Te Kōtiri Pakihi Rebuilding Business
1 June 2023
Last month, Amotai Supplier Diversity Lead Missy Armstrong had the privilege of partnering in a collaborative series of events throughout Te Tai Tokerau, Northland.
‘Te Kōtiri Pakihi, Rebuilding Business’ involved 6 drop-in clinics designed post Cyclone Gabrielle to help businesses navigate the support channels, funding and connections available to recover from the disruptions, damage and impacts of the storm.
Led by Whāriki Te Tai Tokerau the events involved 7 partners including Amotai, Te Hiringa/Regional Business Partners, Ministry of Social Development, Te Puni Kōkiri, BDO and NorthChamber. Drop-in clinics were organised in Dargaville, Omapere, Kaikohe, Kaitaia, Kerikeri and Whangārei with businesses able to meet the partners with no appointment necessary.
With ongoing flooding, road closures, power cuts and rising freight costs it was important that Amotai went to the community instead of each of them coming to us. Our learnings from COVID taught us that Māori and Pasifika owned businesses are slow to apply for support as their priority is to help whānau, community, iwi and marae recovery efforts or they don't think they're eligible.
Attending the Te Kōtiri Pakihi hikoi allowed Missy to connect with both existing and new suppliers one-on-one. For some, the relentless weather had forced them to close, for others it meant scaling back and for a few – business is booming, and they’ve found ways to diversify to provide services and solutions to fight the challenges.
“In terms of helping businesses recover my role is with to work with our Buyer members (government, corporates, councils and iwi) to support their supplier diversity policies, aspirations and targets,” said Missy of the process, “I work with them to unlock procurement opportunities for suppliers (Māori and Pasifika-owned businesses) and find more equitable pathways for engagement. While I work with the Buyers on the inside, it’s important that when opportunities are released, we have the right business to match who hold the expertise, experience, qualifications, insurance, health & safety, staffing and so on.”
Whilst trade, construction and civils are still in high demand, new opportunities are being released all the time. Most recently there was demand for celestial compass landscapers, sustainable gift packaging, fleet decals and biodegradable vomit cups. Even with our extensive knowledge of business, Amotai can’t always predict market demands, so we encourage you to register for Amotai if you haven’t already.
If you are a Māori or Pasifika-owned business, it’s free to register – amotai.nz