Members of the Canterbury Alumni include businesses from a range of sectors operating on a local, national and global stage.
One of the key components that makes the Icehouse journey programmes so successful is the relationships and trust developed with other business owners.
It becomes clear throughout the programmes that we all face similar challenges and problems regardless of the industry we work in. The Alumni is all about the continuation of sharing knowledge and experiences to help drive the commercial success of its members businesses.
We do this through scheduled monthly events that include guest speakers and morning workshop sessions to promote knowledge sharing.
To learn more about the Alumni please fill out the form below
Members of the Canterbury Alumni include businesses from a range of sectors operating on a local, national and global stage.
The Canterbury Icehouse Alumni has a strong focus on supporting community programmes. One such programme is the Canterbury Youth Development Programme's Re-Focus training pathway.
Our Vision is to provide a youth training pathway that caters for individual development and growth with high
levels of support within a structured environment.
Our Mission is to provide the life-skills, motivation, opportunities, ongoing education, support and training that will allow young people to successfully take their place within and contribute to New Zealand society.
THE PERMANENT SOLUTION TO CHILD ABUSE / FAMILY VIOLENCE / SUBSTANCE ABUSE / ESCALATING CRIME
Throughout 2012, Dr. Mike Field, previously the Director and CEO of the Canterbury Youth Development Programme Trust (CYDP) conducted an intensive research programme to investigate ways in which inter-generational chaos and dysfunction in families can be broken. Permanently! The Re-focus Programme is the result.
CYDP has undertaken to lead this radical new programme to support families with children at risk of serious offending. It is intensive, long-term, and involves a wide range of government and community agencies working together and following a common vision. It targets the ‘drivers of crime’ in families, such as domestic violence, substance abuse, inter-generational benefit dependency, truancy and exclusion from school. It is all about getting in early, before young people start to offend.
How does it work?
Individual families will be referred by Police, schools, and other community agencies in specific geographical areas. In 2013, it began with Phillipstown and Woolston Primary Schools.
School:
Kids at school are less likely to be involved in criminal offending. We will do whatever it takes to keep the young people at school actively engaged and learning.
Wider Family:
Everyone in the wider whanau / family will get whatever support they need to stop violence / offending / benefit dependency / substance abuse. We will be there for however long it takes—for years, if necessary
Young Person:
Each young person will receive years of intensive support and mentoring to ensure they stay on the right track, including sport and cultural activities.
For more information, please see:
An annual fee of $400 will be payable upon sign up. The fee is to cover flights and accommodation for speakers, and back office administration and the running of the events calendar. Any remaining money at end of year will be used to subsidise that years Christmas function.
Please download and fill out the form below, scan it, and email it back to admin@canterburyalumni.co.nz
Founder/CEO, Overland Footwear
*Shane Anselmi is an Icehouse Alumni from the Owner Manager Programme and
the Global Executive Leadership Programme with one of New Zealand’s great
business stories….*
*Early days*
I grew up in the 60s and 70s, a fascinating era and time of amazing change.
Tony my father was a shoe manufacturer, entrepreneur and my hero; as was
Guiglielmo (Bill) my grandfather who emigrated from Italy in the 1930s. I
remember the story of Bill riding his push-bike from Wellington hundreds of
miles up the North Island on dirt roads to seek out undeveloped land in the
King Country. The land he bought and broke in became the large family farm.
*Belief and Daydreaming*
I seem to have inherited that immigrant work ethic and a belief that
anything is possible. Couple that with the mind of a born daydreamer this
created a volatile mix that helped me achieve a lot, but also got me into
trouble.
*Going for it*
In my early 20s I decided to get into business myself. Borrowing machinery
from my Dad I set up my own small footwear factory in Palmerston North.
Being young and ambitious I also opened 4 shoe stores, developed an
industrial park, and opened two restaurants with partners….all with
borrowed money and a fair bit of chutzpah.
*Crash and burn*
It didn’t last… the sharemarket crashed in 1987, things slowed down and I
lost the lot, including my home. Louise, my gorgeous wife to be, was also
pregnant with Oscar, and we moved in with her parents. It was sobering but
in retrospect the best thing that could have happened to me. I was
determined that any business I built in the future would have a strong
foundation and focus on people.
*Turning Point*
Shortly after I got a call from my Dad saying he needed help with Shoetown,
his small chain of discount shoe stores in Auckland. I moved the family
north to see what I could do. Not seeing a future trying to sell discount
shoes out of high rent malls I took a quick trip to the United States to
look for ideas. After much investigation, trial and error the model for
Overland was born.
*New Beginning*
The Overland concept was to create a more upmarket, lifestyle fashion
footwear brand, supported by glossy brochures and a real emphasis on
delighting our customers. We opened our first store in 1990 and sales took
off. While there have been many more challenges over the years, we’ve
doubled in size every 6 to 7 years. We now have 60 stores in New Zealand
and Australia under the Overland, Mi Piaci and Merchant 1948 brands and our
journey continues…