital reliance and market diversity rather than relying on any single cus- tomer base will help future proof businesses. “Covid-19 has been a real shock for businesses and no doubt we will all have to think differently about how we operate in the future. Small businesses have done it hard but they’ve also shown a fantastic degree of resilience and innovation.” The Covid-19 Business Advisory Fund has now been fully allocated as it was targeted at businesses seeking initial advice during alert levels four and three. During the last 12 months heavy demand on the Management Capability Development Fund means this was allocated in record time during the last financial year. Further Regional Business Partner funding is expected from July 2021. , “We are still encouraging and welcoming further new Regional Business Partner regis- trations from businesses looking for on-going business support. Ready to go: the Northland Inc growth team, from left Sophie Wiltshier, David Templeton and Sam Mather. “Our Business Growth Advisors can support businesses in a variety of ways. “We’re connecting industries with networks and to access resources, working across agen- cies in a tight-knit collaborative way.” Murray says that factors intrinsic in support- ing local business to survive and overcome the ongoing affects of Covid19 are technology and investment in R & D. To this end Northland Inc has partnered with Callaghan Innovation to bring some leading-edge speakers and an interactive mobile advanced manufacturing showcase to Northland from the May 24 as part of Tech- Week 2021. Techweek will provide a forum for people to hear about the latest trends in technology, including the latest advancements in man- ufacturing, Agritech, communications and construction.