Maori Woman Business Leader 2014 Award Launched

4th December 2013

Maori Woman Business Leader 2014 Award Launched

The Federation of Maori Authorities and BusinessNZ is joining with Westpac to launch a new Maori Woman Business Leader Award Category for the Federation of Maori Authorities and BusinessNZ Maori Business Awards 2014.

The launch will take place at the Maori Women’s Leadership Summit that the Federation is hosting in Wellington on Thursday 5 December.

Traci Houpapa, Chairman for the Federation of Maori Authorities said, “It is exciting to join with Westpac to acknowledge Maori women in business. This award category is the first to be launched for the Federation of Maori Authorities and BusinessNZ Maori Business Awards to celebrate and acknowledge Maori women as business leaders in their community, industries, hapu and iwi.”

Sue Foley, Director of Corporate Affairs, said Westpac has supported initiatives such as the Westpac Leaders Fellowship, the Women of Influence Awards and now the Maori Business Woman Leader Award because it understands the important contribution women make to the performance, culture and success of business.

"Women leaders are vital to the success of our business. Four of our 12 executives are women,

40% of their direct reports are female and 42% of our leaders across the business are women."

Catherine Beard, BusinessNZ Executive Director of Manufacturing and ExportNZ, said “I remember a Maori woman teacher telling me 20 years ago, that she was not at all worried about the future of Maoridom, because the Maori girls she was teaching were real leaders. Awards like these are really important in making women leaders more visible. Without them, there is no inspiration for the younger women coming through.”

In November the Federation of Maori Authorities and BusinessNZ launched the Maori Business Awards for 2014 in Napier. The Awards will be held in May 2014 and will recognise those who are leading the Maori economy.

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