Studies confirm Kānoa-managed investments had positive impacts for sectors and communities
Published: 25 July, 2023
Independent impact studies of Kānoa - Regional Economic Development and Investment Unit-managed investments into specific regions and sectors have found positive economic, business, and community impacts due to the funding.
The Te Tai Tokerau Northland and manufacturing-engineering sector impact studies, carried out by BERL, looked at the impact of government funding administered by Kānoa in this region and sector.
Both studies showed positive economic impacts due to the funding, including:
- funding of $79.5 million into the manufacturing-engineering sector resulted in $229.5 million in total extra expenditure, and funding of $797 million into Te Tai Tokerau caused total additional expenditure of $1.19 billion
- strong job creation - 1,979 Full-Time Equivalents (FTE) were sustained by manufacturing-engineering funding, and 5,571 FTEs for Te Tai Tokerau
- significant contribution to regional GDP - $519.8 million in Te Tai Tokerau.
The studies also show beneficial impacts on key business indicators for the businesses and organisations funded. In manufacturing-engineering this included:
- increased capacity (92% of businesses) and capability (88%)
- increase in permanent employees (88%)
- increase in capacity to innovate (84%)
- upskilled employees (68%).
The Te Tai Tokerau study showed similar impacts for organisations funded, as well as positive impacts for local communities and Māori, including:
- more local people and Māori hired
- greater certainty of employment during the COVID-19 pandemic response
- a growing sense of pride in the region
- cultural benefits that were not directly financial, including community projects that would not have gone ahead otherwise
- resilience to natural disasters with investments in vital infrastructure
- environmental benefits from reforesting and cleaning up waterways.
“The impact studies give robust findings for what we have long heard anecdotally,” says Kānoa Head Robert Pigou.
“We manage 8 funds at Kānoa, and while the biggest and best known is the Provincial Growth Fund they all aim to nurture each region’s economy so they can grow and develop to reach their full potential.
“From our staff based in the regions, and the contacts we have there, we know our investments are making change happen. The long term nature of many of our investments mean that the final impact of our support cannot always be known immediately, so these impact studies show our funding is helping achieve Kānoa’s longer term objectives.
“It is expected that the methods used by BERL can also inform future Kānoa impact assessment of other regions and sectors,” says Robert Pigou.
2 further reports are currently being undertaken by research agency Allen and Clarke which focus on the township of Ōpōtiki and the Aquaculture sector. These will be completed and released later this year.