NZI Rural Women NZ Business Award Winners 2024

Creative at Heart 

Having come from an entrepreneurial rural family, starting her own business was a no-brainer for Amy Burke. She grew up playing in her grandmother’s huge botanical garden and as Amy played, her grandmother passed on her knowledge of the plants in the garden. 

After many years of working in the hospitality industry, Amy was ready for a change. In 2012, she started making soap products and selling them at markets and through a small number of stockists.  The fledgling small-scale business thrived. When she had her first child, Amy decided to rebrand her business with an eye on expansion and a more diverse range of products. Her brand, Botanical, emerged. 

All that instilled information, learnt by osmosis from her grandmother, has been put to excellent use. Using as many New Zealand produced ingredients as possible, Amy has extended Botanical’s product range to include bath bombs, candles, bubble bath and hand creams. Her newest product, shower steamers, are flying off the shelves. 

Amy is also responsible for the design of Botanical’s beautiful look and feel. She has been the artistic force behind her brand and the innovator of clever packaging solutions. Amy’s creative dream is to create a unique rural factory door experience offering a holistic insight into the vision behind Botanical and its products. 

Love of the Land

Cath Ward and her husband Zander live at Port Jackson on the Coromandel Peninsula. Their beautiful coastal Pahi Station has been in the family for generations and Zander and Cath returned to help his father run the farm in 2001. Three children, farm administration, a stint as a school bus driver and four years of correspondence school for the kids kept Cath pretty busy. 

Once the kids were away at school and then university, Cath found herself with time on her hands. Initially, she created her Pahi Coastal Walk Experience as a hobby project but it quickly flourished into a fully-fledged business.  

Some savvy marketing and recognising the potential to attract guests from the large urban areas nearby meant that the Pahi Coastal Walk grew very quickly. More hands were needed to manage the number of visitors. This provided an opportunity to involve women whose partners were working on the farm in the business. This has created a very special team who love the business and have carved out their own niche in this rural location. 

The ripple effect of the Walk’s success has had a massive flow on effect for Cath’s community. A partnership with Hike and Bike Coromandel has been hugely successful for both parties. Nearby artisans have had a huge swell in visitors and sales. Accommodation providers and hospitality businesses in Colville have benefited from being the start and end point for the Walk. 

Cath’s love of the land has created a sense of purpose that that has transformed her life and lifted the community around her. 

Innovation 

Dansy Coppell married her Kiwi-born husband, Greg, in 2016 after they had moved to Nelson. A few years later they bought a sheep and beef farm at St Arnaud. There was much to do on the farm but fencing was the biggest priority but their tight budget made new fenceposts unaffordable. Fortunately, Greg’s dad had a solution – they would go to Marlborough and pick up some used vineyard posts. Dansy and Greg immediately realised that there would be many others in their position and there could be a market for this affordable and environmentally friendly option. Repost was born. 

Making this innovative and exciting new business successful has required a blend of kiwi ingenuity and some big sky thinking. Dansy has been able to use her university education, and marketing and communications experience to tell the story behind the business and take the agricultural community along with them. Each customer’s order is tailored to their specific requirements and the relationships that the Repost team have with their customers and suppliers is key to their success. 

Dansy and Greg have big plans for the future. Dansy’s goal is to make Repost a household name which is recognised nationwide. She is incredibly passionate about the business and believes it is an incredible exciting time to be working in the rural sector. To be able to transform one of the viticulture industries biggest waste issues into an affordable and environmentally friendly solution for farmers, just like her and Greg, is a fantastic achievement. 

Experience Rural 

Liz Hayes vision was driven by a commitment to celebrate her rural piece of paradise. Liz and husband, Andy, farm in the Hakataramea Valley in North Otago. When they moved to the farm, Liz thought she would be leaving her media and marketing career behind. It hasn’t turned out that way. 

In addition to seeking to diversify their farm income, Liz knew she had to dream big to create an accommodation business that would unique and draw guests to her remote rural location.   

Nest Treehouses offers a luxury experience from the tree tops looking out over the spectacular panorama of the Valley. You can soak in a hot tub, relax in the sauna, swing in the trees or take a stroll around the farm. 

It took quite some vision to turn this dream into reality. As you can imagine a treehouse with swing bridges requires quite a bit of planning approval and engineering compliance. Liz says she is reminded how worthwhile all that work was every time she meets her guests and see how they respond to the experience. 

The focus on quality and the uniqueness of the Nest has made for fantastic social media marketing. This has ensured a high occupancy rate and the development of a second Nest. Moving to the country hasn’t meant the end of Liz’ marketing career, it simply created an incredible opportunity to present Nest Treehouses to the world. 

Emerging Business 

Siobhan O’Malley, Harriet Bell and Paul Ensor established Hemprino in 2019. They invented a new fibre by combining the softness of

merino with the durability of hemp. After a period of research and development to perfect their new superfibre, Hemprino’s first range was launched in 2022.   

Hemprino’s range now includes classic and women's styles, gorgeous accessories and hemp teeshirts. They design their garments to blend familiar styles with their innovative fabric. The product line is developed in line with feedback from Hemprino’s customers. While most of their sales are done via their website, Siobhan and Harriet quickly realised that some customers would love to feel the new fibre before purchasing, and so they have attended lots of events to introduce their products to potential customers.  

Siobhan and Harriet say that the level of support Hemprino received after featuring on Country Calendar was incredible and has helped promote their products to a wider community. Part of their mission is to take their customers on Hemprino’s journey with them by constantly reviewing and innovating the business.  

Both Siobhan and Harriet acknowledge how much they have learned about themselves and running a business through Hemprino’s journey, and the support from their families in getting there. They are poised for their next steps and are worthy winners of this year’s Emerging Business Award. 

Rural Champion 

Katareina Kaiwai, better known as Kat or Hubba, is the sole wāhine Māori owner and operator of Tairāwhiti Contractors Limited which is a traffic management and roading based in Tokomaru Bay. Kat has a background in civil infrastructure and when the opportunity arose to start her own crew, she took it with both hands. Her company also assists to lead road repairs on State Highway 35 on the East Coast. 

However, in addition to being a fabulous role model for women in her industry, Kat has an extraordinary impact across her community in so many ways. Following Cyclone Gabrielle, Kat’s team was integral to re-establishing the roads and access to impacted communities. She also provided essential fuel resources to Te Puia Hospital. 

As a mum of three, Kat appreciates the importance of healthy food for children to thrive. Through her business, Kat runs a school lunch programme to East Coast children. She brings care and pragmatism to the programme by providing food she knows that the kids will eat while complying with required standards. Kat’s team prepares and delivers an astonishing 490 lunches a day. 

Kat’s commitment to nurturing tamariki and rangitahi in her community is inspirational. She provides employment in an area where work can be hard to find. She provides opportunities where there are few and then mentors and nurtures her employees to embrace a world of potential beyond the East Coast.  

Kat supports kura, sports club and Marae health and safety education training; programmes that celebrate Te Ao Māori; educational scholarships; numerous sporting clubs; and inspirational role modelling for young  women with programmes such as “Girl’s with Hi-Viz.” This only scratches the surface of the contributions and support Kat offers, with an open heart, to her whānau, iwi and community so that all may thrive. 

Kat is the epitome of a Rural Champion – a role model and leader for community. Kat was recognised with a King’s Service Medal for services to women, civil construction and her community in June 2024. 

Rural Health & Wellbeing 

Nicola Smith has been involved in the health and wellness industry since beginning her Massage therapy training in 2008. She worked in spa and beauty therapy businesses in New Zealand before a move to Australia provided the opportunity to expand her skills and manage a day spa which employed 6 staff. Nicola worked closely with the owner to develop and build the business. 

On returning to New Zealand in 2020, Nicola realised she wanted to work for herself. An appointment at her chiropractor revealed that they were seeking a qualified massage therapist to refer their clients to for treatment and offered her a room to lease.  Her practice quickly flourished with those referrals and word of mouth recommendations. 

Nicola is passionate about her work. She loves the opportunity to treat a client who has been suffering for years, work with them to discover the root of the problem and then see them leave without pain and able to move more freely. 

One area that holds particular interest for Nicola is treating shearers. Having grown up around shearing sheds, she understands the immense physical strain the profession places on the body. It’s deeply rewarding for her to apply both her expertise and personal insights to help ease the pain and improve the mobility of her shearer clients. 

Nicola has joined with other sole practitioners in Blenheim’s health and beauty industry to create a support network. This group meets regularly to discuss their successes and challenges. Nicola strongly believes in sharing her knowledge and experience to help others develop their practices and increase the wellbeing resources in their region.