Poutama Trust will provide Māori businesses with greater choice by becoming a Regional Business Partner Network (RBP) delivery partner, enabling Poutama to work directly with Māori businesses wanting to access RBP support.

The RBP provides support to small-to-medium business owners that seek to strengthen and grow their business.

Funded by the New Zealand government and jointly managed by Callaghan Innovation and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the RBP Network has 14 regional partners throughout the motu.  It now includes Poutama who can assist Māori businesses across Aotearoa to access RBP support.

“This partnership reflects a shared commitment to provide business support to Māori businesses/Pakihi Māori across Aotearoa, as well as ensuring equitable access to the programme by Māori” says Poutama CEO, Koro Dickinson.

“Poutama’s core kaupapa is to drive the advancement of Māori enterprise, culturally, socially, and economically for the benefit of current and future generations” says Poutama Chair, David Tapsell.

For over 34 years, Poutama has delivered business development support to Pakihi Māori, allocating investment funding to support thousands of Māori owned and operated businesses across Aotearoa.

“We’re connected and networked throughout Aotearoa, with links across all business assistance agencies and a local, regional, and national reach” adds Dickinson.

“Over the years, we have referred pakihi to the RBP Programme, especially those that would benefit from obtaining business support to strengthen and grow their enterprise.  Now, we can engage directly with pakihi and help facilitate access to the RBP support available to them.”

For Poutama, “it’s about delivering a ‘by Māori, for Māori’ RBP service, and implementing a delivery model that offers a Māori-led positive experience based on manaakitanga (providing support), mōhiotanga (sharing knowledge) and whanaungatanga (building connection).”

Poutama will deliver the RBP services from Thursday 1 December 2022.

Further information about the RBP Programme and support available to Pakihi Māori can be found here.