About eNZyme-intellect and Forte Business Development Advisors
Forté Business Development Advisors was established in 1991 by husband and wife team Helen and Tony Smale, eNZyme intellect grew out of Forté in 2008.
Tony Smale - Innovation and management consultant
Tony is the firm's principal consultant. He brings his clients a distinctive blend of qualifications, experience, expertise, knowledge, best practices and access to a wide network of associates and thought leaders. Combined with extensive environmental scanning and continuous researching of business and economic trends, Tony offers clients up-to-date customised services to closely fit their needs. For more detailed information about Tony, click here for a PDF copy of his CV that outlines qualifications, experience, speaking roles and professional development.
Tony's qualifications
Master of Business Administration degree. Henley Business School, University of Reading. Diploma in Health Administration Massey University.
NZ Certificate in Direct Marketing
Accredited Economic Development Professional [AecD (NZ)].
Business and economic development
Tony has undertaken many governance and management roles in private sector business and in health, science and economic development. He led the development of a widely heralded economic development model and strategy that drew considerable attention internationally from both practitioners and academics. Leading academic Professor Paul Dalziel of Lincoln University recently described the Progress Marlborough economic development strategy developed under Tony's direction as "continuing to be the exemplar for regional economic development strategies". The strategy earned recognition in various publications. Click here to download a copy of Professors Dalziel and Saunders research paper "Regional Economic Development: Who owns it?".
Tony has been invited to speak at many forums in New Zealand and overseas. These include the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) conference in Bonn – speaking on a regional response to climate change, the OECD LEED (Local Employment and Development) conference in Vienna and keynote presenter at the Queensland State Government Leading Smart Regions workshop. Tony has also served on several OECD expert advisory panels. Click here for the OECD paper "Successful partnerships" that Tony was a contributor to. In New Zealand he is a regular member of advisory groups and speaker on subjects ranging from "Sustainable Development" to "Economic report cards, innovation and productivity" and "Thinking about the way we think about innovation".
In 2005 his work was recognised with a Regional Development Practitioner of the Year award.
Innovation and sustainable development
"Innovation is particularly important to Kiwi firms. It's what keeps them alive and growing. We're good at inventing things and solving problems, but how we turn that into long-term value and wealth." says Tony. His expertise in innovation management assists clients to identify, document, protect, and develop their intellectual assets or "soft" capital. Intellectual assets are a firm or sector's most valuable assets. It should be a requirement of every director and CEO to have in place an intellectual assets strategy.
Special competencies include:
- Innovation management.
- Organisation analysis, review, planning and implementation/management.
- Business case development and review.
- Polict and procedure development and implementation.
- Economic development including crossing the arbitrary boundaries between community and economic development.
- Organisational culture analysis and management.
- Sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.
- Project and organisational co-ordination and integration, ie finding how synergies and gence efficienct and effectiveness can be built through co-ordination and integration.
- Private sector/public sector interface.
Click here for a PDF copy of Tony's CV.
Helen Smale - highly adaptable management practitioner
Helen is a Director of Forté Business Group Ltd, the firm's Practice Manager and part time consultant. Her major time commitment is with the New Zealand aquaculture industry. She is a multi-skilled and highly adaptable management practitioner and holds a Diploma in Training and Development. She has earlier experience as a dairy industry quality assurance manager, is a qualified audiometrist, and managed a hospital audiometry department before joining the aquaculture industry. There she quickly rose to manage the industry's world leading water quality programmes and has built a substantial national and international reputation in that field.
Breadth and depth of experience
Helen has extensive experience is both governance and management roles. Upon joining the aquaculture industry in 1996 from a background in health sciences and dairy industry quality assurance management, she initially served as assistant Executive Officer of the NZ Marine Farming Association and NZ Mussel Industry Council with involvement in a broad range of initiatives including marketing, leading the development of industry based training, and project managing the establishment of the Queen Charlotte College Aquaculture Academy of which she was a Board member for several years. She was soon promoted to Executive Officer of the Marlborough Shellfish Quality Programme, the organisation that manages on behalf of industry, the water quality programmes that ensure compliance with market access water quality standards.
Helen has also been a member of and managed the National Industry Biotoxin Committee and has represented the NZ aquaculture industry on the National Technical Committee and the NZ Seafood Standards Council. She is currently a member of the Cawthron Institute's Seafood Safety Industry Advisory Group.
Helen has served as a Board member of the Queen Charlotte Aquaculture Academy and has chaired the Marlborough Festival and Events Trust, Garden Marlborough, and the Ruru Trust.
International Roles
Helen was Chairman of the 2007 International Conference on Molluscan Shellfish Safety and is now a member of the International Advisory Committee. She is instrumental in transitioning the biennial international congress into an international scientific society. She has been a regular speaker and participant at national and international forums on New Zealand's approach to Molluscan shellfish safety management in Spain, UK, Ireland, USA, South Africa, and Denmark.
Special competencies include
Helen has competency in aquaculture, food and beverage processing and quality, water quality management, general management, and training and development. Her particular competencies are in:
- Molluscan shellfish safety and management.
- Management of voluntary compliance and quality programmes.
- Industry and volunteer organisation management and governance.
- Training and Development.
- Project management.
- Group facillitation.