Kuma, a Māori business association for Otago and Southland, is celebrating its 20th anniversary today with several events taking place at North Dunedin’s Sargood Centre — including a “Māori business expo”.
Kuma board member Clinton Chambers (Ngāti Porou) said the theme for the expo was “inspiring rangatahi futures”.
“We want to inspire and engage young Māori into a pathway that they’re passionate about, which could be a career or a business or an entrepreneurship.”
About a dozen stalls would be present, representing groups including ASB Bank, Skillsec and the Ministry for Primary Industries.
It was the first time Kuma had held such an event, Mr Chambers said.
“There’s business expos all the time.
“We wanted to have a different approach to ours where we’re incorporating more of the whānau into the business.”
A lot of Kuma’s members were small businesses that were also whānau-owned, and their whānau was just as important to them as their business.
Kuma wanted to look at the holistic approach to running a business, “which isn’t just the business owner”, Mr Chambers said.
“It’s also their whānau, where they’re from, how they connect … important elements to a business and we want to acknowledge that as well.”
The expo was also an opportunity to incorporate the youth and present to its members what the future workforce would look like, Mr Chambers said.
The youth had “been through a lot” over the past few years with the Covid-19 lockdowns.
He hoped the event would be an opportunity for them to find connection, inspiration “and to be proud to be Māori and to follow their passions”.
