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New business growth advisor joins Waikato Innovation Park team

New business growth advisor joins Waikato Innovation Park team

Waikato Innovation Park's new business growth advisor Craig Purcell brings to the role a Waikato regional flavour, years of small business consulting experience and a passion for working with innovative and resilient people.

Sitting within the Park's Business Growth Services team, Mr Purcell started in the role earlier this month, and says the businesses he will assist will vary greatly by size and industry.

"Variety is one of the things l love about this field of work," he said.

"It's the mix of people and industries that excites me. The people I work with are very clever and creative people who show real perseverance because that's what it takes to bring an idea to market.

"It's a great thing to be a part of someone's vision, and help them take their vision from a pipedream desire to a reality."

Waikato Innovation Park's Business Growth Services team works with eligible businesses across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty to offer free support, connections – nationally and globally – and funding for both research and building business capability.

The team is contracted to deliver this service to regional businesses on behalf of New Zealand Trade & Enterprise and Callaghan Innovation.

Purcell's previous experience includes working in project management roles in large agriculture and IT projects including leading the pilot of the electronic identification devices (ear tags) for NAIT.

He also has 15 years of experience in the various facets of Human Resources and has spent seven years running his own small business consultancy. He spent the past four years on the judging panel of New Zealand National Fieldays' Innovation Awards.

"I am delighted to have Craig, who is Waikato born and bred as a member of the Business Growth Services Team. He brings with him a great depth of knowledge – especially around the local economy. He will be a great asset to the team," said Business Growth Services Team leader Peter Maxwell.