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Collaboration

Partnering with Iwi

Economic growth through collaboration with Iwi and Maori business

Key Points

• The involvement of Iwi in the Maori economy has been transformed in the past 10-15 years from a high dependence on land and primary production, to a wide range of investment tools.
• The Maori economy is growing and the Maori population is growing as a percentage of New Zealand's total population. This growth offers investment opportunities in partnership with Iwi that did not exist 10 years ago.
• Most mainstream lenders use land as a basis for advancing finance - communally owned land is a challenge to this approach.
• There are a number of options for Maori organisations and groups to use multiple-owned land as leverage including mixed debt and equity funding or outright equity funding. The options are available with the right support and economic drive.
• An important consideration is the growing percentage of Maori youth - a trend that is opposite to that of the ageing non-Maori population. Based on the 2001 census, 80% of Maori are under the age of 40.
• Enhanced skills and further training is required to build capability within the Maori population. For iwi/Maori to develop internal capability and skills, there is a need to forge alliances with government.
• There is an underlying principle of protection of the sacredness of treasures held in trust by Maori and this principle is passed on to current generations in their partnerships with government and other agencies and entities.
• In relationships between iwi/Maori and government, statutory instruments provide an environment through which both parties are assured of security in the relationship.
• One of the main lessons for a non-Maori who is in partnership with Maori, is to take stock and listen.

|Index|Introduction|Welcome|Programme|Workshop streams|Plenary Speakers|Plenary Speeches|