Keeping it in the whānau

“We want to be able to make sure we can engage the services of uri wherever possible,”explains Andrew Beijeman, CEO of Ātihau-Whanganui Inc. “Our current workforce of both permanent staff and contract suppliers is about 50 percent uri so there is plenty of room for this aspiration to grow.”

The first step for the organisation is to identify potential contractors so that when work becomes available, it knows who to ask.

“We know that there are whānau out there delivering high quality work but we don’t know who they are,” says Andrew. “We want to create a supplier database of uri so we know who to call.”

The database needs to encompass a wide range of businesses and services, from pest control to marketing, from farm support to painters, and everything in between!

“We have a lot of varied employment opportunities within the business, so please do get in touch with our office. Let us know who you are and what you do,” says Andrew.

One person who can testify to the success of the policy is Jack Pue of Ruapehu Shearing Ltd, who began shearing on two of the Incorporation’s stations, Waipuna and Tohunga in 2011, and now has a team of 25 local people shearing more than 120,000 sheep on six Incorporation stations.

“I grew up around here, my family are Ngāti Rangi and Ngāti Uenuku and I worked on these stations as a young fella docking and dagging”, remembers Jack. “Then I went away shearing in the UK, Norway and Australia and all over New Zealand for 10 years before coming home.

“Our family are shareholders and when I work on Ātihau-Whanganui whenua I really feel a connection with the place. You put your heart and soul into your work when you know you are on your own land, working for your own whānau and iwi.”

Although Jack works on farms all over the rohe, more than 60% of his work is for the Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation.

Jack has five children, and together with his partner Daphne, they are passionate about running their business to give work to other families in the area.

“That’s really why I bought the shearing run in the first place, so I could do something that meant I could employ local people, my people,” he says. “This approach by Ātihau-Whanganui Inc to focus on giving work opportunities to uri is important and needs to be strengthened going forward.”

He encourages any local business to get themselves on the database, saying that the organisation is a great one to work for.

“There’s a real feeling of family when you come and work here,” he says. “You really feel like you are adding to the story of us all.”