Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) Inc

Policy Forum; 159 Khyber Pass Road

Monday 5 March 2007, 4pm

Dr Pita Sharples, Co-leader of the Maori Party

[Check against delivery]

I feel greatly honoured to be asked to speak to your forum and to be amongst some of the key movers and shakers in the Employers and Manufacturers sector. I want to also acknowledge Marie (Hasler). I am sure that the cut and thrust of your Association is as full of adventure and challenge as no doubt being a National Party MP for Titirangi and Waitakere was just a few years back!

Marie has suggested this might be a good opportunity to share some ideas about Maori Business.

Well I’ve been in the business of being Maori all of my life, or more precisely Ngai Te Kikiri o te Rangi and Ngāti Pahauwera of Ngāti Kahungunu, so I thought that I would have plenty to say.

But when it came to the crunch, the challenge is of course, what makes a business a Maori business?

Are there discernible differences between those businesses operated by tangata whenua, and those operated by French or Samoan or Indian?

What we know, without a doubt, is that Maori are major stakeholders in the New Zealand business environment. The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research estimates that as at 2004, the Maori asset base was worth around $9.4 billion.

As to how this asset base is created – the evidence is that the Maori economic activity indicators are clustered around two key sectors:

- Agriculture, fishing and forestry ($3.1 billion assets); and

- Property and business services ($2.4 billion assets).

So having established that the Maori owned commercial asset base is a significant one, the big question is – what has been the success behind the re-emergence of a strong Maori economy?

I say re-emergence because of course tangata whenua have a proud history as explorers and voyagers of a millennium ago who set the scene for a fearless spirit of innovation.

Our people have survived a long history of travelling uncharted territories with little resource, other than keen intellectual powers to observe their world and to make sense of it. They survived, and those same skills of innovation and application are now reaping rewards in the rate of entrepreneurship.

The Global Entrepreneurial Monitor tells us that when Maori are compared to the 35 countries included in this study, we ranked third in the world for total early-stage entrepreneurship.

I want to return to your question – how do you know that a business is a Maori business?

Who better to ask then the Federation of Maori Authorities – New Zealand’s largest business network.

The main focus of the Federation – known colloquially as FOMA, is basically to support Maori in business wherever they are - from whanau shareholders to land related development in the primary industries, to major diversified enterprises.

The Federation of Maori Authorities commissioned some research that has identified key success factors for Maori business.

The feature that stood out for me, is that successful Maori businesses embraced best practice and tikanga Maori best practice of whakawhanaungatanga, manaakitanga and whakatupatotanga.

Whakawhanaungatanga

Whakawhanaungatanga is the commitment and practice of maintaining relationships between whänau, hapü, iwi as a model of good business practice.

In many ways, this is a concept which has its parallel in many non-Maori businesses as well in valuing the strength of the family company as being a staple of the New Zealand economy.

In fact if you browse down the Top 100 Rich and Powerful List you might just come across:

- New Zealand’s largest real estate company, Barfoot and Thompson, has been driven by three successive generations of the Barfoot and Thompson families;

- The Nightingale family (Resene Paints); and the Turner Family (Sleepyhead beds) are also into their third generation;

- Other successful New Zealand brands based on the family business are Talley fisheries, Yarrows the Bakers, Smith and Caughey, Hopper Developments and of course the Fletcher and Brierley families have a significant investment across the various lines of descent.

So what is it that say the Tamaki whanau have – that distinguishes their successful whanau based business from some of these others?

The basis of a prosperous Maori community is found in the strong bond between whanau, hapu and iwi; whanaungatanga.

I would suggest that in understanding the genealogy; acknowledging the tribal linkages and the intimate relationships at a very personal level, is highly valued in Maori society – and as such the primary accountability and responsibility is direct to the whanau.

In this way, those in Maori business often feel a huge responsibility to ensure that the benefits generated from their business are shared, as a part of Maori tikanga.

Manaakitanga

Manaakitanga is demonstrated through the expression of aroha, hospitality, generosity and mutual respect.

Now again, one could say that is a factor that Maori businesses share with other businesses, as a feature of business success.

Indeed, as someone who is proud to call Takapau home, I was honoured this last week to be invited to feast on the delights of Taste Hawkes Bay as they hosted parliamentarians in the Banquet Hall.

In the tikanga Maori model however, the expression of the kaupapa is to be maximised, while ensuring that the financial constraint is met.

Manaakitanga is applied through operating business practice by placing emphasis on mutual respect and harmonious relationships with other businesses, with whanau, with your local community.

The profit is thus a collective profit, the objective to grow the people. Investment is prioritised as social, as human and as cultural capital – the triple bottom line in practice.

The Maori Party is a business-friendly party that considers there is a need to strike a balance between maximising profits on the one hand, and maintaining the integrity of our natural environment on the other.

We believe economic gain must be achieved by balancing economic advancement with social progress, cultural uniqueness and environmental enhancement.

And the way in which we do this, is to provide incentives for whanau, hapu, iwi and other community based groups to develop and implement collective business development strategies that increase economic participation, and encourage local and regional self-reliance (including local and regional partnerships).

Whakatupatotanga

The theme that kaupapa and tikanga are the basis of Maori business is also maintained through what could be seen as perhaps conservative approaches, geared towards protecting and preserving a distinct cultural identity, while retaining a sense of safety.

We know of many Maori businesses – Tohu Wines; Cultureflow; LTF Investments, to name a few – who have successfully capitalized on the indigenous edge, drawing on unique Maori concepts and culture as defined by Maori; to achieve a top quality business reputation at home and overseas.

But at all times, protecting the taonga tuku iho, valuing our intellectual and cultural property as a way of life rather than a means for commercial gain, is central to the success.

LTF Investments put it succinctly, when they describe the philosophy that Lake Taupo Funds Limited operates by. LTF Ltd works primarily with Maori organisations to ensure that they maximise their returns on funds, exercise prudent investment protocols and achieve their long-term strategic investment goals. Their operating vision is as follows:

LTF Ltd believe Maori can progress by adhering to fundamental Maori principles and operating through the twin tikanga of economic co-operation and collective well-being.

It is our absolute belief as a party, and as a political movement, that we must do all that we can to present a strong and independent Maori voice – with influence – to support the types of ideals and principles that we see operating in successful Maori enterprises.

Our commitment is absolutely focused on the growth of healthy, resilient independent people. As part of this of course, we have been calling for a fresh look at the complex web of income support, meaningful work, decent wages and positive participation in society. In an economy which is supposedly ‘buoyant’, one would expect these benefits to flow to all New Zealanders.

We cannot ignore the reality that

- 11% of the Maori workforce are unemployed as opposed to a national average of 5.1%;

- Or that 28% of Maori over 15 receiving a benefit, compared to 10.5% for the national average.

We have been calling for a fresh look at the way in which we assist people to be productive, by working and participating in the society. And indeed, listening to the expertise of groups such as your own, must be part of the recipe for success that we follow.

Whether it is Maori business, or the business of being Maori; the transformation of our nation depends on our ability to tap the full potential of tangata whenua. It is our greatest challenge – and our greatest opportunity.

ENDS

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