Mr Walford said Hawke's Bay's lifestyle, housing, skills and people are drawing more people to the region and fostering innovative businesses.
"It's drawing people with a bit of courage and a bit of cash behind them, and away they go," he said.
Local brewery Brave Brewing is just one of several new businesses that have recently established themselves in Hawke's Bay.
Brave Brewing co owner Matt Smith said that since moving from a garage hobby to a commercial business, he's pleased with how the business is developing in the Bay.
With new business premises Mr Smith said Brave Brewing is now looking to hire a fulltime hospitality professional to manage their newly opening tasting room and cellar door.
"It's been going really well and there is no sign that I've made a bad decision yet," he said
Mr Smith said he grew up in Hawke's Bay and after studying and travelling for more than a decade he and his wife (and Brave Brewing co-owner) Gemma Smith felt a "natural pull" back to the region.
"Obviously there's more affordable housing here. It's something we wouldn't have been able to achieve in Auckland," he said.
Mr Smith said the business has received a lot of support from the local community and also mentioned that when developing the new premises in Hastings the tradesmen were flat out.
"I noticed through the process that the tradesmen were so ridiculously busy. There's a feeling that there's so much going on. It's really interesting," he said.
In the Hawke's Bay region ANZ job advertisements rose from 549 in January 2015 to 781 in January 2017.
The construction, utilities, manufacturing and transport sector remains the largest sectoral driver of total job advertisement growth.