7 September 2001

Economic Development Minister Jim Anderton today announced the eighth round of Industry New Zealand Enterprise Awards and visited a winner from a previous round: Abretec in Christchurch.

Abretec is a manufacturer of air respirators for use with abrasive blasting helmets and exports to Australia, the United States, the Middle East and Europe. Philip Ivory the manager and partner applied to Industry New Zealand and received $4,782 in April. The funding is going toward the cost of a prototype design to develop an air filter which can separate oils, water and fumes from compressed air.

"The enterprise awards have now helped a large number of businesses, like Abretec. I continue to be impressed with the number of success stories that show kiwi innovation is alive and well across New Zealand," said Jim Anderton.

"I am particularly pleased when exporting companies like Abretec can benefit from these awards. We need to encourage more companies to export as only about 8,850, that is less than 4% of New Zealand's 259,000 businesses export," said Jim Anderton.

The eighth round of Industry New Zealand Enterprise Awards has 33 awards totalling $326,013.

This takes the number of recipients taking the number of grants awarded to 236 since September 2000 when the awards started.

Entrepreneurs or small business owners can receive a maximum of $20,000 from an Industry New Zealand Enterprise Award, which can be used to fund up to 50 percent of the cost of a project.