Women dominated four of the five categories for individual success at this year’s Maori Business Leaders Awards, which are run by the University of Auckland Business School and aim to celebrate and recognise Māori excellence in business.
The Outstanding Māori Business Leaders Award went to shearing legend and prominent businesswoman Mavis Mullins (Rangitāne, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Ranginui), who in July will also be inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.
Ngaruwahia-born Hinerangi Raumati (Tainui, Taranaki) received the Māori Woman Business Leader Award. Equally active on the marae and in the corporate boardroom, Raumati was CFO of Tainui Group Holdings’ small management team that engineered a financial turnaround for the tribe and lifted the financial and operating performance of Te Wananga o Aotearoa.
Liz Te Amo (Waitaha, Ngāti Moko, Tūhourangi, Tapuika) won the Dame Mira Szászy Māori Alumni Award. She has worked in the private and public sector, and is currently Te Tumu Whakarae (executive director of the Māori economic development unit) at Hīkina Whakatutuki (the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment). Alongside Te Puni Kōkiri she is responsible for He kai kei aku ringa, the Crown-Māori Economic Growth Partnership which translates literally as ‘growing food by our own hands’ – a metaphor for Māori resilience and self-determination as a people.
Bailey Mackey (Ngāti Porou, Tūhoe, Rongowhakaata) won the inaugural Māori Entrepreneurial Leader Award . Mackey is founder/CEO of Pango Productions and the award-winning television producer behind shows such as The GC, Saving Gen Y, Kapa Haka Kids, and Angelo’s Outdoor Kitchen. Global format rights for his most recent show, Sidewalk Karaoke, have been sold to FremantleMedia, which produces American Idol, X Factor and America’s Got Talent.
Kahungunu Asset Holding Company (KAHC) received the Outstanding Māori Business Leadership Award (for organisations). KAHC was set up in 2005 to manage the Tiriti o Waitangi fisheries settlement assets on behalf of Ngāti Kahungunu, New Zealand’s third largest iwi, based in the Hawkes’s Bay and Wairarapa. It has grown the $33 million settlement to over $110 million in market value, and recently formed a joint venture to buy a deep sea trawler, with plans to develop and export its own branded products.
See more photos from the 2017 Maori Business Leaders Awards here
All photos by Carmen Bird
Priya Kumar, Tyla Pearse, Lusi McCabe, Courtney Agate
Georgina Connelly, Archie Connelly
Marama Wieldraaijer, Taiaha Hawke
Nari Faiers, Maurice Faiers
Kataraina OBrien, Ngaroimata Reid, Areta Koopu
Russell Bell, Stephanie Bell
Indiyah Beckmannflay, Ngarue Ratapu
Nick Wells, Amokura Kawharu
Tamati Rakena, Jude Campbell
Monica Budd, Lloyd Budd
Kath Graham, Hinemoa Elder
Vanessa Tamale, Fineasi Tamale
Tuvae Barlow, Deidre Otene, Kiri Nathan
Julian Wilcox, Bailey Mackey
Bailey Mackey, winner of the inaugural Māori Entrepreneurial Leader Award
Liz Te Amo, winner of the Dame Mira Szászy Māori Alumni Award
Erana Flavell, Te Uroroa Flavell
Miria Royal, Hana Maihi, Pania Vizor
Te Uroroa Flavell, Miriama Kamo
Blanche Morrogh, winner of the Young Māori Business Leader Award
Hinerangi Raumati, winner of the Māori Woman Business Leader Award
Kahungunu Asset Holding Company representatives, winners of the Outstanding Māori Business Leadership Award (for organisations)
Mavis Mullins, winner of the Outstanding Māori Business Leaders Award
Mavis Mullins, Koro Mullins
Hinerangi Raumati, Mavis Mullins, Blanche Morrogh, Liz Te Amo
