Resene Paints has been a success story for three generations of Wellington's Nightingale family. Tony Nightingale, son of founder Ted, was posthumously inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame earlier this year as an innovator who took the family company into offshore markets.
Ted Nightingale, an Eastbourne builder, started the business in his garage in 1946. Grandson Nick now manages the company, which has 650 employees in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji.
He has a 51% shareholding and had his eyes set on a banking or broking job before following his father into the business – the third managing director in 70 years.
"I'm passionate about our business," he says. "I don't want New Zealand to become the seventh state of Australia. I don't want to see all products sourced from offshore."
Resene leads the local market, with a 36% share of the decorative paints sector against international giants such as Dulux and Wattyl. Resene has also led the trend away from solvent-based paints and 90% of its range is now waterborne.
It produces some 3000 different hues, creating the problem of naming 100 new colours a year that Resene solves by using as many Kiwi descriptions as possible – examples include haka (dark olive brown), pohutukawa (red) and she’ll be right (teal).
Resene assists a wide variety of charities and events such as Plunket, Children's Art House, Arts Access and Ronald McDonald House.