68 | Wanaka Awards: OCULA Eyeing up a healthier future The OCULA Team enjoying their success at the Ignite Wānaka Business Awards 2022, from left Matthew Kowalski, Louise Kowalski, Jacques Pienaar, Kirsty Pienaar, and Danielle McNaughton. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Your Business, Your Industry, Your News. r si ess, r I stry, r e s. Volume 31 | Issue 1 |Feb-March 2022 www.waterfordpress.co.nz Banking the Seed Producing top quality pine tree stock is a key focus for leading forestry company PFOlsen. PAGE 50 Seawall success Isaac Construction was a big winner at the CCNZ awards for its work on the Portobell Seawall project. PAGE 55 Accolades aplenty Stabicraft Marine continues to ride a wave of award accolades and global sales success PAGE 42 Volume 31 | Issue 2 | April 2022 www.waterfordpress.co.nz Golden Escape Waitaki’s golden season is a a drawcard for autumn getaways. Page 18 Volume 30 | Issue 1 | March 2021 www.waterfordpress.co.nz New horizons Industry innovator Richard Hickson is at the forefront as Westland Milk Products transitions from a farmer-owned cooperative to a large multi-national structure with an eye on export growth. Page 30 Each edition priority delivered to your door. i i i i li . www.waterfordpress.co.nz/subscriptions . t f . . / i ti 03 983 5525 Stay informed; we work with business owners and decision-makers across all economic sectors, profiling their success. t i f r ; r it i r i i - r r ll i t r , r fili t ir . Eye specialist OCULA has excellence in its sights with its recent wins at the Ignite Wānaka Business Awards 2022, where the company took out the Outstanding in Retail and Outstanding Employer categories, recognising the success of some specific initiatives OCULA has been working on behind the scenes. OCULA has been diversifying from its roots in optometry into a full service eye care specialist, and OCULA managing director Danielle Winstone says winning the Outstanding in Retail award helps to break that stereotype of optometrists only being for people with poor vision. “We are not only here for people with blurry vision,” she says. “99.99% of the population have eyeballs and we are here for them, to ensure they can see clearly for years to come. People are using things like swimming goggles, ski goggles, and sunglasses for a range of different reasons like sport, safety, and style. We want to be accessible. If you have a set of eyes, come into OCULA and we will do whatever we can to address your eye needs.” The Outstanding Employer award holds particular satisfaction for Danielle, who says one of the company’s three missions is to be a leading employer. \“We believe our people deserve to do their best work every day. We wanted to be recognised as an industry-leading employer by 2025, so we’re really excited to have done that already.” This award was judged 30% on OCULA’s own testimony and 70% on surveys conducted on all employees. “That’s what makes it an amazing award for whitney@corneal-lens.co.nz 03 366 6247 www.corneal-lens.co.nz CORNEAL LENS CORPORATION N.Z. LTD ISO registered State of the art facilities Eyecare product distributor NZ owned & operated Specialty Contact Lens Manufacturer Kelly Deeks us, because they based the judging on what our employees thought about our service to them. The proof of the pudding is in our employees singing our praises.” OCULA has developed health and wellness initiatives for its own staff, and has also developed wellness programmes for companies who are also looking to invest in their employee health and wellbeing. Targeting the construction industry and corporate office workers, this service is about eye safety, prescription safety eyewear, how to keep eyes safe at work, and what to do in an emergency. OCULA is in growth mode and has made a shortlist of businesses around New Zealand that would work well within the OCULA family. One of these was Groovy Glasses in Christchurch, and OCULA bought this in February, making it the second Christchurch store in the OCULA group, and the fourth in total, with another store in Wānaka and one in Queenstown. Danielle says Groovy Glasses founder Trudy McLean was one of the first New Zealand optometrists to go overseas and hand-select avant-garde and boutique frames that weren’t mass-produced, and she developed an exceedingly strong reputation. “Groovy Glasses has been a destination store for the whole of New Zealand for such a long time, and it is the first store we’ve acquired with such a strong reputation. We are going to get to know our new customers and staff for a while before we work out how to handle the brand and the name.” OCULA managing director Danielle Winstone.
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