
Kaikohe Business Association Welcomes New Police Recruits
The Business Association is appreciative that the District Recruitment Lead Sergeant Joe Te Ao has been proactive in approaching potential recruits and encouraging them to apply.
After a long time of voicing concerns about the lack of police visibility, the Kaikohe Business Association is formally welcoming two new recruits to the Kaikohe community with the support of Kohewhata marae.
Kaikohe Business Association raised the idea of a formal welcome with the marae and local Senior Sergeant Clem Armstrong when it was first announced that the two graduates were heading to Kaikohe in April. The Association wants to build stronger relationships with local hapu, the police and Indian business community. One of their goals is to promote Kaikohe as a welcoming community and a good place for new police recruits to come and work.
The Business Association is appreciative that the District Recruitment Lead Sergeant Joe Te Ao has been proactive in approaching potential recruits and encouraging them to apply. A consistent theme at every community meeting attended or facilitated by the Business Association is the need for a more visible police presence. This is the Association's way of acknowledging that some progress is being made in community policing.
It is also a first for the community to have a Sikh policeman. Milanpreet is not a stranger to Kaikohe. Before going to police college he worked in Kaikohe in the retail industry. He has first hand knowledge of some of the challenges local businesses face. He is joined by local Maximilian Stovell who knows the area and comes from a trade background.
The pōwhiri will begin on August 15th, midday at Kohewhata marae and conclude with lunch in the whare kai. Representatives from local business and community groups have been invited to support the event and build an even stronger community going forward.
Paul WiHongi of Te Uri o Hua says it would be in order to welcome the two police officers into Kaikohe with a traditional pōwhiri.
'We would also take the opportunity to welcome the Indian community into our area. I'd like to think that this would set a precedent for all manuhiri.'
Paul believes that this may be the beginning of an open honest relationship with the business community of Kaikohe. 'We look forward as a hapū to carve out a prosperous and fruitful pathway together.'
Kaikohe Business Association chairperson Mike Shaw says, 'Kaikohe is a beautiful safe place to live and do business and the new recruits add to the growing confidence of a safer community. Events like this pull people together in a positive way. Thanks to the local hapū Te Uri o Hua for enabling this event to happen.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Britain and India sign free trade pact during Modi visit
By Alistair Smout and Manoj Kuma , Reuters Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File photo) Photo: Kabir Jhangiani / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP Britain and India signed a free trade agreement on Thursday during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sealing a deal to cut tariffs on goods from textiles to whisky and cars and allow more market access for businesses. Talks on the trade pact were concluded in May after three years of stop-start negotiations, with both sides hastening efforts to clinch a deal in the shadow of tariff turmoil unleashed by US President Donald Trump. The agreement between the world's fifth and sixth largest economies aims to increase bilateral trade by a further 25.5 billion pounds by 2040. It is Britain's biggest trade deal since it left the European Union in 2020 but its impact will be a fraction of the effect of leaving the orbit of its closest trading partner. It is India's biggest strategic partnership with an advanced economy, and it could provide a template for a long-mooted deal with the EU and for talks with other regions. Both sides hailed as historic a deal which will take effect following a ratification process, likely within a year, after which firms such as whisky distiller Diageo and carmakers including BMW, Nissan, Aston Martin and Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover could benefit from lower duties. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said there would be huge benefits for both countries, making trade cheaper, quicker and easier. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Photo: STEPHANIE LECOCQ / AFP "We've entered a new global era, and that is one that requires us to step up, not to stand aside... by building deeper partnerships and alliances," Starmer said in a statement next to Modi at his Chequers country residence. Modi called the agreement "a blueprint for our shared prosperity," highlighting how Indian goods from textiles to jewelry and seafood would secure better market access. The countries also agreed a partnership covering areas such as defence and climate, and aim to strengthen co-operation on tackling crime. Modi spent nearly three hours with Starmer before going to meet King Charles at his Sandringham Estate. Under the trade agreement, tariffs on Scotch whisky will drop to 75 percent from 150 percent immediately, and slide to 40 percent over the next decade. Tariffs on drinks such as brandy and rum will be cut to 110 percent initially and end up at 75 percent. On cars, India will cut duties to 10 percent within five years from current levels of up to 11 percent under a quota system that will be gradually liberalised. In return, Indian manufacturers will gain access to the British market for electric and hybrid vehicles, also under a quota system. Under the deal, 99 percent of Indian exports to Britain will benefit from zero duties, including textiles, and Britain will have reductions on 90 percent of its tariff lines, with the average tariff UK firms face dropping to 3 percent from 15 percent. But the projected boost to British economic output, of 4.8 billion pounds a year by 2040, is small compared to Britain's gross domestic product of 2.6 trillion pounds in 2024. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast that UK exports and imports will be about 15 percent lower in the long run than if Britain had stayed in the EU. Britain's Labour government, in power for a year, has launched a reset of ties with the EU to smooth trade friction and won some tariff relief from the United States. "In an era of rising protectionism, today's announcement sends a powerful signal," said Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry. The Confederation of Indian Industry called it a "strong foundation for deeper market access." The deal will facilitate easier access for temporary business visitors although visas are not covered. The sides also agreed that workers will no longer have to make social security contributions in both India and Britain while on temporary postings to the other. British firms will be able to access India's procurement market for projects in sectors such as clean energy, and the trade deal also covers services sectors such as insurance. India did not manage to secure an exemption from Britain's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism - which could levy higher taxes on polluters from 2027 - as part of the deal. - Reuters


NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Agribusiness and Trade: Valocity's app speeds up property valuation in India
'We had this amazing tech, and the key thing that really differentiated us, is that it is customisable and modular. It can handle complex rules. It can handle varied property types and it can handle regional nuances. All of these proved essential in India.' That's because, aside from its sheer scale and the complexity of different language and ethnic groups, India posed some unique challenges for companies working in the property sector. Not least of these is the lack of a standardised addressing system in the Western sense. Vicelich says Valocity has a role to play in that growth. Like elsewhere, Indian banks need a valuation before they can lend money on a property. That is just as important for entrepreneurs seeking finance as for people wanting to buy a house. 'Previously, valuation was very manual in India and based entirely on physical documents. It took weeks to complete a valuation — there was no technology involved. Banks were not digitally connected to valuers. She describes what she found as a 'disparate and broken-up disintermediation — a fragmented ecosystem'. India's valuers are often small one- or two-person operations, while some banks are huge. The big banks deal with tens of thousands of valuations each month. At the other end of the market are tiny banks, more like our idea of building societies. They typically lend on low-value properties and can be in remote areas. Both need better systems. Valocity Founder and CEO Carmen Vicelich was part of the New Zealand delegation to visit India on the mission led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in March 2025. She says: 'We realised we could make a massive difference and we also realised that we had to localise our systems. When solving the problem of no data, we looked to partner, we looked to buy. We found no one had accurate addressing data and that government records are not digitised. We also found that recorded sales prices are not necessarily what a buyer pays for a property because there can be a cash payment on top.' Valocity developed a phone app and made it free for valuers. This was preloaded with banks' templates. When a valuer visits a property, the address is geotagged and photos are timestamped. The valuer has to take a selfie to prove he or she was at the property. This can all happen off-line, because mobile network coverage doesn't reach everywhere. 'The app makes calculations on the spot. Then all the data goes back to the bank digitally within ours of the visit. Everything the bank needs to know is there. We've managed to get 20 large banks live on the platform.' While the systems were developed for valuing buildings, Indians are using it to value factory plants and machinery. In some cases they drive the software to its limits. Vicelich says one user dragged and dropped 400 fields of data into the app and complained it was working slowly — the user was valuing a hospital.

NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Agribusiness and Trade: India's tech boom offers opportunities for New Zealand businesses
As New Zealand companies like Serko have discovered, India is where you go when looking for global capability hubs. While it sells professional services like law and accounting, India remains best known for its information technology services. Its tech giants like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Tech Mahindra may not be household names, but are familiar in executive suites and boardrooms. India's tech firms are active in New Zealand. In April, Spark signed a strategic deal with Infosys to accelerate the transformation of its technology delivery model using artificial intelligence and cloud tools. This year Air New Zealand and Tata Consultancy Services signed a five-year partnership deal to explore opportunities for digital transformation, innovation and operational efficiency in the airline industry. Tech Mahindra is working with the University of Auckland on AI and quantum computing projects. This last deal underlines a key point. Twenty years ago India was best known for its sweatshop call centres and low-cost IT outsourcing. Today it is a global hub for advanced technology, innovation and skilled digital talent. In 2020, India accounted for approximately 55% of the global IT service sourcing market — valued at between US$200 billion and $250b. It made up around 20% of total global IT spending. That was up from around 13% of the total in 2015. India also accounts for a large slice of the world's IT experts. In 2021, India ranked third worldwide for cloud expertise, with 608,000 professionals. In addition to exports, India sustains a huge domestic technology sector. In 2023 the industry had an estimated worth of US$245b and employed 5.4 million people. The market is growing at just over 10% a year. Speaking at the India New Zealand Business Council's Boardroom to Border leadership dialogue in May, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon identified technology as one of the key focus areas of his mission to India in March. Said Luxon: 'We worked really hard in Mumbai and Delhi to ensure that New Zealand's primary products, our technology, our education, exports and our tourism offerings, were front and centre. 'Kiwi and Indian businesses are the engines of growth creating those new opportunities, lifting trade and helping transform the relationship between our countries.' Selling New Zealand technology faces challenges. Sakthi Ranganathan, founder of Christchurch-based JIX Reality Lab told attendees at the Boardroom to Border event that it's hard to attract the world's best researchers to work in New Zealand. 'From an Indian perspective, New Zealand is not seen as a destination for cutting-edge research. It's not the place to be for the future of aerospace or food and agriculture. The cream, the high-achieving individuals will always prefer a different country to New Zealand.' Another aspect of India's rise as a technology powerhouse lies in its consumption of technology. With a population of 1.4b and a rapidly-growing middle class, it represents a huge market for products such as mobile phones and laptops. These are also essential tools for lifting Indians out of poverty. India's telecom industry is the second largest by mobile phone, smartphone and internet users after China. Figures from the GSM Association and Boston Consulting Group show there are 1.165b wireless subscribers and a total of 1.2b telephone subscribers. Which explains why Apple is showing so much interest in India. The US phone and computer maker is putting down roots there. It now manufactures iPhones in new factories outside Chennai. Today between 15% and 18% of all iPhones are produced in India. Five years ago, 100% were made in China. That country now accounts for 75%. The Times of India forecasts the nation will account for 25% to 30% of iPhones by 2027. American geopolitical tension with China and President Donald Trump's mercurial trade policies go some way to explaining the move, but the lure of a billion consumers moving out of poverty is significant. And the potential spotted by Apple also represents an export opportunity for New Zealand's tech sector. Madras-born, Auckland-based angel investor and education consultant Edwin Paul chaired a panel at Boardroom to Border exploring moves to build a shared digital future between New Zealand and India. He neatly summarises the potential. 'Both countries bring unique strengths to the table. India brings scale and a digital public infrastructure. New Zealand brings trust-based governance, regulatory agility and a people-first innovation approach. Together, we are well placed to shape a digital agenda that is not only competitive but ethical, inclusive and resilient.' Paul's agenda includes building 'future-ready frameworks in artificial intelligence, cyber security, digital services and the startup ecosystem, moving beyond pilot projects and policy papers'. He wants to see mechanisms put in place to make cross-border innovation work.' Investment is crucial to India's rise and the technology sector is set to receive the bulk of funds. Most Indian investors say they plan to allocate more than three-quarters of their funds to digital investments in the next five to seven years. Bharat Chawla, the chairman of the India New Zealand Business Council put investment into a local perspective when reporting back on the INZBC's Grow with India report. He talked about the diplomatic investment the two countries have made and work across public and private sectors. He sees the need for two-way investment between the two countries. Two New Zealand companies that have made major investments in India are Carmen Vicelich's Valocity and Serko, a publicly traded travel and expense technology company.