Supporting Te Hōnonga a Iwi Restoring Rosedale Park is just one of a raft of initiatives that are part of a strong focus on sustainability for North Shore-based company Brightstar.
Brightstar creates more than 70 of New Zealand’s best-known business conferences and supports leading private and public sector organisations to train their teams for improved performance to goal.
The business is locally owned and has been based on the Shore for more than 27 years. Alongside its mission to build capability and create connection for Aotearoa’s organisations, Brightstar has made a concerted effort to improve its sustainability practices, says Chief Executive Steve Scott.
“We know organisations must play their part. All organisations are judged by their customers, and we recognise that sustainability initiatives, ultimately, make good business sense,” he says.
As part of this commitment to being a good corporate citizen, Brightstar supports national initiatives such as the Graeme Dingle Foundation and Kidscan. But getting onboard with a local restoration programme has been the perfect way to bring to life the company’s belief that it’s important to act local for global impact.
Last year Brightstar provided Te Hōnonga a Iwi with $7,000 to pay for materials for the bioreactors now on site.
Team members from Brightstar will help at three more corporate working bees at the restoration site this year (Steve is also a regular at the community working bees) and the company will donate $3,500 to pay for youth education opportunities. This will pay for two microscopy workshops, a schools’ study day in late July and education pieces for the website.
Youth education is a focus for Brightstar’s work in the community. The Graeme Dingle Foundation recently announced, as part of its partnership with the company, a new $20,000 scholarship that will give the foundation’s graduates access to Brightstar's conferences and courses, empowering them to excel in their education journey.
Brightstar also supports Whakaangi Landcare Trust, a Northland-based initiative protecting, preserving and supporting the vibrant biodiversity of 4000 hectares of land of Whakaangi peninsula near Hihi in Northland. It is home to the northern most population of North Island Brown Kiwi.
Additionally, the business is taking steps to reduce its own carbon and waste footprint. Last year Brightstar relocated to the innovative B:Hive co-working space at Smales Farm, which has a NABERS rating of 5.5 stars for energy efficiency and is located close to a transport hub to allow more team members to travel to work using public transport.
It has also introduced a range of practices to reduce, recycle and reuse at all its events and minimises staff and speaker travel, particularly air travel, and practises carbon offsetting for trips that can’t be avoided.
“At Brightstar, we are committed to becoming a BCorp certified company, which will require us to meet the highest standards of responsibility in the areas of governance, community, environment, workers, and customers. We haven’t reached certified status yet, but we look forward to getting there soon,” Steve says.
Read more about Brightstar’s sustainability practices on its website and find out about upcoming events and training courses.
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