We are pleased to present the AGMARDT Annual Report for 2020/2021, a significant financial year for us in several key areas.
Firstly, we have seen the resignation of our long-standing and talented General Manager Malcolm Nitschke who we honour in the report. Suffice it to say we are hugely indebted to Malcolm for his leadership over his time and wish him all the best for the next stage of life.
And we are delighted to welcome global marketer Lee-Ann Marsh to the AGMARDT family as our new General Manager. She commenced her role in late August 2021.
Secondly, we have seen a rebound in our investment funds for the financial year ending 30 June 2021, with the Trust Fund at $96.8 million representing an outstanding return of 16.8% for the year – outperforming the strategic asset allocation benchmark of 14.2%. This gives the Trustees confidence to be able to invest both income and capital in the areas where we believe we can have the greatest impact.
Indeed, with our new strategy “igniting a better future for food and fibres in Aotearoa New Zealand’ we are looking to invest in new areas. We want to fund and enable projects that drive collaboration across the industry, look across the value chain and are ambitious and potentially game changing.
The types of projects we want are detailed in the AGMARDT Food & Fibres Aotearoa New Zealand Challenge, a new contestable fund that calls for industry-led proposals in specific areas that we want to invest in. During we launched the first Challenge, awarding two grants. Details can be found in this report.
Overall grants approved for the 2020/21 financial year were $4.35 million, this represented a favourable result from the previous year.
During the year we also engaged the Ākina Foundation to assist in the design of an Impact Strategy and resulting scoring framework. This remains work in progress however, the outcome will deliver valuable insights into the strategic direction of future funding priorities.
And last but definitely not least – in this we showcase some of our fantastic grant recipients, telling the stories of who they are and what they are achieving, from taking engineered socks into the global market and turning wool fibre into filter media to supporting emerging leaders to build their capability through global immersion programme.
Read the report here
