Read more here: http://www.fruitbowl.co.nz/uncategorized/crowd-funding-campaign-for-the-makeplace/

Business Hawkes Bay are doing their fair bit though: http://www.businesshawkesbay.co.nz

Lack of performance might indeed be one of those factors. When I think of performance though I can’t help but to think “Profit” and “Making money”. Whereas you seem to indicate “making a difference” as performance indicator which I think is the more valuable one, but very hard to measure.
Difficult subject as it comes with the notion that businesses are community held properties. But they are privately held entities that someone has worked hard for to build up and there is no reason why they are not allowed to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
So I think the only solution is to go out and venture on our own if things are getting to slow for us.

The subject of marketing is a bit of a pickle as it has been tried many times over. And as you say, some groups are trying to achieve the proper marketing tactic as we speak.
Not sure if we’d ever come to full agreement on this, to a common goal. Perhaps we should let evolution struggle it out? May the best marketing tactic survive? Or perhaps multiple tactics fit the bill as there are many groups with different motives and beliefs. Maybe there is enough room to do that and would speed things up?

The fibre project that you’re working on will aid in serving as a communication backbone throughout the Hawkes Bay and will hopefully give us an advantage over other regions. That’s an excellent step in the right direction.

We do hope that indeed our children will return to the Bay and be challenged and find their passion. That would be a good ideal to work towards.

I can comment from an industrial perspective after a stint with Enzafoods a few years ago. What I found interesting there was the difference in the type and I dare say the attitude of the workforce in our Nelson factories compared to Hawkes Bay. Nelson seemed to attract a very different demographic in that some highly qualified people were prepared to work for relatively low wages on a seasonal basis to support the lifestyle they wanted . However in Hawkes Bay it always seemed a struggle to fill positions. I never quite worked out why there was this difference but I thought I would share that observation.

I do have the privilege of being able to get a high level view of business in Hawkes Bay in my current role and in my opinion there are a number of factors which make it difficult to attract young talent back to HB.

The main one I believe is a lack of performance management by many businesses. Too many people in reasonably senior roles have become too accustomed to the lifestyle they enjoy in the bay and have perhaps forgotten that they had/have an opportunity to make a difference here. I see many people that have lost the drive and passion they once had and in my opinion should move on and let one of our best and brightest young people have a crack at it.

This will only happen if someone (maybe our HR profession should focus on coaching business leaders around this) points out some of the issues to these individuals and gets them to shape up or move on.

I am not talking about the majority here, just some , and they probably don’t even realise it.

Another area I think we could work on is marketing ourselves. Firstly that needs to come as an internal belief that HB could and should be a vibrant economic area. Somehow we need to take a good look at ourselves and focus on the positives. I’m sure there are many smarter people than me trying to achieve this, but it just seems that there are too many groups and maybe they need to get their heads together and work on a common goal. Perhaps that is too much to wish for!!!

My kids are now at the start of their Uni days. My dreams for them include them having successful carrers wherever they choose to go. I hope that if their choice is to be here in HB that the opportunities are available for them to be able to make that choice. That is why this whole subject does mean a lot to me and I would think many of the 40+ older folk that live and enjoy being in one of the best places on the planet.