Programme for Māori and Pasifika students launches

PRESS RELEASE

(for immediate release)

Monday 17 October 2016

Game-Changing Programme for Māori and Pasifika students launches in Auckland

A bold new initiative targeted at young Māori and Pasifika students launches in Auckland on Thursday.

TupuToa will provide paid internships for tertiary students with some of New Zealand’s leading corporates, and will provide early-career support to young Māori and Pasifika leaders.

Beginning in Auckland this year, the programme will roll out to cover the whole of the country by 2021. The first intake of interns numbers 24 and, within five years, TupuToa aims to have provided support to 300 interns and 320 emerging leaders in the corporate world.

“TupuToa is designed to bring about a fundamental shift in the pattern of Māori and Pasifika success in the corporate world. Although Māori and Pasifika together make up around 22% of the general population, they are largely invisible in the leadership of corporate New Zealand. TupuToa aims to change this, “ said TupuToa co-chair, Leo Foliaki.

The programme is supported by prominent corporates including Air New Zealand, Bank of New Zealand, Fletcher Building, Genesis Energy, ACC, Spark, Microsoft, NZ Super Fund, Precinct Properties, SKYCITY and Russell McVeagh. Additional support is provided by ANZ Bank, Auckland University of Technology, Chartered Accountants ANZ, Emergent & Co, PwC and Simpson Grierson.

Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment and the Ministry for Pacific Peoples have contributed to the start-up funding for TupuToa.

TupuToa, which loosely translates as ‘growing young champions’, has been collaboratively designed by representatives of business, tertiary institutions, students and Māori and Pasifika communities.

The programme will encourage participants to embrace their culture and to enjoy the advantages it gives them in the world of work. It will provide them with a range of tools and skills to support their success, and with training and development to assist with their wider leadership responsibilities in their families and communities.

Over time, the programme aims to produce a powerful, national network of Māori and Pasifika business leaders who excell in their careers, demonstrate deep-seated cultural intelligence, and are strongly connected to their cultures and their communities.

TupuToa is modelled on an Australian programme, CareerTrackers, founded in 2009 to increase indigenous representation in corporate Australia. CareerTrackers, in turn, evolved from the INROADS minority internship programme in the United States. This year, CareerTrackers aims to place 1,800 interns with Australian businesses.

In New Zealand, TupuToa is an initiative of Global Women, whose goal is to champion diversity and its positive impact on business performance.

TupuToa has been established as a charitable trust. The co-chairs are Rangimarie Hunia, CEO of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Whai Maia, the iwi’s social development company, and Foliaki, a partner in PwC.

The Minister for Māori Development, Hon Te Ururoa Flavell will be the keynote speaker at the launch, which is to be held jointly on Waipapa Marae and at the Fale Pasifika of the University of Auckland. The launch begins at 5.30pm with a pōwhiri at Waipapa Marae.

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