Ātihau Whanganui Incorporation Annual Report 2016

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Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT Whanaungatanga Last year we shared kai and kōrero with Ngāti Rangi and Ngāti Uenuku. This year we had hui with Ngaporo Waimarino Trust and Pipiriki Incorporation. An historic gathering as we talked about our challenges and aspirations, then agreed to consider how we might work together on some shared projects. AWHI again expresses appreciation to those various board members for their generosity of time and thought. We were heartened with the number and quality of applications received for the Te Āti Hau Trust Independent board position. This highlighted the levels of interest of our people for leadership experience. To that end AWHI is formulating a Governance Leadership programme that will provide a quarterly forum of keynote speakers or workshops where this cohort and various board members can connect and reflect. A succession and development programme for all our Whanganui Waimarino entities. We invite your feedback. In the spirit of open transparency, we are pleased to note the formal

lease of the Paetawa Block to Te Urumingi Trust. Paetawa was a leased block returned earlier than AWHI was prepared for, but nevertheless always a milestone when our whenua is returned. Although AWHI had this block earmarked for our honey strategy, Te Urumingi was highly desirous to lease and reconnect the relevant whanau back to this whenua. We have been negotiating for almost a decade to ensure that this becomes a win-win for the shareholders of AWHI, the business of AWHI and the descendants of the tūpuna associated with the Paetawa Block. This is a discrete parcel of land and a commercial market rental has been agreed. AWHI looks forward to a positive relationship with Te Urumingi Trust on this whenua tuku iho. Personal and Professional Development AWHI were pleased to send our CEO Andrew Beijeman to the Stanford University Te Hono Bootcamp earlier this year. This gave a great opportunity to not only be part of the amazing spirit and innovative mindset of Stanford University but also to network with

Toitū Te Mana

business leaders of Aotearoa. The board is seeing results of the “change up” already, a great investment. As a member of Waka Aotearoa, being a group of pastoral farming leaders, I travelled to San Francisco where, amongst other things, we were challenged by being presented with a a hamburger that looked like a burger, smelt like a burger and tasted like a burger... except is was made totally from soy! There have been millions of dollars invested into this new technology, and it is not going away. The catch phrase was “have a burger, where no animal had to die”. This is the future we need to plan for. I was again invited to attend the Prime Minister's Business Delegation to China earlier this year and was

NGAPORO WAIMARINO FOREST TRUST

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