Social Investment media release

Social Investment media release

As part of its socio-economic investment kaupapa, the first Transacting Member Share parcel in the Mataatua Whenua Cooperative Ltd has been allotted to a Maori whanau owned & operated macadamia micro-agri-biz company owned & operated by Dawn Biddle and her whanau “Out-East”.

Waiotahe Macadamia Taonga Ltd has been allotted its share parcel from the 100M Co-Op member share block escrowed for issue to landowners east of the 177th Meridian who over the next decade, will collectively grow the 1,000,000 macadamia trees required to deliver a new social investment structured $1B PA primary sector industry Out-East.

MATAATUA HOUSE, OPOTIKI MAR 7th 2018 -The kaupapa of the Co-Op is to create jobs, build whenua economic value and help rebuild rural communities Out-East that have been economically marginalized through primary sector consolidations over many decades. Rural communities that were traditionally dependent on a prosperous middle-class that is overwhelmingly Maori have been the hardest hit. The Co-Op’s micro-agri-biz program will support Maori whanau who live and work on smaller landblocks in these communities who struggle to earn income from their whenua because of native title land laws that make it difficult for traditional capital providers to deliver to rural whanau, the money needed to generate income from their whenua. This support is built around the Co-Ops 12 step entry process that starts with the landowning whanau’s written authority to commence the membership process, the preparation of a business plan for the whanau, a whenua soil nu trition testing and analysis program, landowner consent process, working with Government agencies committed to Maori economic advancement and a long-term, revenue share based nut supply agreement that will deliver the revenues needed to support the funding the Co-Op’s whanau members will need to transform their whenua into a valuable, macadamia ‘n honey income producing micro-agri-biz.

The Co-Op’s revenue share structure is based on a contracted Annual Farm Gate Price for the Nut-in-Shell which is then cold pressed for the oil that will be used in the manufacture of a proprietary skin care product range which promotes trust in the provenance of the plant-based ingredients that go into the product manufacturing process. To be marketed under the “177° EAST brand, the profits from this value-adding process will be distributed back to the whanau membership base of the Co-Op over and above the contracted annual farm gate income.

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