Whakapapa background

Hapū (subtribes) and iwi (tribes) exchanged goods on a regular basis. Lands, fisheries and natural resources were under the jurisdiction of hapū and iwi. Exchange of goods was a customary practice which distributed food and other materials around the country.

This extensive trade system among hapū and iwi was rapidly adapted to barter with early European arrivals to New Zealand. Sealing, whaling and the flax trade began a transformation of the Māori economy. The establishment of whaling stations along the coastlines gave hapū and iwi greater access to new technology and goods. Timber, flax, fish and foods were exchanged for things like metal tools, woollen cloth and blankets.

By the 1840s, Māori were using pigs and potatoes as a standard form of currency. Māori entrepreneurial flair saw iwi plying their own trading vessels carrying goods between settlements and exporting food and goods to and from Sydney.

Come 2023, Māori continue to play a significant and eclectic role in building New Zealand’s economy. Te Ōhanga Māori 2018, commissioned by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and written by BERL, identified 9,850 Māori employers and 18,600 self-employed Māori using self-reported data from the 2018 Census. However, a different categorisation and methodology in Te Matapaeroa 2020 revealed a combined 61,000 Māori-owned businesses and sole traders. Tatauranga Umanga Māori, a 2020 publication released by Stats NZ, outlines the number of Māori authorities and Māori small-to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Stats NZ defines Māori SMEs as Māori-owned businesses with fewer than 100 employees, identifying 471 Māori SMEs in 2020. While the methodologies and results vary among organisations, these reports offer valuable insights into the performance of the Māori economy.

Over the last 10 years, the Māori asset base has also grown at a significantly faster rate than the overall economy (NZ Herald, 2022). Today the Māori economy is valued at more than NZD$70bn, and estimates suggest it will have assets worth NZD$100bn by 2030 (NZTE, 2017).

Despite this impressive growth, there are still significant challenges that Māori face. There are also opportunities that have been identified, to help achieve Māori economic rangatiratanga (self-determination), develop productivity and improve overall wellbeing. In this article, we examine some of the key factors driving growth and the areas of focus needed to sustain this progress.

The Māori economy is no longer a separate, distinct, and clearly identifiable segment of the New Zealand economy. It is a closely connected component of numerous pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that together make up the economy of New Zealand.

Māori participation, contribution, and connections to this jigsaw puzzle can be seen in several areas such as:

• Incorporations, trusts, or rūnanga enterprises and ventures
• Skilled workers
• Whānau who whakapapa to iwi / hapū trusts and incorporations
• Contracted entities
• Unpaid members of the household caring for whānau and communities
• Whānau who are representatives overseeing multi-million-dollar enterprises and resources
• Entrepreneurs
• Environmentalists
• Innovators and inventors
• Mātauranga, science and research,
• and most importantly our rangatahi youth.

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