Western Bay of Plenty District Councillor Gwenda Merriman was awarded the Zespri International Service to Export Award at the recent BNZ Bay of Plenty ExportNZ Awards. Joseph Aldridge caught up with her to talk about her involvement in the family business, her plans for the future and her love of exporting.
Jeffco International export manager Gwenda Merriman is as excited about exporting now as she was when she quit her bank job to join the family business in 1993.
Calling home to announce her decision, she was told there was no job available. "Too late," she replied, "I've resigned from my job and I'll be starting Monday."
Exporting and farming were major parts of Merriman's childhood and it is in a family business combining both of these elements where she and her three brothers have found their place later in life.
Gwenda's father Rob Jeffery was a New Zealand pioneer in the export of live animal shipments and it was in the business he formed - Jeffco International - where a newly-married Gwenda Merriman created her own employment.