Newspaper Article 1992 – Hastings man earns African praise

Hastings man earns African praise

By Claudia Tasker

London

Untold tonnes of newsprint have been expended on New Zealand’s contribution to Expo ’92 in Seville. But as the world-famous exhibition draws to a close, one Kiwi connection as yet unsung in New Zealand is earning paeans of praise in Africa.

Unlikely as it may seem, the highly acclaimed Zimbabwean pavilion was set up by a 52-year-old former lifesaving, gentlemen’s retailer from Hastings.

Asked by a friend to help with a Commonwealth Games arts festival in Auckland two years ago, David Poppelwell was put in charge of Zimbabwe’s exhibits. And now instead of being surrounded by suits, David Poppelwell finds himself surrounded by stone sculpture as he markets primitive African village art rather than Western fashion.

“Poppelwell’s of Hastings” was the men’s outfitters in which David worked with his father before taking over and expanding the business.

At its peak the business comprised five thriving stores in Hawke’s Bay. But when the agricultural region hit hard times in the mid-80s the Poppelwells felt the strains of servicing costs and were forced to retrench. By 1987 David was back to running a one-store operation.

A new direction

Unsettled by the economic downturn and characteristically not happy to ride it out, he began to look beyond his regional boundaries. When a friend offered him a share in setting up a chain of 10 menswear stores in Auckland, David headed north.

But after opening just two shops the investor pulled out and again the Hawke’s Bay boy was left to seek new direction.

Sitting in his plush and expensive Expo office overlooking a sea of international wizardry it is hard to imagine a down-and-out Poppelwell struggling for a foothold in the Auckland scene. But he’s the first to admit he’d hit rock bottom. He started selling insurance but at the same time took up consultancy on the marketing and financial planning side of retailing.

This was nothing new. Marketing was always a keen interest not just in relation to outfitting Hawke’s Bay’s male population but also in marketing his own home town. David was involved in a number of organisations, including becoming president of the Greater Hastings organisation, responsible for staging such events as the Highland Games and blossom festivals.

Organising a country’s pavilion at the largest universal exposition ever staged seems a far cry from staging a provincial festival in New Zealand. Yet David believes the principles are the same, and says that despite the obvious vast differential in subject and scale, directing Zimbabwe’s pavilion at Expo is in some ways a natural progression, given his years of experience of running events for various organisations.

The Expo experience has not been plain sailing. It’s the first time Zimbabwe has been involved in a world exhibition, with funding coming from the EEC and Spain, not from the Zimbabwean Government.

Doing the lot

The project was taken on by the country’s national gallery and David found himself managing everything from staff wages, accommodation, invoices and office work to organising a shipment of the sculpture and art and overseeing a performing African music and dance troupe.

On the plus side the directorship has meant frequent trips to Spain over the past year with access to his own luxury apartment, and private office and conference facilities at the Expo site.

Despite the problems of security, transport, the language barrier, delayed shipment and the inoperable fixtures in the building, David managed to have his pavilion up and running well before his fellow nations in the 14-strong African extravaganza.

In fact in the opening days of Expo it became clear that the impressive display of stone sculpture and village craftwork was a major drawcard. Zimbabwe was there not to put its country on the map as such but to sell art .. and it worked. Over the months further shipments have been dispatched and sales have rocketed.

Benefits villagers

David delights in the fact that such good sales benefit the village people of Zimbabwe – to them it means survival. With unemployment at more than 50 per cent, and the average weekly wage between $NZ20 and $75, money from the sale of sculpture or craftwork can make an enormous difference to a family.

To David personally, the success augurs well for future such appointments, and means that his whole reason for being in Zimbabwe is coming to fruition.

When he was appointed as the country’s national gallery marketing manager early last year his brief was “to establish the overseas export market in art and village craft and to build up the business in contemporary stone sculpture – Zimbabwe’s chief artistic medium.” He was given three years to do it.

“In some ways I would be failing in my job if my contract had to be renewed,” he says.

“In the time allotted I have to set up a marketing strategy and business structure in the gallery and have to have people in place doing the job I am doing now. By the end of my term I should have established a business that is thriving on its own profitability.”

‘Gut feelings’

There is no shortage of the product that fuels the business. David is inundated with Zimbabweans eager to capitalise on the increasing interest in their handiwork.

It is his job to recognise the quality pieces and market them successfully. For that he has no particular qualification but draws on background knowledge, an inherited appreciation of art and the arts, and just gut feelings.

“You need to keep an open mind to absorb what is being put in front of you and have an appreciation of what it is and from what culture it comes,” says David.

“To understand African art you need an understanding of the people and their culture. These people are not influenced by anything. Their inspiration comes from within and their work is very much a reflection of their lifestyle of peace and tranquillity and of course their tribal customs and ways.”

To better his understanding David has travelled extensively throughout Zimbabwe visiting the remote villages that are the source of the products he markets. He is shocked by the primitive conditions mud huts, little or no sanitation, and now the drought.

The rural scenes, he says, are devastating. People are starving everywhere. The land is a sea of dust and David cannot remember the last time he saw rain.

Yet while the likes of David live a privileged existence in Zimbabwe, the natives show him no animosity. “We get along harmoniously,” he says.

“The Africans realise I am working with them not against them. They are such peace-loving people and have been prepared to make allowances for the Kiwi bloke who has stepped into their midst and quite frequently put his foot in it.

Luxurious lifestyle

His lifestyle in Harare is, on the face of it, somewhat luxurious. He has a large house with a big swimming pool and staff to keep both the house and grounds in order. He drives a new Land-Rover Discovery, frequently plays golf and tennis, and enjoys a good social life with other expatriates.

His girlfriend has joined him from New Zealand and all David’s three children will make the journey from Hawke’s Bay to Africa at various times for stays while their father is in Harare. But like David they will find that living in a Third World country has its frustrations. It can mean going without such basic commodities as butter and sugar, not being able to go to a take-away bar, being constantly nagged by native children begging for money, queuing hours to buy something simple like a postage stamp and generally coping in a society where time or timing is of little consequence.

David has known women to sit on the side of the road with their children waiting for a bus for up to three days.

No seafood

One of the other major costs of such an existence for David is living so far from the beach and not being able to buy seafood. Many of his new country’s folk have never seen a beach let alone tasted seafood. But for David who spent much of his life at places like Waimarama the transition to inland living is difficult.

He became a lifeguard at 14, was a competitive athlete and generally relished outdoor life. He built up the Waimarama surf- lifesaving club, became chairman, then established and presided over a district club before ultimately becoming president of the New Zealand Surf Lifesaving Association in 1986.

If David is forced to list the things he misses about home then “all things briny related” would be top, and he is adamant that he will eventually want to return to New Zealand. “That is where my roots are and that is all important to me. You’ve heard it all before but it’s not until you leave New Zealand that you realise just what it has to offer.”

Just in case he had forgotten, the New Zealand pavilion is only a few hundred metres from David’s stand at Expo and he has enjoyed the opportunity of renewing close links with home.

There is not a lot that is familiar about his new life in Zimbabwe and sometimes the fertile countryside of Hawke’s Bay and the rolling surf of Waimarama beach seem all too far away. But those things will not change and David’s chance to be part of the international business scene may.

Sought after

A lot has happened since that art exhibition in Auckland when the Zimbabwean artefacts – shipped over on the advice of Dame Cath Tizard who had visited the country – were organised by David Poppelwell at the Aotea Centre.

Little did the dissatisfied insurance agent know that his success at running that exhibition would lead to him being head-hunted from Harare to subsequently secure a job that had been advertised worldwide, notching up more air travel than he cares to remember.

Before his Zimbabwe contract is up David hopes to have travelled thousands more kilometres spreading a message that has as much to do with the art of survival as the survival of art.