CML - Challenge Management Limited
Providing active company management for private equity investment
What do we do
Typically we replace retiring owner-operators with the best of NZ’s hands-on commercial managers and then help them grow their supporting team of sales, operations, logistics, finance and engineering experts.
This approach has seen the majority of our companies in the OKLEO group double in size (and profit) since coming into the fold, and is based on these tenets:
- We are former coal-face managers ourselves and can do, or have done, everything we ask of our GMs and CEOs
- We employ great leaders and managers and let them fulfil their potential
- We use simple governance structures that are tailored to the nature and rhythm of each business
- Our approach to the operation of a business is simple – agree the Direction, set the Objectives, confirm the Processes and provide the Resources
- We see decision making as a science and value comprehensiveness and a basis of first principles – if you know you have thought of/checked everything, then you can be as confident of your decision as is possible in the situation
- Recognising problems is an essential part of business management; no-one can see the future and it is how people cope with a setback which shows who they truly are.
more importantly
127 new jobs have been created for New Zealanders in the period May 2015 – Dec 2022 with plans for lots more!
OKLEO group companies
What do all these companies in the OKLEO group have in common? They employ great people, invest for the long-term (in people, plant, premises and processes), treat their customers and suppliers well and are led by passionate managers.
Manawatu Cold Store
Being a good cold store is about much more than storage! Manawatu Cold Storage is a leading supplier of blasting, sorting, storage and export container services for the Manawatu’s meat processing companies, and a vital part of North Island food security chains for domestic consumption for all frozen meats.
National Springs
NZ’s leading manufacturer of springs and wire forms is tucked away in Papakura converting 300 tonnes of wire a year into the most surprising solutions. Having invested in new machinery every year, we have grown threefold and are now also a major supplier of predator traps & garage door springs.
Technicool
The Bay of Plenty’s kiwifruit packhouses rely on Technicool to implement new technologies like dehumidifiers as well as maintain existing refrigeration systems. Technicool also supply heat pumps for the domestic and commercial market, and service air conditioning across Bay venues and hospitality.
Solo
Solo Plastics is the country’s leading supplier of fabricated plastic solutions for HDPE or PVC pipe for storm, sewage, potable water and electrical/data conduit, by bending, cutting, slotting, machining and welding (factory and onsite) from 20mm fittings to 4000mm manifolds or tanks.
Promains
Promains are “Your Pipeline Professionals” as we are focused on potable and non-potable water pipelines and associated products – our knowledgeable and service driven people are our point of difference in four branches across the Upper North Island.
Infrapipe
Infrapipe™ sustainably manufactures pipes from Polyethylene and Polypropylene for New Zealand & the Pacific Islands Infrastructure. We provide a service that encourages the installation of high-quality engineered infrastructure to last for our generation and the ones that follow. Infrapipe™ can be used to manufacture tanks, manholes, pumpstations and many other fabricated items up to 3.2m dia.
Galloway
New Zealand’s pioneer of rotational moulding doesn’t just manufacture the Aqua Tanks range of water tanks up to 31,000L; they also manufacture Smartwave boats, children’s playgrounds, fittings for international theme parks, kayaks, wastewater tanks and even pods for trailers and utes.