A Wairarapa woman is in the running for a national award recognising rural women in business.
Lucy Cruickshank, who runs Innov8 Aotearoa, is one of 16 women from around the country who are competing for the Rural Women New Zealand's Enterprising Rural Women Award 2012.
Ms Cruickshank's company is an export-focused food and beverage consultancy she set up after a decade of working in New Zealand agribusiness international sales and marketing.
The business, which is now almost three years old, works with start-ups and large, multimillion-dollar operations, she said.
Ms Cruickshank said she wrote sales and marketing plans for businesses, generally exporters, and helped them to implement the plans.