Wellington is talking itself up as a region with data showing that it is in reasonable shape economically.

Stories of businesses coping with the recession were paraded at a regional employment summit organised by the regional economic development agency, Grow Wellington, with the support of business organisations and government agencies.

Wellington’s economy declined by 1.2% in the last year, slightly under the national average of minus 1.3%, while in the Westpac employment confidence index Wellington was right on the national average.

Manufacturer Keith Smith from Flight Plastics saw opportunities for manufacturing in food and beverage processing and specialised manufacturing.

“In our company we have seen a drop in demand, but now raw materials are cheaper, the exchange rate is more favourable for exports, skilled people are more available, and transport costs are down. These are positives to offset the negatives.

“We are relocating and building a new factory. The costs of doing so are down, labour is available and we are on a site that we could not have afforded two years ago.”

Trent Mankelow of Optimum Usability, an IT company, responded to falling revenue with a three pronged strategy of sell, trim, and connect.

“We were being asked to bid on fewer projects and they were smaller.  So we had to increase the number of connections we had with potential clients to increase the number of bids and to improve the rate of successful conversions to new business.”

“The first year we were in business I had 165 coffee meetings. In February and March this year I alone have had 69 coffee meetings.

“We’ve cut costs – the fat but not the meat -  and we done some barter. We swapped a review which cost us $4 000 and was worth $8 000 to the client for $16 000 worth of advertising in the client’s publications.

“The results are that revenue is up a bit but we are now profitable at a lower level of revenue.

Keeping qualified staff by providing continuity in employment was a common theme of speakers. Mike Egan who owns five restaurants in Wellington said he had an arrangement with a European restaurant chain where his staff went to Europe in to get more experience.

John Barrett, the tour operator on Kapiti Island, said his company offered employment exchange in the off season. “We’ve developed a relationship with a New Zealander operating an outbound business in Holland, and our staff go there or to other operators in New Zealand.”

Mr Smith said his company’s long term view about the Wellington region was positive.

“Manufacturing is tough, but is still a big source of employment. It’s high value add, and it’s a key contributor to the Wellington economy.”  

Published in the National Business Review of 17 April 2009