Trenco Print, active in the A2 sheetfed multi-colour market will close its doors later this month after divesting of all its equipment. It is arguably the only printing company in Wellington whose sole owner and founder is a woman.
Natalie established the company 15 years ago in the suburb of Mt Cook and has employed up to nine staff until recently.
She is well know in the industry nationwide, but more so in Wellington where she established the annual Women in Print dinners in the city, the first of what are now regular events in all the major centres.
Natalie also started the annual Wellington golf tournament for the printing industry which in 10 years has raised $73,500 for charity. She was the president of the Wellington Printing Executive until two years ago when she retired from that office because of ill health.
She says printing businesses require substantial capital investment to remain viable and she wants to enjoy her retirement, but she says she won’t be putting her feet up.
“I’m involved in a number of things outside work, including charity work, so I think I’ll still be quite busy, but I don’t want to continue on running a business for the sake of it for another five years or so,” she says.
She says she’s seen a lot of changes in the industry in her time as a business owner and not all of them good.
“There’s been too much cost cutting in recent times by larger businesses who’ve done it just to gain the work at the expense of the smaller independent operators, especially in the area of Government printing work,” she says.
This has made it all the more harder to operate successfully, though she says her company has retained most of its loyal customers over the years.
Her leaving bash has promised to bear testament to this and the contacts she has built up over the years, with people promising to attend the Wellington function in Trenco Printing’s factory from as far away as Auckland.
