Pictured above: Helen and Mike Mander.
After 13 years of consistent growth and development for their company Heart Saver, owners Helen and Mike Mander are lifting the business to a whole new level in 2025. NZBusiness recently caught up with the hard-working, Kumeu-based couple for an update.
There comes a time in the life of every business when some serious progression is called for.
At Heart Saver, owners Helen and Mike Mander explain that life for the past decade has largely been a case of sticking to their knitting and focusing on all things AED.
But that’s all about to change as they now begin their next phase of business growth.
Heart Saver, established in April 2012, the cover story for the December 2017 issue of NZBusiness, and winner of the Supreme David Award in the same year, has grown to be the largest performance testing company of AED (Automated External Defibrillator) units in New Zealand.
And while Helen and Mike believe they also have the majority of market share for AED sales, they acknowledge this is anecdotal as there are still no officially gathered statistics within the industry to analyse.
Nevertheless, the business has been quite a ride from their previous careers – when Helen was a qualified accountant and Mike specialised in sales and was a local volunteer firefighter.
It was Mike’s experience with AEDs back in his previous firefighting job that prompted his interest in building up awareness and availability around these vital pieces of equipment.
Life for the couple nowadays is more about working ‘on the business, rather than ‘in the business’, which represents a huge personal milestone for both of them.
“Our focus is still on all things AED-related as our core business, but we have also diversified into tailored first-aid training options for our customers,” explains Helen.
“While Mike and I are still very hands on and present in the business, having grown the team to 11 staff and four contractors, we now have more people specialising in particular roles. This takes a lot of the day-to-day transactional work away from the two of us.”
Progressing the business in this way also lets them do more of the things they both individually enjoy in the business, she says, as well as adopt a more strategic outlook for Heart Saver.
A focus on training
Saving lives is what Heart Saver is all about. The business focuses on online first aid and CPR training, as well as the supply and testing of AEDs around the country. This gives Helen and Mike immense satisfaction.
Managing tailored scenario-based training is another specialty where Heart Saver goes on site to mock up an accident in the workplace and assess a company’s ability to deal with the situation.
Helen says this is no box-ticking exercise but rather a ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ skillset designed to test how first-aiders respond, to see how well they’ve retained their knowledge and know their equipment.
Without doubt the most satisfaction for the Heart Saver team has come from the lives that are saved through the deployment of their China-manufactured AED units. So far, with more than 7000 supplied nationwide, there have been more than 60 successful resuscitations.
For Helen and Mike it is especially rewarding to be part of the education and public awareness process that leads to more Kiwis being saved through better access to AEDs.
“Our success in the AED space has also enabled us to diversify into training which is a massive passion for us both,” says Helen.
Dealing with mental health issues
Having launched an online first-aid training program, which they describe as an “absolute godsend” during the Covid pandemic, Heart Saver has now expanded its offering to include an online Mental Health ‘First Responders’ course aimed at New Zealand’s SME community.
“This is something we’re really passionate about,” explains Mike, “as we had a team member here at Heart Saver who was struggling, and we didn’t know how to help.”
There are 0800 numbers available, but ultimately as a business owner you are the person responsible for doing something about mental health in your workplace, he says.
“You can teach first aid, but when it comes to mental health, while the motto might be ‘it’s OK to not be OK’, the key is to understand that people do have these challenges.”
Mike says Heart Saver’s Mental Health course, developed in partnership with leading Mental Health experts Prof Grant Schofield, and Dr Louise Schofield of Prekure, is designed to give staff a general understanding of mental health challenges and encourage individuals to raise the subject with a colleague they have concerns about.
Ninety-nine percent of the time that colleague will respond positively to receiving help, he says.
Small businesses don’t have HR departments, and they can struggle to deal with these issues, explains Helen. “They can be scared of doing the wrong thing, and often that leads to doing nothing.”
The key is to understand and normalise the process, she says, and have those conversations.
“The more attuned your team is to these [mental health] issues, the more cohesive they will be.
And the more willing people are to having conversations, the greater your ability to help.”
Heart saver offers a 5-module online course on mental health packed with information and resources to assist a variety of businesses and individuals, with the goal of boosting peoples’ confidence levels.
They plan to make the course specific to clients’ needs and different team structures.
Growing with the times
There’s a real sense of pride in Helen and Mike’s voices when they say both their offspring are currently pursuing careers aligned with their parents’ business. Daughter Amy is a 4th year medical student, while son Scotty, who was just three when Heart saver was launched, is planning to leave school at the end of the year to work full-time in the business.
2025 is also shaping up to be a landmark year, with the appointment of a business rep for the South Island, and the company about to test the waters in the Australian market, which offers enormous potential for growing the business further.
When you factor in the Mental Health programme, and the potential to expand into Australia, you may wonder how Helen and Mike will cope with all that growth.
However, as it has always been, it’s all about teamwork.
“We’ve always joked about Mike being the ideas person, while I’m the handbrake,” says Helen. “There’ve been many Kiwi companies take on the Australian market, but unfortunately it doesn’t always work. So, we’re definitely taking our time to look at the opportunity. Australia is a very big beast.”
“If we could just clone another Mike and Helen, that would be ideal,” laughs Mike.
Growing a business is always a challenge he says, because taking on a lot of new customers can often lead to existing loyal customers being neglected.
But now Heart Saver is ready for some serious growth – albeit sustainable.
As rewarding as ever
“Looking back, our business ‘why’ has never changed,” says Helen. “We still have the same goals and values.”
Each time they hear about one of their AEDs being deployed to help save a life somewhere in New Zealand, it gives them great satisfaction – just as it did 13 years ago.
They’ve helped see AEDs become ubiquitous in New Zealand, and with this country’s ageing population, that’s reassuring.
Helen and Mike’s goal is to see AEDs become as accessible as they are in Japan, where an ageing workforce and higher retirement age has significantly boosted sales of the devices.
“Survival rates there have also increased accordingly,” says Mike.
“Today there’s so much reliance on organisations to be more proactive about addressing the first response peak, so we definitely feel we’re in the right place at the right time,” adds Helen.
“We have always been in the Health and Safety industry, and through our AEDs and first aid training, our business has very much had a safety focus.
“Now with the launch of our Mental Health training product, and future plans in this space we’re taking a more health-based approach to new products and services.”
It’s a flexible, managed, and long-term approach that continues to serve the business well.
Breaking the mould
