Local businessman David Fredericksen is one of four Waikato leaders being honoured by the Waikato Institute of Technology for longstanding contributions to the region.
Mr Fredericksen, pictured, is the founder of Convex Plastics, a Hamilton-based manufacturer that supplies a range of award-winning packaging solutions around the world.
Wintec communications manager Hannah White said Mr Fredericksen was chosen for his innovation and vision that allowed him to grow Convex from a single machine in his garage to an international company.
Mr Fredericksen said he had to think seriously about accepting the award, but decided to accept it on behalf of everyone involved with Convex.
"To do what we've done at Convex is not just the work of one person. A lot of the innovation and development has come from a whole group of people, not just me," he said.
When he started the company in 1979 he had only recently moved to Hamilton and was having trouble finding work.
"I just didn't want to be unemployed ever again. I wanted to do my own thing, and not just be a tiny cog in a machine," Mr Fredericksen said.
So he built his own plastic bag making machine, taking the best bits of similar machines he'd seen while working as an engineer.
Wholesalers soon caught on to his quality product and quick turnarounds and the company rapidly grew too large to handle on his own.
When he brought in other partners to help run the business they sat down and thought about how they should run the company.
"We [decided to] let employees know where we're trying to go and what we're trying to achieve. Basically empowering them with the ability to make their own decisions and live by them. When you do that it brings out a hell of a lot of hidden talent that you didn't realise was there."
Mr Fredericksen credits nurturing that hidden talent with most of Convex's success. He speaks with pride about the national and international awards employees have won, including two inductees into an industry group hall of fame.
"Probably the greatest thrill I get out of this is employing people, especially young people that have a limited education. They join your company, they pester the hell out of you to do things like apprenticeships, you let them do it and they top New Zealand," he said.
Mr Fredericksen said Convex's Hamilton sales manager is an example of the talent that comes from giving people a chance.
She came to the company after leaving school at 16, but Mr Fredericksen had made a mistake in reading her CV so there wasn't actually a position for her.
He felt so guilty he offered her part-time work cleaning his car, and eventually a job in dispatch.
"She wanted to get into sales, she was mad on sales. She pestered and pestered our sales manager to do sales until he decided to give her a go."
She did so well there she became one of their top sales representatives before moving to her current position.
"That's the kind of thing that makes life interesting, seeing people do that kind of thing. It makes being in business feel worthwhile, it's probably more worthwhile than anything else [I've done]."
Mr Fredericksen will receive a medal in a formal ceremony at Wintec on June 25, alongside Peter Stark, general manager of Montana Catering; Richard Hill, co-founder of Chow:Hill Architects, and Maureen Speedy, nurse manager for Waikato Family Centre.