Friday, March 29, 2024

SWAG announces new partnership

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The action group tasked with reinvigorating the strong wool industry has launched a new partnership with Primary Purpose in its drive to get the sector match-fit for the market.
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In its latest update to industry, the Strong Wool Action Group (SWAG) announced the launch of the new partnership with Primary Purpose, a design-led strategy and advisory firm specialising in agriculture, food and natural resources.

The project, aimed at equipping the strong wool sector with top priorities for new market lead opportunities, will be led by founding Primary Purpose partners Scott Champion and Kelvin Whall.

Champion is a former chief executive of Beef + Lamb New Zealand, while Whall has held leadership roles in research, international marketing, trade policy and business sector strategy development.

The project areas will be segmented into skills and training, research and development, statistics and data, trade policy, tertiary education and leadership.

The Primary Purpose team will engage directly with the industry, talking with famers to gauge their views on the sector and the support they need to succeed.

The team will develop and deliver an action plan of recommended activities and top priorities by the end of September.

In the meantime, SWAG has completed the development of two business case studies that will help create new market opportunities, attract talent and reinvigorate the NZ strong wool sector.

The business cases follow the work of San Francisco-based design thinking company IDEO, engaged by SWAG to produce case studies based on their deep consumer insights work.

SWAG chief executive Andy Caughey says the case studies and business plans have a direct-to-consumer orientation and global market potential for products based around the use of NZ strong wool.

SWAG is now going through a process of identifying entrepreneurial businesses with deep direct-to-consumer experience and global reach that could execute the developed business plans.

“We are engaging with the sector, local entities and the IDEO network based out of San Francisco to complete this process,” Caughey said.

SWAG is committed to enduring industry structures that will meet the future needs of the strong wool industry, with the primary focus being the consumer.

The market insight findings completed by IDEO, together with the onshore work being undertaken by Primary Purpose, are helping to develop an understanding of the requirements of the players in the industry to support the reinvigoration of the strong wool industry.

“From these findings we will follow a logical process to consider what sort of organisation, or organisations, and funding mechanisms could provide the industry leadership required,” he said.

The plan is to leave a legacy of a more connected, coordinated, and forward-looking wool sector that is consumer-focused and embraces its place within the natural world.

A new SWAG website is now live.

To learn more about the work of SWAG and how the group is working to lay the foundations for the wool industry to grow and thrive, go to www.swagnz.org.nz

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