Indigenous Peoples Business Conference - Takitimu Festival

Indigenous Peoples Business Conference
Friday, March 11, 2011

Tourism is likely to the most popular flavour of a business conference involving major Pacific nations and iwi business leaders affiliated with the Takitimu waka.

The event is called the Indigenous Peoples Business Conference and it will open the International Takitimu Festival in Hawke’s Bay this year.

The three-day conference will be held from September 14 to 16 at the Hawke’s Bay Opera House in Hastings.

It is initially open to all of those Pacific nations and Maori iwi which have ancestral links to the Takitimu waka, which migrated to Aotearoa 500 years ago.

Festival executive director Tama Huata said although there are some months to go, he’s already beginning to field interest from Maori business groups interested in attending the conference.

“And with the Pacific nations involved, that whole island tourism industry will be one of the main topics at the conference.

“Tourism is something the Pacific is very good at, in terms of the way they manage the accommodation sector like their hotels and their visitor experiences,” Mr Huata said.

He wanted the conference to generate meaningful “business ventures” and not just be a “talk fest”.

“By all means bring the case studies but it is the business opportunities we are looking for.”

Invitations have been sent out to Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, Rarotonga and Hawaii. And in New Zealand iwi likely to attend includes Ngati Kahu in Northland, Ngati Ranginui in the Tauranga/Bay of Plenty region, East Coast tribes of Ngati Porou and Te Aitanga A Mahaki, Ngati Kahungunu and Ngai Tahu from the South Island.

“We’ve requested they all bring their best business leaders to the conference but we also have the door open for other Aotearoa iwi or other businesses to be involved,” Mr Huata said.

“It’s also going to be about farming, about fisheries, the creative arts industry and other land-use business, all those things we are involved in, we want to see what the Takitimu region can bring to the table. ” he said.

The Federation of Maori Authorities, which promotes the economic development of Maori organisations, and the Maori Trustee, which administers or manages Maori freehold land, was two more Mr Huata was keen to see at the conference.

The Takitimu Festival will run from September 14 to 18, 2011, and will include an array of arts, cultural, oratory and sports from all over the Pacific and New Zealand.

ENDS

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