Kai Ora Honey on PM’s Trade Mission to Australia

Earlier this month, the Prime Minister led a trade mission including over 30 Aotearoa New Zealand businesses to Melbourne and Sydney.

A couple of the Māori businesses on the mission are clients that Poutama has proudly supported to help grow their business.

We had the chance to catch-up with one of these businesses on the mission – Māori owned and operated Kai Ora Honey. We sat down with CEO, Blanche Morrogh (Ngāti Kuri & Te Rarawa) to ask how she found the delegation and what it has enabled for the business.

Of all the events and activities you participated in as part of the PM’s recent trade delegation to Australia, what was your number one highlight?

I feel the moment of lasting effect will be our first traditional smoking Welcome to Country ceremony at the MCG Centre Melbourne. It was an emotionally charged experience for all involved. Especially as it was the beginning of National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee week. A week, when celebrations are held across Australia, to celebrate and recognise the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Any other highlights you want to share?

Having our honey profiled in two Major Trade Mission dinners was awesome! Made better that they were led by two incredible Māori Chefs based in Australia: Amber Doig, in Sydney and Peter Gunn in Melbourne.

Any funny moments to report?

At one of the dinners, there was a joke between the Master of Ceremonies, Cartriona Roundtree and myself, as she introduced me as the ‘Queen Bee’, and I joked that I was dressed like a bee (i.e. in bee colours). It was a great way to break the ice with the crowd. Here is the video that show that exact moment here.

From your perspective, why are trade delegations important?

I have been on many before, you can never really put value visiting and experiencing your intended market in person. Meeting potential buyers and suppliers is important. Seeing the conditions of their premises and staff really helps (observing workplace culture and diversity) with the decision making process if you truly work to connect with businesses that share the same values as ours.

This the first mixed trade mission I have participated in i.e. Food & Beverage, Tech and Fashion etc and what an experience that was! The vibe, the culture and support were different from that of a single industry competitive nature to those I have done in the past.

Having the PM on our delegation brought a different level of sophistication and willingness for Australian buyers to engage with us.

What has this trip meant for Kai Ora Honey?

The trip was really a once in a lifetime experience. The exposure from this trip is leading to some big opportunities. We have experienced pushback from Australian buyers because our brand is small and niche but having exposure like this has opened new doors that we hope will provide the scale in sales channels that we need.