The Waikato Pacific Business Network hosted its first procurement workshop on Thursday, 6th of April and followed by the second workshop, held on the week after on Thursday, 13th of April. The workshops was presented by Safe365‘s Technical Service Advisor Satish Lakavathu, Kerry-Anne Maroulis Insurance Broker at Rothbury Insurance Brokers, and Everard Whangapirita Procurement Manager at Waikato District Council. Facilitated by WPBN’s Business Navigator, Teuila Maggof and Executive Board Member Tonga Robertson. The workshop was catered for our members who are in the contracting space.
◇Satish introduced and went through the Tōtika Prequalification process, a more efficient way to help contractors create one pre-qualification Health & Safety standard by using a simple app tool. Tōtika is recognised and approved by local government agencies across the Waikato.
◇Kerry-Anne spoke about the importance of getting business insurance.
◇Everard concluded businesses need the right business checks in place, and having good Health and Safety certifications, as well as Insurance, is the first step to maximising the chances of being awarded tenders.
We then had our final Health and Safety Workshop on Thursday 20th of April, with Safe 365 and the TROW Group. The TROW Group is a Pasifika owned company that currently undertakes major government projects for organisations such as Kāinga Ora, including several developments in the Waikato. One of TROW’s main focuses in their operations is to minimise construction waste through sustainable practices. Deconstruction is one of the processes that they use which involves careful dismantling of building materials for the purpose of recycling so they are reused for schools, housing, churches and communities across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Our main mission for these last three workshops was to ensure our members, who are predominantly in the landscaping, civil works, and cleaning industries, were well informed about the importance of being Health and Safety pre-qualified with the help of Safe 365, so they can be prepared to tender for projects available from The TROW Group, local government agencies and contractors.
Our role at the network is to #connect #share and #empower our members and stakeholders to the #marketplace, so that our Pacific business community continues to contribute to the economic well-being of the #MightyWaikato and #NewZealand.
