Changes to paint clearer picture of Māori business activity

Friday, 2 October 2020

A change to the National Business Number register will help paint a better picture of Māori business activity.

For the first time, a national register will let companies say if they identify as a Māori business.

A change to the National Business Number register will give Māori enterprises the option to record data that identifies them as a Māori business, alongside details like their trading name, email address and phone number.

Announcing the change on Friday, Māori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta said NZBN was designed to make it faster and easier to do business by holding core information on a digital register.

“Māori businesses will have a check-box field to complete on the digital NZBN register. To ensure consistency with other agencies, such as Stats NZ, businesses will be able to self-identify as a Māori business based on a number of factors.”

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Factors which might influence their decision to identify as a Māori business could include ownership and directorship, staff members, philosophy and tikanga, management practices, branding and marketing, tangible assets such as land or fishing rights, or intangible assets like kaupapa Māori or cultural property.

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“As the economy continues to pick up momentum following the impact of Covid-19, we will be able to track how Māori businesses are responding too,” Mahuta said.

“The impact of Covid has been uneven across sectors, and I expect we will see similar results for Māori enterprises.”

In 2013 BERL estimated that the Māori economy was valued at approximately $42 billion and that more than 70 per cent of the Māori economy was made up of sole traders and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

However, there is a lack of official data relating to Māori businesses and their contribution to the economy, Mahuta said.

“One of the key challenges is being able to reliably identify Māori businesses. An identifier for Māori businesses in the NZBN Register will help to rectify this.”

The NZBN register includes all types of businesses, like sole traders and the self-employed, trusts, contractors, tradespeople, partnerships, limited liability companies and also public sector agencies.

Small Business Minister Stuart Nash said the register offers a link to the business information often asked for by other businesses, organisations and government agencies.

“The change will allow for more accurate measurement of Māori economic activity, make it easier for investment or collaboration with Māori businesses, and better measure the effectiveness of government policies for Māori economic development.”

Traci Houpapa, chairwoman of the Federation of Māori Authorities, said it had been great to see the Government listen to its issues and suggestions and to see tangible results.

“There is more work to do but we can finally start to see a solution to the lack of data on Māori economic activity.”

NZ Māori Tourism chief executive Pania Tyson-Nathan said it had always been difficult to understand the issues and needs of Māori SMEs.

“Collecting data on who they are and what they provide will help us to understand how we can support those businesses,” Tyson-Nathan said.

The Māori business identifier is now being built into the NZBN. Existing and new businesses will be invited to update or register their information when it becomes available.

Nash said it could take up to two years for the system to be fully functional and for businesses to update their information, as the process is voluntary.