Supporting Auckland’s important Māori business economy is a priority for ATEED, in collaboration with a number of agencies and the wider Council group. We have had considerable success in areas such as tourism, and food and beverage, in recent years.
We have been working hard to ensure gains made do not evaporate due to COVID-19. In addition to the 1:1 support provided by our dedicated Māori Business Advisor and identifying online resources for Māori businesses, ATEED reoriented its Māori Business Collab webinars in response to the crisis.
This is an initiative to help Māori business owners more easily identify and navigate through all the central, local and non-governmental agencies that can provide support to Māori businesses.
Originally conceived as a series of seminars in early 2020, this project in conjunction with the RBPN and Whāriki Māori Business Network, launched in June as a 10-week series of webinars to help businesses understand who does what and how to connect with the right agencies and support.
Māori are also the focus of work by ATEED and Council’s The Southern Initiative on a Whanau Prosperity Project focused on how we can ensure that the mega economic shock of COVID-19 does not create further disparity and inequity for south and west Auckland.
The first stage is research and analysis to look at what could be done to create jobs for Māori and Pacific Aucklanders, given the communities in our region’s south and west are likely to experience higher levels of unemployment as a result of the recession.
The project will use the evidence gathered to determine steps that can be taken – particularly where we could work with government agencies on programmes or transformational projects. A report on the first steps was received last month.