Anderton hits out at doom brigade

By DANIEL RIORDAN

The prospect of a $10,000 enterprise grant sparking a $90 million export order was just the ammunition Economic Development Minister Jim Anderton needed yesterday to fire back at the doom and gloom merchants.

Mr Anderton's Industry New Zealand "jobs machine" has been dishing out the first of its enterprise awards to small business, with 22 companies of the 47 that applied receiving grants of between $800 and $10,000 each.

Among them is Auckland's De'Amalfi Survival, a developer and distributor of marine and high-tech safety products.

It will use its $9800 grant to develop a survival helmet so far ahead of the international competition that the company says it already has export orders of $90 million awaiting final approval of prototypes.

"The Government has to be prepared - and it hasn't been prepared for 25 years - to stand with companies like this and say, "Hey, let's give this a go'," said Mr Anderton at the company's Westhaven site.

Acknowledging the risks in taxpayer-funded venture capital, Mr Anderton said: "It may not succeed. But you only need one out of 10 to succeed. If this comes off, there's a $90 million export order straight away. That's a pretty good return for $10,000."

He said firms like De'Amalfi provided an obvious counterpoint to the economic doomsayers.

"This is a small company, with seven or eight people, looking to more than double their staff.

"This is the engine room of the economy and the New Zealand I deal with on a daily basis. You can't be but optimistic. It's a far cry from talking about stagflation.

"If every company could double its employment we wouldn't have any unemployment, we wouldn't have worries about people not coming back. That's what Industry NZ and the Ministry of Economic Development is all about."

De'Amalfi director David Manzi said Australian and Korean companies had already come calling with offers of finance but that would see the helmet being manufactured overseas.

If the prototypes pass muster with the Canadian and US coastguards trialling them - and Mr Manzi is confident that they will - export orders of $90 million over the next two years beckon.

The Canadian Mounties are also trialling prototypes and there is strong interest from Japan, Britain, Germany and Spain.

A dozen units are being handmade at Whenuapai for a Canadian movie studio. And closer to home, the SAS has a prototype - they liked it so much that they were not prepared to release the helmet back to the company for Mr Anderton's visit.

Mr Manzi wants NZ companies to manufacture the helmets on a long-term basis, and is considering several options.

The lightweight helmet allows a wearer to communicate in the noisiest of conditions, thanks to devices built into its shell.

Other companies to receive enterprise awards include Hamilton's Aria Farm, which is preparing to export beef and lamb chips, and companies dealing in seafood, blankets, possum products and physiotherapy gear.

The enterprise awards scheme, one of three Industry NZ programmes announced in July, provides cash for small businesses or entrepreneurs who need support and advice for testing and development. The grants can be used to pay for half the cost of a project.