Invercargill Publisher a Finalist in Prestigious Business Awards

Keeping your head down and getting on with the work is a philosophy that’s paying dividends for Invercargill-based, educational publisher, Essential Resources.

The company, which has maintained an export growth rate averaging an impressive 105 percent a year since 2004, has just been named a finalist in the 2010 New Zealand International Business Awards in two categories: Exporter, $10 million and under; and Most Innovative Approach to International Business. The awards celebrate international business success by New Zealand businesses and recognise professional excellence and innovative practice.

Managing Director Nicola Smith said making the finals of such a prestigious award was an achievement in itself. “I’m really thrilled that we made the finals, and in such a strong line-up. As a company, we’re always so busy working and looking ahead that we don’t often stop to consider what we’ve already achieved, but this is an opportunity to do that,” she said.

Essential Resources is an innovative educational publisher of supplementary teaching materials. Its unequivocal aim is to make teachers’ working lives easier by providing them with current, well-designed resources.

In just 10 years the company has established its publications in 90 percent of New Zealand schools and 50 percent of Australian Schools. In 2008 it began exporting to the UK and more recently, to Ireland. Through tenaciously embracing technological innovations and exporting opportunities, the company has grown quickly, achieving an average export growth of 105 percent per year since 2004; with exports now accounting for 60 percent of the company’s turnover.

The announcement tops off an exhilarating week for Essential Resources, which in recent days, was also awarded a Southland Chamber of Commerce export grant of $7,500. The grant supports the development and advancement of the Southland export sector.