Synnott and Wong enter Hall of Fame
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Two of our city’s most successful entrepreneurs were inducted into the
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Saturday, September 6, 2008
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Thursday, July 10, 2008
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Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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Monday, August 27, 2007
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Monday, August 27, 2007
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Monday, August 13, 2007
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Friday, July 20, 2007
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Tuesday, June 26, 2007
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Thursday, March 15, 2007
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Friday, September 8, 2006
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Thursday, August 10, 2006
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Tuesday, August 8, 2006
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Monday, August 7, 2006
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Friday, July 28, 2006
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Tuesday, May 02, 2006
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Sunday, May 22, 2005
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Sunday, May 22, 2005
Making a difference while making a profit? Yes it can be done and it is being done every week by businesses
... More >Synnott and Wong enter Hall of Fame
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Two of our city’s most successful entrepreneurs were inducted into the Manukau Business Hall of Fame at the Westpac Manukau Business Excellence Awards: Sally Synnott for founding the children’s fashion empire, Pumpkin Patch, and migrant property developer Kit Wong, who is the force behind two business developments directed at helping migrants become successful in New Zealand.
Pumpkin Patch was founded in 1990 by Clevedon resident Sally Synnott. Sally identified a gap in the market for a specialised retail brand offering design-driven kidswear, and Pumpkin Patch began, initially as a mail order business, followed soon after by its first retail store. Today Pumpkin Patch is Australasia’s leading children’s fashion company, employing over 3,100 people with 215 company stores worldwide.
Sally continues to hold a position on the Board of Pumpkin Patch and has relished watching Pumpkin Patch grow into the global company it is today.
Since Kit Wong migrated to New Zealand and settled in Manukau twenty years ago, he has accumulated a long list of remarkable business and community-based achievements.
In 1992 the University of Auckland graduate developed New Zealand’s first multi-cultural business centre in Somerville, Howick, that is not only a centre of business and employment opportunities, but also a place to gather for elderly new migrants.
Somerville Business Park has over 90 shops, including professional offices, retail shops, an Asian-operated medical clinic and ethnic restaurants. More recently, he formed the Botany Park Estate, next to Botany Junction in Flat Bush, a neighbourhood that is friendly and prizes community safety.
As well as his property development and efforts to help new New Zealanders to settle in here, Kit is a self-driven community leader and innovator. In 1994 he organised the Chinese community to donate three vehicles to the Howick Police. He is a member of the Manukau Economic Steering Group Committee, a founding trustee of the City of Manukau Education Trust, a Founder Trustee of Trust Manukau, a Guarantor of the TelstraClear Pacific Centre Project Feasibility Study, a Chairman of Asian Pathway for TelstraClear Pacific Centre, a founder member and past president of Rotary Howick, a member of the Asian Community advisory Group to MIT; a founder member and Vice-President of Counties Manukau Ethnical Council, and Vice-President of Chinese New Settler Services Trust, which has six serving Centres through out the whole Auckland Region.
Acting Manukau Mayor Gary Troup says Sally Synnott and Kit Wong are both very worthy choices for the Hall of Fame.
"Each is a perfect example of what a business leader with vision and passion can achieve. They have made a difference in Manukau and beyond and we are delighted to acknowledge and honour their contributions."