“And the Westpac Business Awards Supreme Business Excellence Award goes to… “It was a huge moment for the entire Visionwest team when, at the Auckland Westpac North-West Business Awards, Visionwest first won the Excellence in Strategy and Planning Award and then took out the evening’s big one – the Supreme Business Excellence Award.
The award ceremony, held on 5 April, 2022, saw 500 people gather for an evening designed to celebrate the best businesses in North and West Auckland. COVID protocols meant those attending were spread across five locations with four of them receiving a video stream from the live event.
A Tribute to the Entire Visionwest Team
Being considered worthy winners of this award is a wonderful tribute to every person on the Visionwest team throughout Aotearoa New Zealand because it recognises excellence in all aspects of what we do from the backroom planning and administration through to frontline service delivery.
It’s also a truly fitting acknowledgement of a team that has given everything to ensure consistent community support during the past two years of COVID. During that time, despite extreme challenges, we have continued to support the elderly and disabled to live independently, provide housing to those who have experienced homelessness, ensure budgeting, counselling and employment services are available for those finding things tough, and distributed kai to whānau who have been unable to access food.
Over 1,200 businesses entered the awards. Visionwest was also a finalist in the Excellence in Community Contribution category.
Accepting the Westpac Business Awards
Arvind Dayal, Chairman of the Visionwest Board of Trustees, accepted the awards on Visionwest’s behalf. In accepting the Supreme Excellence in Strategy and Planning, Arvind said,
“We entered in good faith and hoped for the best. This is a reward of our mahi and good work that the people at Visionwest have carried out. For Visionwest there is no end, we will continue to put good strategies and planning in place – we still believe in transformation of lives and building healthy communities. We are an organisation that helps people believe in themselves, that they can get up on their own feet and that they can change their life around.”
In accepting the Supreme Business Excellence Award, Arvind spoke of how humbled Visionwest felt as an organisation. Every one of the businesses represented at the awards were worthy finalists and to be deemed the winner is a huge privilege.
It is the first time a not-for-profit organisation has won the Supreme Business Excellence Award.
In congratulating Visionwest, Auckland Business Chamber Chief Executive Michael Barnett said,
“They have shown resilience, and innovation through both stable and unprecedented times and are deserving winners. It is important they are recognised.”
It cannot be stressed enough that this Award is an acknowledgement of every Visionwest team member who has worked so diligently to ensure whānau throughout New Zealand receives the support they need. It’s a privilege to be working to Build Hope Together.
A special thanks to Nauhria and Westpac who were sponsors of the Visionwest awards and the Auckland Business Chamber who organised the event.
Click here to read the Auckland Business Chamber’s press release following the event.