Representatives from Maori businesses throughout New Zealand will meet in Tauranga next month for an inaugural Maori Business Network conference.

The Te Hekenga conference at the TECT Arena at Baypark on September 12-13 is a chance for business representatives to network, develop business ideas and create cooperative working models.

Carla Beazley, Buddy Mikaere, Emma Nicholas, Jacqui Ranui, Hiria Minnell, Mike Minnell.

Buddy Mikaere, the chairman of the host organisation, Te Manawa Pou Tahi – the Tauranga Maori Business Association – says the conference is a big step forward for the many Maori businesses that have sprung up in Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty in recent years.

Buddy says all businesses, not just Maori, benefit from working together.

'Identifying business opportunities, sharing ideas and contacts and trading with each other through product sales or service provision are some of the obvious benefits from networking,” says Buddy.

'Maori are particularly adept and comfortable in working to a co-operative model and this might be something which could be turned to a real business advantage through networking.”

He also says the Maori sectors of the economy, while heavily reliant on the traditional primary sector activities of farming, forestry, fishing and more recently horticulture, have also established a vibrant property investment component and some of the larger iwi organisations like Tainui and Ngai Tahu are big players in those activities.

At the other end of the scale, Maori also remain locked in to providing the workforce with unskilled and semi-skilled labour in manufacturing, manual labour, construction and similar.

'What is missing is a strong Maori presence in that area where most other New Zealand businesses are found – small-to-medium business enterprises. These businesses provide a large part of the engine driving the New Zealand economy,” says Buddy.

One aim of the conference is to assist in building the Maori small-to-medium enterprise sector by bringing in expert advisers and successful Maori SME operators to share their knowledge and experience.

The conference will be opened by the Minister of Maori Affairs, Hon. Pita Sharples, who is a strong advocate of Maori business development, while local MP and Minister for Consumer Affairs, Simon Bridges and Mayor Stuart Crosby will also be making contributions.

Motivating and getting the best out of a team will be the subject of a master class discussion from Bay of Plenty legend coach Gordon Tietjens at the conference dinner.

Buddy says he has been heartened by the support of local Tauranga businesses in providing conference sponsorship.

He added that the conference organisers are aware that a successful event that underlines Tauranga as a conference destination and promotes Tauranga retail and services can only be good for the wider Tauranga economy.

For conference details go to: www.networksconference.co.nz