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FICA and Women in Forestry have agreed to collaborate more

WIF General Manager Sarah Davis with FICA CEO Rowan Struthers.

Forest Industries Contractors Association (FICA) and Women in Forestry (WIF) have signed an agreement to work closer together, share resources and increase member value for forestry contractors in New Zealand. Source: Timberbiz

WIF is a grassroots network of women working in the New Zealand forestry industry, that focuses on supporting female business owners. Started informally in the 2010’s, WIF has grown to offer more tailored, formalised support in recent years.

As part of the agreement, FICA will provide baseline funding to WIF to work on complimentary projects for members, including a group payroll project, a workshop series focusing on topics such as employment law and accounting/costings and shared networking opportunities for contractors to come together.

FICA CEO Rowan Struthers says WIF provides complimentary support to FICA’s offering, and more can be achieved by working together.

“WIF tends to focus on the back-office side of the business, while FICA focuses more on the operational, health and safety and productivity areas. By working together we can essentially add more value to members,” he said.

WIF General Manager Sarah Davis says WIF has already started working on some key projects and is excited to be working for the greater good of contractors.

“Being an on-the-ground network, we believe we have a good sense of what is really a concern for logging contractors. We’re excited to have input with FICA and potentially offer a useful perspective,” she says.

“We’re looking forward to building a stronger relationship with FICA and working together for the greater good in helping logging contractors in their businesses.”