Every year the local Waipa Business Community in New Zealand comes together to celebrate with finalists in the Waipa Networks Business Awards.
This year Rocketspark not only had many clients in the running for awards, but were also finalists in two categories; Contribution to Tourism and Excellence in Large Business.
During the event we were crowned winners in the Excellence in Large Business category and we also took out the sort after Supreme Award.
Some of our epic clients also won much deserved awards, including Homebrew Coffee, Skinvae, Good Union, Kaz, Accounted4, and Flourish Wellness.
The Cambridge Business Chamber reshaped the award categories this year to better mirror business issues and strategies during 2020. It was an opportunity for businesses to reflect on the challenges overcome in the previous months and to celebrate the outstanding achievements and resilience shown throughout the Waipa business community.
Cambridge Business Chamber CEO Kelly Bouzaid said the chamber was delighted at both the diversity and calibre of applications for 2021.
“The awards enable the chamber to showcase some of our most progressive businesses in the region, spotlight some of our region's hidden gems and allow us to recognise the incredible talent and business acumen housed here in Waipa.
“We are in a privileged position to peek into businesses of all ages and stages and see the caliber of leadership, innovation, culture and sustainability. We have seen resilience and robustness within our business community, and we are inspired and proud of the achievements we have seen.”
Over 50 submissions were received for the 2021 Awards across a total of 14 categories, focused on recognising excellence and success in business across the Waipa District.
Head Judge, Howard Davey from the University of Waikato Management School said the level of innovation and adoption of technology was outstanding.
“The strategic thinking was very impressive, and this was particularly enhanced by the various Covid responses where realignment was evidenced i.e. ‘walking the talk’. The importance of staff and genuine staff engagement as well as nurturing came across strongly, and we saw all sorts of examples.
“A dominant theme was the rich client relationship and the understanding of customer’s needs. Overall, the quality and diversity of entrants bodes well for the future of business in the district. It’s a privilege to see what Waipa businesses are doing and achieving.”
The judges comments said Rocketspark was a superb organisation showing relentless development.
“They demonstrated an impressive linking of technology and marketing. They have an outstanding understanding of clients’ needs, a strong team culture, and super community support. Overall, [they’re] inspirational, a standout leader in IT in Cambridge and the wider Waikato.”
Within the Waipa community, Rocketspark have hundreds of businesses who use their platform and over a dozen on the main street of Cambridge alone, the judges said that spoke volumes in a small town.
“They provide a quality customer experience, with genuine care woven into their culture. They pride themselves on living and breathing customer feedback while going above and beyond to help clients succeed.”
Grant Johnson, CEO of Rocketspark, said he was humbled by the two awards received and also proud of the amount of Rocketspark clients who also won awards.
Grant Johnson, Lee Reichardt, Richard King and Jeremy Johnson
“We have a great team who are passionate about supporting our clients and creating great software, so it was a real treat to be recognised as a business of excellence. With so many clients as finalists and category winners it was a real night of celebration for us. When we were up against so many other deserving finalists, we were incredibly delighted to win the Supreme Award.
“Like I said on the night, we have clients around the world, but it's awesome to be recognised as doing well in our own backyard, because if you're not valued in your own community, it's very unlikely you will be elsewhere. We had a lot of fun and the event is a credit to the Chamber and ForumPoint2 as the event managers of a high-quality event that made the night feel special,” he said.
To see all of the winners, click here.
