Hikurangi Enterprises is currently exploring an opportunity to build an industrial-scale extraction plant near Ruatoria that will be used by Hikurangi Group and other customers to produce bioactive extracts from plants and other organisms like algae, fungi and fish. The extracts are mostly used in natural health products, nutraceuticals and medicines.

Such an undertaking is a multi-million dollar exercise and requires staff with specialist skills who can operate and maintain high-tech machinery, coordinate production logistics and manage customer accounts.

A critical issue for the business viability is ensuring we have sufficient talent residing in the community or willing to relocate back to Ruatoria for such work. Salaries are likely to range between $45,000 for entry level roles (with significant initial and ongoing training provided) and $100,000 for the most senior management roles. Between 15 and 20 staff are likely to be employed initially.

As part of our business planning we are taking the unconventional approach of seeking expressions of interest from individuals who have experience in industrial roles involving responsibilities such as (but not limited to):

• Health & Safety
• Production & Logistics Planning
• Commercial Management & Business Development
• Electrical & Mechanical Engineering
• Finance & Accounting
• Factory Management
• Human Resource Management
• Machine Operation & Maintenance.

If you know someone with connections to the East Coast (ideally we’re looking for people who will stick around for a long time) or who would be keen to help get the plant established, please encourage them to fill in the form here. We want to get a sense of how serious people with the necessary skills are about moving to the Ruatoria/Waiapu area if decent jobs exist. This is not a promise of employment, or even that the factory will be built, it is business planning research we are doing to get an idea of what level of interest there may be from suitably experienced potential staff.

Here’s the expression of interest form link again: https://goo.gl/forms/lby2U7qGYO6lFHHC2

Ngā mihi.