As a young person who struggled at school herself, owner of South Taranaki Catering Enterprise Tika, Kiri Erb, is passionate about creating meaningful employment opportunities for rangatahi (youth) in her local community.

A Hāwera mother of seven, Kiri worked in a range of hospitality roles and became known for catering marae gatherings before launching her business in 2020. With lots of hard work, Kiri and husband Hauraki’s whanau-owned business has grown into a staff of thirty with three components: Tika Catering, Tika Café and Tika Restaurant.

Kiri’s passion for creating opportunities for rangatahi closely aligned with the aims of the Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs (MTFJ) and Todd Energy, who were both looking at ways they could support training, qualifications and workforce development locally.

Through an earning while learning initiative Tika is providing an opportunity for young people to gain on-the-job cooking and cheffing qualifications and kick-start their careers.

With strong local connections and funding support from MTFJ and Todd Energy, Tika have been able to take on nine young people across the business and provide hands on training and development including Level 2 and Level 3 catering and hospitality qualifications.

Kiri says the qualifications, delivered by Taranaki vocational and tertiary education provider Brittains Lifelong Choices and completed through on the job training and assessment, will help further develop her staff in best practise and professional procedures.

“Not only will this help Tika to build a qualified, confident workforce well placed to enter the wider food and hospitality industry in the future, but these valuable skills and formal qualifications will stay with these young people for life,” she says.

For 16-year-old Elizabeth Merrey, the opportunity at Tika has provided the right environment and people around her to give her the opportunity to shine. Elizabeth is part of the Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches Team that provides thousands of nutritious lunches in South Taranaki each week. “Having left school last year, I was looking for a chance to build on my interest in cookery. I’m keen to learn and at Tika I feel valued and I’m excited to develop my skills and contribute to the team” she says.

MTJF Community Employment Programme is an initiative funded by the Ministry of Social Development and partnered with Local Government NZ. The Programme places young people not in education, employment, or training, and people living with disabilities and other disadvantaged people into work. The partnership reflects that councils, led by their mayors, are well placed and connected to their communities to facilitate local employment outcomes.  Each council has a localised programme, which is unique to their own challenges and key industries.

South Taranaki MTFJ (through Whaimahi Employ) has helped place more than 150 young people into jobs since its inception in 2021. South Taranaki Mayor Phil Nixon puts that success down to the relationships Whaimahi has established in their communities.

“This is just another fantastic example of the power of localism. Of local businesses, central and local government working together to find community-led solutions for youth employment, education and training,” he says.

For more information, search ‘South Taranaki MTFJ’ on Facebook, or visit the team at Te W’anake The Foundry, 130 High Street, Hāwera.

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