Our advocacy is informed through business confidence surveys and discussions with local businesses across a wide range of sectors and sizes, with a view to advise on policy that will enhance the role of local government as an enabler for our economy. Queenstown Business Chamber welcome the opportunity to provide pre-engagement input into the 2027 – 2037 Long Term Plan.

Read more here. 

Glenorchy Playgroup and Kōwhai Valley Crèche: Supporting Early Childhood Development

With our funding and local support, Glenorchy Playgroup has enhanced its role as a vital charitable organisation providing a dedicated space for early learning and social development for children aged 0–5. The successful opening of Kōwhai Valley Crèche on January 27th marked a major milestone—offering 36 weekly spaces for young children in the region. This project is a shining example of community effort, made possible through the dedication of locals and businesses.

Kōwhai Valley Crèche now stands as a symbol of what’s possible when a community comes together. It offers a warm, nurturing environment for Glenorchy’s youngest tamariki and reflects the power of shared vision and commitment.

Lightfoot Initiative: Paving the Way for Sustainable Travel

The Lightfoot Initiative is on a mission to change the way people move in the Whakatipu Basin. By promoting shared and active travel, the initiative encourages healthier, more sustainable transport choices. In FY25, we were proud to support three of their cycling programmes tailored to tamariki, migrant women, and seniors.

The “Little Pedallers” programme has already introduced 94 local tamariki to cycling, with a remarkable 90% achieving independent riding. Upcoming programmes include a dedicated cycling initiative for migrant wāhine and Hīko Haere—an e-bike loan and training programme designed to empower seniors with greater mobility and independence. Together, these efforts are building more inclusive, connected communities.

Wakatipu Youth Trust: Mentoring for a Brighter Future

We’ve proudly partnered with the Wakatipu Youth Trust (WYT) since FY20, supporting their evolving youth mentoring programme. In FY25, our continued investment will help WYT provide one-on-one mentoring for over 30 rangatahi, in collaboration with all nine schools in the region and local social services.

This programme focuses on empowering young people to succeed by supporting their mental, physical, psychological, and cultural wellbeing. It’s about walking alongside rangatahi, helping them to build resilience and reach their full potential.

Kāhu Youth Trust: Early Intervention and Support for At-Risk Rangatahi

Since 2021, our partnership with Kāhu Youth Trust has helped deliver transformative support for rangatahi facing significant challenges. From the “Mind Matters” programme focused on mental health to one-on-one mentoring for youth dealing with trauma and disengagement, each initiative is rooted in early intervention.

In FY25, our funding helped Kāhu Youth bring on a specialised Social Worker to assist rangatahi with complex needs. Over the next year, this professional support will benefit 10–15 young people—providing life-changing care at a critical time in their development.

KiwiHarvest: Fighting Food Insecurity with Fresh Solutions

Since its founding in 2012, KiwiHarvest has rescued nearly 16 million kilograms of food—equivalent to over 35 million meals—distributing it to 235 charitable organisations across Aotearoa. In Queenstown, our support over the past two years has helped KiwiHarvest deliver approximately 6,100 meals to 765 people each week.

Their work not only addresses immediate food needs but also contributes to a long-term goal: ensuring every person in Aotearoa has access to enough nutritious food, every day. It’s a mission we are deeply proud to support.

Community Networks/LINK: Building Resilient, Connected Communities

Community Networks/LINK continues to serve as a central hub for the Upper Clutha region, providing vital social services and fostering community connection. Our support since FY22 has helped fund subsidised counselling, food security initiatives, and enhanced access to social services.

In FY25, our investment supports their goal of increasing accessibility to welfare resources and ensuring that every individual in the Upper Clutha has the support needed to thrive.

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Our Ongoing Commitment

The projects and partnerships we’ve supported this year reflect what matters most—people. Whether it’s helping a child take their first steps into education, guiding a young person toward a brighter future, or ensuring a whānau has food on the table, our investments are driven by the belief that strong, supported communities create lasting change.

Across the world’s alpine regions, beauty draws people in – but growth can strain the very systems that make these places liveable. In the third installment of the Sister City Challenges series, leaders from Aspen and Queenstown came together to tackle two of the toughest infrastructure issues facing these mountain resort towns: energy and transport.

The forum was opened by Sharon Fifield, CEO of the Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce, who reflected on the shared pressures faced by resort towns like Aspen and Queenstown – where infrastructure must serve not only residents, but also large seasonal visitor populations. She noted that these challenges create fertile ground for innovation, and welcomed the forum as a valuable opportunity to exchange practical ideas between globally connected but locally grounded communities.

Moderated by Aspen Institute NZ CEO, Christine Maiden Sharp, the conversation revealed just how tightly energy and transport systems are now linked – and how innovative thinking, community engagement, and international knowledge exchange can deliver resilient, affordable solutions. While local in detail, the lessons shared apply to any community navigating growth, climate pressure, and the need to build with people at the centre.

To view the webinar and follow-up article, see HERE

Winter Sports and Climate Change – What’s the Plan?

In the first session of the Sister Cities Challenges series, Aspen and Queenstown came together to address a shared and pressing issue: the impact of climate change on winter sports and mountain communities. This virtual forum brought together leaders from the winter sports business community, climate scientists, and sustainability advocates to discuss how these two iconic destinations are responding to the challenges of a warming climate, welcomed by Debbie Braun, President & CEO of the Aspen Chamber Resort Association.

To view the webinar and follow-up article, see HERE

Sister Cities Challenges Series

Read the follow-up article and recording of webinar Here.

Learn Queenstown Lakes – Learning & Development Supplier Schedule
Welcome to the Learn Queenstown Lakes Supplier Schedule. This document is intended to identify quality providers delivering learning & development (L&D) services available for Queenstown Lakes businesses on key topics. This includes Queenstown, Wanaka and surrounds. While a number of the suppliers included in the schedule are based outside the district, their offerings include in-person or online delivery options that can be accessed from the Queenstown Lake District. In some cases, travel for facilitators may incur additional costs, and employers, in this case, might consider working together with other businesses to bring a provider to the district for a particular training to share and reduce costs overall.

This schedule is a snapshot. It does not and is not intended to, represent a list of absolutely all L&D providers delivering training in the Queenstown Lakes District. The suppliers included in it have been recommended by employers and businesses in the district and are known to deliver good quality offerings. The schedule has also been designed to address key skill gaps identified by employers i.e. topics that the business community is focussed on upskilling their
people in. The overall intent of the schedule is to provide a simple starting point for employers to simplify their L&D offering and to share information on quality providers.
We welcome you to make contact with providers included in the schedule directly, to enquire about their L&D offerings, or to book courses/programmes with
them.

I hope you’re all enjoying the pace that the end of 2024 seems to be bringing us.

As we head into the end of the year, it’s time for a quick update on the Learn Queenstown Lakes programme.

Employee voice – Actvo

Firstly, we’re pleased to have the Actvo component of this project underway with all participating employers onboarded, and the majority of users up and running already. Actvo will provide us with the employee voice in this project, including a sample of skills mapping data. The intent is that this will give us a fuller picture of learning needs and skills gaps across the district, when matched against our feedback and input from businesses.

We have 7 employers and over 100 users participating in this pilot programme, across a range of industries from hospitality to professional services.

Employer survey

In October we had the opportunity to share our employer survey results through a series of workshops where we tested & validated the results in order to land on some agreed areas of focus. If you didn’t get a chance to attend any of the workshops, a copy of the survey results is attached for your reference. For those who are interested, the summary slides from the October workshops are available here:

Actions from here

There are four key workstreams that were generally agreed through October’s workshops, as areas of focus for the Learn Queenstown Lake programme going forward.

Those are:

1. Delivery of the agreed Learning Supplier Schedule
   Visibility for employers on learning providers already delivering quality offerings in the district
2. Establishment of an Employer Forum to bring employers together, for purpose, on workforce issues
3. Tertiary education sector engagement
4. Joined up learning programmes – identifying core topics that employers can come together on.
   Management skills development is the topic that has the most traction at this point.

These will all require a collective effort in order to gain some traction. So, in the new year (2025) we will be looking for expressions of interest from those of you who would like to get involved in one or more of these topics. Feel free to let me know before the new year if you have a particular interest in any of the above areas.

Updated timeline

You may recall from earlier in the year that we were looking to have a Supplier Schedule delivered by end November. Given the number of parties involved in this mahi, we have extended that timeline to end January 2025.

Thanks all for your contributions to this project so far, and I look forward to being in touch again in January.

Meri Kirihimete

Meghan