Insight: Just what does regional development agency Great South do?

You may not know we also own Space Operations New Zealand Ltd, which operates Awarua Satellite Ground Station, and we are also 49% owners in NZ Functional Foods, which is developing an oat milk.

Welcome to The Southland Tribune’s weekly column spot called “Insight”. We’ve asked leaders of various Southland organisations to share a bit about some of the wins they are having and also some of the challenges they may be facing. This week Southland regional development agency Great South and its CEO Chami Abeysinghe explains what it does.

Kia ora.

Thanks to Logan and The Southland Tribune for inviting us to share what’s happening at Great South with you readers!

As your Southland Regional Development Agency, our priorities are far reaching - regional leadership, diversifying the economy, supporting business growth, promoting the region, and supporting environment and climate action are all in our wheelhouse. And our team work in four main areas, which are strategic projects, business, tourism and events.

You may not know we also wholly own Space Operations New Zealand Ltd, which operates Awarua Satellite Ground Station, and we are also 49% owners in NZ Functional Foods, which is developing an oat milk plant at Makarewa. Space operations and oats are two projects we have worked on for many years that are now companies in their own right.

Here at Great South, our main priority in the next couple of months is supporting Beyond 2025 Southland, the team that is developing a Regional Long-term Plan on behalf of Southland. The Plan, which is a refresh of the Southland Regional Development Strategy (SoRDS) and a workstream within the Government’s Southland Just Transition, will be launched on 28 June.

There are several pieces of work we are leading or have collaborated on that will feed into this Long-term Plan.

We partnered with Murihiku Regeneration to work on an energy strategy for the region, which is now open for consultation. It could have wide-reaching implications and we have public sessions coming up this month in Gore, Invercargill and Te Anau. I encourage you to come along to one of the public sessions to find out more and the draft Southland Murihiku Regional Energy strategy 2022-2050 is available on our website greatsouth.nz.

You may have seen we have also had several surveys out recently. The information gathered will inform the Long-term Plan and will also be invaluable to our shareholder councils for future planning.

True to our vision ‘even better lives through sustainable development’, Great South is supporting Murihiku Southland businesses to meet net zero 2050 goals. We run a Decarbonisation Workshop Series for business (the next begins 1 May) and a sustainability programme specifically for tourism

businesses starting in June. We’re on the sustainability journey ourselves and consider sustainability in our purchasing decisions and operational practices.

There’s never a dull moment at Great South! Rest assured we are advocating for Southland, it’s people and beautiful environment every step of the way.

We look forward to sharing more about what we’re up to in future months.