Breakthrough Maori and Pacific climate entrepreneurs programme steps up

A breakthrough Māori and Pacific entrepreneurship programme for high school students is about to step into a new realm with seed funding and climate-focussed enterprises.

WERO - Wayfinding for Rangatahi Entrepreneurship - is a finalist in the GEN NZ Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Awards for Youth Programme of the Year. It has just secured seed-funding support for its South Island teams from Whānau Ora agency Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu.

“To give Māori and Pacific student teams $3k each to prototype their business product or services and test them with the markets is huge, and that we are developing climate entrepreneurs is next level,” said WERO creator Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna’i, who is CEO and founder of Flying Geese Pro.

“Being an entrepreneur helps you exercise some control on the problems you see in the world. Young people in Aotearoa have shown that climate change is a concern,” says Tafuna’i. “All our teams look to not not only do less harm but also provide benefits for Papatūānuku.

“One of our teams is connecting with the Department of Conservation about a product they are developing to clean streams and protect small fish species.”

More than 250 students have taken part in WERO over the last two years, with 90 percent of them being Māori. Progressing from the 2023 intake into the seed-funding round are St Peter’s College (Māruawai Gore) and Westland High School (Hokitika) and Te Pā o Rākaihautū
(Ōtautahi Christchurch).

“Young Māori and Pacific resonate with Wayfinding (the principles of celestial navigation and ocean voyaging) because it comes from their heritage. They tell us how they can use Wayfinding for other challenges they are facing.”

Tafuna’i, who is also an Edmund Hilary Fellow and an ocean voyager, created the wayfinding framework under the guidance of navigator Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr. She has designed programmes for entrepreneurship, suicide prevention and wellbeing, Treaty partnership and strategic planning.

“This year, when our funding channels dried up, we had Edmund Hilary Fellows support us with donations for our youth wayfinding programmes.” says Tafuna’i. “We’ve also self-funded the programmes because we believe in young Māori and Pacific people and how wayfinding can help them achieve their goals.”

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