New AUT course to focus on next generation of Māori businesses
Wednesday, 28 September 2022
A new course at Auckland University of Technology aims to shine a spotlight on Māori businesses and train the next generation to lead them.
Read this story in te reo Māori and English here. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki konei.
The AUT undergraduate minor course, Māori Indigenous Business, will be offered from 2023 through four subjects.
They will cover finance, management, marketing and entrepreneurship from a mātauranga Māori perspective.
It is only the second Māori business course to be developed in Aotearoa, alongside the University of Auckland’s postgraduate degree.
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The head of the course, Dr Ella Henry (Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Kurī), said it was important for the future of Māori businesses to have tāngata who were business-savvy.
Māori businesses and non-profit organisations owned almost $69 billion in assets as of 2018, according to a report on the Māori economy released by the Reserve Bank.
The report, produced by economic consultancy Berl, said the economic interests of Māori were increasingly diverse but opportunities remained for those interests to reach their full potential.
“It's critical for tribes that have settled recently or who are about to settle, to have people in management positions and trustee roles that have business skills,” Henry said.
While Māori and other indigenous peoples would be prioritised, the course would be open to anybody, including people with business experience at the community level, she said.
“We wanted to create something not just for students, but also for the wider Māori business community.”
Henry said although New Zealand was close to a boom in the Māori economy, the course would aid in getting businesses, including smaller trusts, over the line by developing and fostering business knowledge.
“We have wonderful people who give up their time to be on these trusts, but they don’t necessarily know how to read a [profit and loss statement], or how to develop a strategic plan or develop a marketing strategy.”
The courses would be taught on weekends in order to accommodate whānau who work throughout the week, in an immersive environment to create whakawhanaungatanga.
“[Matauranga Māori in business] is not just about starting a business and creating a profit, it’s about developing confidence around how we invest those profits in a way that is going to deliver the best outcomes for our wider communities and people,” Henry said.
“Even if you are a Māori working in a mainstream corporation, those same values apply. I genuinely see this course as making a positive contribution to the economy.”
The Berl report found a high proportion – more than $23b – of Māori assets were invested in agriculture, fishing and forestry ventures and almost another $17b in property.
However, Berl found since 2013 Māori business activity had increased in a range of industries, including construction, retail trade and “information media”.