Hauraki Māori Business Awards 2025

Hosted by Ngāti Tamaterā Treaty Settlement Trust

Hauraki Māori Business Awards 2025: A Milestone for Māori Enterprise, Connection, and Collective Futures

The inaugural Hauraki Māori Business Awards 2025 have officially taken their place in the history of Hauraki – a night of celebration, connection, and purpose that brought together Māori business excellence from across the rohe and beyond.

Hosted by the Ngāti Tamaterā Treaty Settlement Trust, the sold-out event at the Silver Fern Events Centre in Thames marked a new era for Māori enterprise in Hauraki. The evening honoured not only outstanding businesses, but the shared vision of building a resilient, values-driven, and inter-connected Māori economy for generations to come.

A Night of Honour and Connection

Presided over by Te Arikinui Kuini Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō, and joined by Hon Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke and Hon Minister Tama Pōtaka, the event reflected the depth of whakapapa and leadership across Waikato-Hauraki and the wider motu.

From heartfelt acknowledgements to moments of laughter and pride, the evening wove together stories of ingenuity, perseverance, and shared aspiration – the essence of whanaungatanga i roto i te ohanga.

Kōrero that Grounded the Future

In my opening keynote, I reflected on what it means to do business the Hauraki way, where enterprise and ethics walk side-by-side:

“Our strength has never been in profit alone, but in purpose, in tikanga.
We are kaitiaki first, businesspeople second. Prosperity without balance costs too much.
We inherit this economy from our mokopuna, not the other way around.”

The evening also marked the formal launch of Ngā Pōito o te Kupenga, the new iwi business register created in partnership between Ngāti Tamaterā and Ngāti Pāoa, designed to connect Māori businesses to procurement, mentorship, and partnership opportunities across the motu and beyond.

Celebrating Today, Investing in Tomorrow

Alongside recognising excellence across categories from Environmental Leadership to Trades, Innovation, and Rangatahi Enterprise, the event spotlighted the launch of two key future-facing initiatives:

• Ngā Pōito o te Kupenga – a living database and network to strengthen the Māori business ecosystem across Hauraki and Aotearoa.
• Rangatahi Hustle Series – a kaupapa led by Ngareta Skipper and her ohu of young innovators, empowering rangatahi to develop business solutions grounded in whakapapa, mātauranga Māori, and local opportunity.

Both initiatives embody what I called Ōhanga Kaitiaki – the Guardianship Economy, where success is measured not by what we take, but by what we return.

From Hauraki to the World

Across Aotearoa and globally, Indigenous economies are rising. Māori, First Nations, Pacific, and Aboriginal entrepreneurs are reclaiming not just markets, but meaning.

As I shared on the night:

“Imagine a connected Māori economy linking Hauraki’s builders, growers, coders, designers, and scientists — exporting not only products, but principles.
Imagine global Indigenous trade routes — values-based, sustainable, circular — where we exchange not just goods, but guardianship.
This is already taking shape; our role is to lead it from here.”

The Legacy of a Night to Remember

The Hauraki Māori Business Awards are now confirmed as a bi-annual event on the iwi calendar, a lasting platform to recognise, connect, and strengthen Māori business leadership and innovation.

But more than an awards night, this was a movement, a collective wero to build an economy that reflects who we are as Māori, grounded in trust, equity, and kotahitanga.

He Karanga ki te Iwi

For those who missed the event, this is your invitation:
Join our network. Mentor a rangatahi. Partner with purpose. Be part of building a future our mokopuna will thank us for.

Kia māia, mō rātou.
Kia kotahi tātou i raro i te maru o Hauraki-nui, Hauraki-roa, Hauraki-pāmamao.