Latest / Best of Business / Nadia Steedman: Front-Line Training chief operations officer on the launch of the 'Mini Woolies' supermarkets

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Nadia Steedman: Front-Line Training chief operations officer on the launch of the 'Mini Woolies' supermarkets · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks be follow
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  Speaker 2: Two new Woolworth stores have opened in the South Island,
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  Speaker 2: but you won't be shopping there. They called Many Woolies
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  Speaker 2: and they are practiced supermarkets where people with intellectual disabilities
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  Speaker 2: can learn skills like stock in the shelves and scanning
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  Speaker 2: the items. The idea is to help them build confidence
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  Speaker 2: before they can move into a job at a real
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  Speaker 2: Wolworth store. The new sites are in Dunedin and Invcago,
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  Speaker 2: first of their kind of New Zealand outside of special
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  Speaker 2: education schools. So Nadia Stebman is the operations manager for
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  Speaker 2: Frontline Consultancy and Invercago and they've just got one of
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  Speaker 2: the Many Woolies and she joins me. Now, hello, Nadia, Oh,
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  Speaker 2: Kyota Andrew, how good is this idea? And who came
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  Speaker 2: up with it?
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  Speaker 3: Okay? So one night when I was sitting there watching
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  Speaker 3: seven sharp, I came up with the idea that we
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  Speaker 3: need to get this in the South and Regent and
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  Speaker 3: I made contact with Australia Woolworths and here we are
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  Speaker 3: with just launched last Friday.
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  Speaker 2: All right, we can't actually really shop there came as
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  Speaker 2: a practice shop.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely it is. But with that Andrew, there's some really
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  Speaker 3: good connections that happen with the process. So what people
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  Speaker 3: are able to do is working it in a space
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  Speaker 3: that suits them and their individual needs. It could be
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  Speaker 3: a five year old, it could be a eighty year
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  Speaker 3: old that's looking at a different direction of employment or confidence.
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  Speaker 3: With that, we have a direct connection with the local
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  Speaker 3: Wolworst stores where work experience will eventually be available, as
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  Speaker 3: well as putting them in the limelight and with the
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  Speaker 3: potential for them to become employed, do.
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  Speaker 2: They automatically get a job at warl Worst or are
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  Speaker 2: they going to have to apply and there'll be a competition.
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  Speaker 3: I think that that would be part of the will
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  Speaker 3: Worst's procedure to still go through their due diligence to
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  Speaker 3: make sure that they were employing somebody that met their needs.
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  Speaker 2: So why in Southold, Well.
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  Speaker 3: There's nothing better than being the most southern in the
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  Speaker 3: hemisphere and that gave us the opportunity. Also within our
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  Speaker 3: Southland region we do have some groups cohorts sorry that
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  Speaker 3: aren't being catered for, and this in particular is a
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  Speaker 3: great way for us to support them in a education space.
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  Speaker 2: And when does it start. It's already started, and.
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  Speaker 3: It has already started. So we launched on Friday. And
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  Speaker 3: the great thing about it, Andrews, it's a launch pad
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  Speaker 3: for new opportunities. It's a space that bridges education employment
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  Speaker 3: like no other. So what the process is going forward
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  Speaker 3: is individuals that are interested can make contact with us
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  Speaker 3: or one of the other eight stores throughout New Zealand,
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  Speaker 3: and what we can do is design programs or sessions
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  Speaker 3: that suit them in the needs of the people that
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  Speaker 3: are interested.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it sounds great. Wish all the kids, I know
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  Speaker 2: though you seem from five to eighty, So just wish
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  Speaker 2: the people just all the best of fun and enjoy
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  Speaker 2: doing this stuff and learning the new schools. And I
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  Speaker 2: thank you so much for joining us today as Nadia Stephen.
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