Business South is excited to announce the expansion of its Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) programme to Queenstown, alongside its long-standing Dunedin programme for the 2025 school year.

YES, offers high school students the chance to develop their own business ventures, providing them with valuable skills and knowledge that will set them up for future success in the business world.

Precious Collaborative, a sustainable fashion start-up in New Zealand, creates high-end clothing using local materials and designers while also making ethical fashion more accessible through its social enterprise, Precious Coats.

Founder Claire O'Connell sought support from the Otago Regional Business Partner Network (ORBP), which connected her with business mentors, training programs, and funding opportunities. ORBP's guidance has been instrumental in helping Claire navigate marketing, sustainability, and business growth, providing her with valuable resources to establish and expand her brand. 

BusinessNZ is backing calls for a more efficient regulatory approval process for agricultural and horticultural products. Chief Executive Katherine Rich highlights the challenges businesses face due to slow and costly approvals, often taking years - even for products used safely overseas. BusinessNZ supports the Ministry for Regulations review of the approval process and anticipates further updates once findings are presented to Cabinet.

Collective bargaining settlements for 2024-25 reflect easing inflationary pressures but remain influenced by rising wages, migrant worker reforms and geopolitical factors. While challenges persist, signs of economic recovery and stabilising business confidence indicate signs of potential recovery in the new year.

Business South welcomes the Government’s announcement of a refreshed ministerial team, which signals a renewed focus on economic growth, regional opportunities and needed execution of policy. 

These changes are an encouraging step forward as our region looks to address key challenges and unlock its full potential.

The latest Quarterly Business Survey shows a continued improvement in confidence among Southern businesses, although there are businesses trying to work through some challenging times.

Thank you to our Otago and Southland businesses for stepping up and supporting this survey.  We had a great mix across business size, sectors and geographical spread.  The insights will be used in our advocacy work and at both central and local government levels. 

Read the Results here.   

2024 has been a challenging year, with rising costs, economic uncertainty, and political changes.

Yet, Central Otago remains resilient, boasting low unemployment, strong wage growth, and a vibrant small-business community.

The MET series is a new initiative to showcase some our fantastic local engineering and manufacturing companies, and also designed to provide an opportunity to network, share insights, information and an avenue to support our Manufacturing and Engineering companies.

On the 14th of November we held our first MET at EB Engineering, sponsored by Mainfreight. Read more about the event and key take aways from the night. 

We're thrilled to announce that any not-for profit receives 50% off on our training, thanks to the Otago Community Trust. This applies to members, but also non-members. Terms and Conditions apply.

Here at Business South, we are committed to supporting Not-For-Profit organisations across our region. We offer essential, resources, training, advocacy, networking opportunities, and tools to help your organisation succeed and make an even greater impact in the community. 

Thanks to recent funding, we're thrilled to announce a new specially discounted membership rate for Not-For-Profits. 

This past year has been one of growth, inclusiveness, and adaptation positioning us strongly for the future.

We have continued to realign and evolve our services to meet the changing needs of our members. Business South is increasingly recognised as a trusted and impactful partner within the regions of Otago and Southland and also across the Business NZ network and beyond.

Our reputation as a modern, progressive and adaptable organisation continues to grow. This being supported by a membership base that values relevance, diversity and solutions tailored to their needs. We have moved to an industry and sector model offering packages of services that meet the needs to these businesses.