Nine southern businesses will place on the Deloitte national Fast 50 index when it is announced next month.
Regional winner announcements, which were made this week, were the first step in the Fast 50 awards process which will culminate in the national celebration in Auckland on November 20.
At that event, the Fast 50 index, national category winners and national Master of Growth index will be revealed.
Deloitte Dunedin-based partner Kyle Cameron said there was an excellent turnout from lower South Island businesses
and special mention should be made of the representation of tourism businesses.
Air Milford, xtravel and Over the Top Helicopters would all feature on the national index — Air Milford and xtravel both received the regional category awards for fastest-growing retail and consumer business and fastest-growing services business respectively.
“We heard great stories of collaboration between some of our tourism winners in Queenstown, helping to prop each other up during Covid,” Mr Cameron said.
“The awards were really meaningful for these businesses, and were clearly a demonstration of how hard they have fought through
the last few years of uncertainty.”
While construction has had its challenges, there was suggestion of positivity in the local market.
TGC Homes won the construction category and placed on the Fast 50 index, and Connor Jones, last year’s category winner, placed on the index this year.
Crew Consulting — described by Mr Cameron as a local recruitment success story — would feature on the Fast 50 for the third time in fouryears.
Juice beverages manufacturer Eden Orchards was fastest-growing manufacturing business in the lower South Island, dairy cow diagnostics business Mastaplex was fastest-growing agri-business and cancer diagnostics company Pacific Edge was both fastest-growing technology business and fastest-growing exporter. — APL
