29 June 2017

Media: Bay of Plenty Business news

Topic: Firestation Rotorua

Inquiry

This time the story is on the startup of Firestation in Rotorua - a composite marketing/space-sharing and coaching business environment covering the entire Bay area. From my discussions with Firestation founder Rachael McGarvie, they are doing far better than was anticipated at the outset, and are very appreciative of not only support from the business community, but also from various agencies and from the Rotorua Lakes Council.

The model appears to be a new one. It's great that the McGarview elected to base themselves in their hometown of Rotorua.

If possible, I would like to include a comment from Mayor Chadwick - perhaps simply one that give a council voice to the support the McGarvies alluded to, and what having Firestation in Rotorua means to the town.

Response

From Deputy Mayor and Economic Development Portfolio lead Dave Donaldson:

Firestation is making a contribution towards nurturing new business and that's important to Council as we look to not just grow the economy but provide the right environment for people to establish new businesses, based on the opportunities Rotorua provides. The notion of co-location has some obvious advantages for small and early stage businesses and Council has been happy to sponsor Firestation's incubator programme to help enable new and/or small businesses to succeed.