Entries for 'Karyn Owen'

The hard work really is about to begin with sustainable business practices in Southland.

That’s the message to come out of the Venture Southland-managed sustainable business strategy, which has just been launched, six months after the Southland-wide project began.

Venture Southland’s enterprise project coordinator, Karyn Owen, said the strategy aimed to show the way forward for sustainable practices for all Southland businesses, which seem desperate for more knowledge and advice.

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Over half of Southland businesses want to adopt more sustainable practices, a survey by Venture Southland has found.

“But only 40% of businesses were aware of any form of assistance available to help them,” project coordinator, Karyn Owen, said. “There is a range of assistance available, from advice through to funding.’’

The survey also showed that many businesses were doing well in minimizing resource and material use (74%), energy efficiency (73%), recycling (71%) and getting involved in community programmes (70%).

“It’s encouraging that almost 84% of businesses are already looking after the health and wellbeing of staff,’’ Ms Owen added.

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A survey of 373 Southland businesses was undertaken over the last two weeks and is currently being analysed.

Results show that Southland businesses generally have a high level of awareness of broad issues such as climate change (92%), impacts on water quality (90.2%) and greenhouse gas emissions (88%). There is a much lower level of awareness of Peak Oil (45.7%) and loss of biodiversity (50%).

However, only about half of Southland businesses are likely to have thought about how these broader issues might impact on the future of their business. 

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In business? What issues are utmost on your mind when you think about the future of your business? Reducing input costs, fuel, transport, carbon trading, energy, waste reduction, staffing problems? Now is the time to have your say.

Venture Southland is kicking off a month of research to identify business challenges and opportunities when it comes to sustainable business in Southland. This week hundreds of businesses will be phoned and asked to outline the challenges they face and share ideas.

Identifying what businesses need is the first stage in this two year project looking at sustainable business in Southland. "The aim is to help local businesses take advantage of opportunities that will help ensure long term sustainable economic growth at the same time as help the environment”, Venture Southland enterprise project co-ordinator, Karyn Owen, said.

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