New Zealand National Party leader and Prime Minister since 2008, John Key visited Papakura during 2006 to tour the Sweet Inspirations factory - Mr Key congratulated the then owners on winning the Best Small Business and Supreme Excellence award of the 2006 Stevenson Business Excellence Awards.

“I was impressed with their factory,” said Mr Key. “They have done a great job of building their business from scratch and developing a high-quality niche product.”

Sweet Inspirations supplies custom-printed mints and chocolates to clients throughout New Zealand and Australia.

The idea was born on visiting s South Island Cafe and  some mints arrived with the coffee. “Everything in the Cafe was branded with the Café’s logo except for the mints,” .... “We immediately thought – aha, there’s a great idea for a business.”

Sweet Inspirations was established and a machine developed that prints individual mint wrappers with logos or messages using an innovative and hygienic ink-free process. Today, the business has been franchised and has distributors throughout New Zealand and some in Australia. Plans are in the pipeline to franchise the wrapper printing machine and distribution system in other markets around the world. All inquiries are welcome.

“New Zealand’s economy is built on small innovative businesses like Sweet Inspirations,” said Mr Key. “In order to lift our economic performance, we need to encourage risk-takers and entrepreneurs like this to expand and make the most of their opportunities.”

Mr Key believes the government can help by providing a more supportive business environment that includes lower business compliance costs, less regulation, lower personal taxes and an education system that gives Kiwis the skills they need to make the most of innovative ideas.

“Kiwis need the right incentives to get ahead through their own efforts” he said.

On his tour of the Sweet Inspirations factory, Mr Key sampled some of the mints and chocolates that the business wraps.

“I’d love to be able to hand these out to the people I meet,” Mr Key said, “but I don’t think my kids will let me!”

The Business Excellence Awards are judged using the Baldridge system considered by many as the most robust International business accessment and judging system