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Agritech, Life Sciences & Biotech Exporter of the
Year
Health supplement exporter The New Image Group, a
company that’s enjoyed explosive growth in sales in recent years,
has won the Agritech, Life Sciences and Biotech Exporter of the Year
Award.
The Manukau based company beat off competition from the Waikato’s
Functional Nutraceutical Ltd and Canterbury Scientific Ltd to take
top honours in the agritech, life sciences and biotech category at
the 2004 Export Awards, announced in Auckland on 23 July.
The annual Export Awards are sponsored by DHL. The New Image Group
was one of eight category winners, with New Zealand’s largest coal
producer Solid Energy New Zealand winning the Supreme Exporter of
the Year Award.
The Export Awards’ judges commented on the strong
leadership and entrepreneurial approach of the winners. They said
The New Image Group was a “very strategic” and “good looking”
business.
“The company’s leaders have set a clear pathway for developing the
business, communicating their vision throughout the organisation and
especially through the multilevel direct sellers. There is a strong
product orientation within the organisation.”
The New Image Group increased sales by 400% in two
years, earning revenue of more than $14 million in 2003. Managing
Director Graeme Clegg says much of that was generated from success
exporting colostrum products.
Mr Clegg explains that colostrum is the pre-milk
fluid produced by mammalian mothers during the first few days after
a baby is born. It is the only product in nature specifically
designed to boost a human’s gastro-immune system.
The New Image Group uses cows’ colostrum which is
“not species-specific and has 10 to 20 times more immune factors
than human colostrum and thousands of scientific studies supporting
its health giving properties”.
The New Image Group was formed by Mr Clegg, a former
Wairarapa farmer, in 1984 as a direct sales marketer of nutritional,
weight loss and energy products. In recent years the company has
refocused to make colostrum its flagship and expanded into the
biotech market, which included purchasing the rights to the world’s
number one colostrum brand “Symbiotics” for Asia and Europe.
Mr Clegg says that the investment gave New Image a
significant strategic advantage. “What’s made us successful is that
strategically we got it right. The second reason is because we’ve
aggressively pursued international distribution opportunities –
making 500 international flights in three years. You’ve got to go
and talk to people. You don’t develop a company like this off a
business plan sitting in Auckland.”
The New Image Group consists of three companies –
New Image Asia, a direct sales company; BioActive, a wholesale
product supplier; and Symbiotics, a colostrum focused biotech
company. Mr Clegg says the next three years will be very exciting
with the rapid expansion of the colostrum market in Asia and Europe,
the development of new categories, new suppliers and new
competitors.
“We are determined to maintain our global leader
positioning. We have focused on the biohealth sector of the biotech
industry because New Zealand has a competitive advantage. We have
proven that you can create explosive growth and we believe that this
will be New Zealand’s next billion dollar industry.”
Source: NZTE Media Release, 23 July 2004 |
