Kingi Smiler Inducted into NZ Business Hall of Fame

Every year businesspeople are selected as businessperson for the year. Established in 1994 by Young Enterprise, the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame recognises and celebrates individuals who have made a significant contribution to the economic and social development of New Zealand.

Laureates are admitted to the Hall at an annual black-tie gala dinner. Each Laureate has a story of enterprise, hard work and success. Most have contributed generously to their communities.

We are proud to announce that Kingi Smiler has been selected Businessperson for his contribution to Māori AgriBusiness.

Kingi traces his whakapapa to ancestors who experienced first-hand the devastating effects of colonisation and the loss of Māori land. They left a legacy of advocating strongly for the return and development of land under Māori ownership and control. Achieving significant legislative changes affecting Māori land and the ongoing campaign to seek justice for the return of whānau land taken by the Crown in the 1940s, reflects Kingi’s dedication to their legacy.

Kingi established the first Māori owned dairy company Miraka Limited and has led many major investments and developments across dairy, sheep and beef, horticulture and forestry in Māori agribusiness.

Tribes:

Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki, Te Atiawa, Whakatohea, Tuhoe.

• Kingi Smiler has over 40 years of business experience including eight years in Toronto, Canada, specialising in business and corporate restructuring. As a partner with Ernst & Young, Kingi was the National Partner responsible for coordinating services to Māori as well as holding various senior roles in corporate appraisals and investments, audit and strategic advice.

• Over the last twenty years Kingi has applied his commercial and business experience to Māori agribusiness and has been instrumental in a series of key initiatives which, combined, have significantly contributed to the Māori economic development gains today. Kingi is currently involved in governance roles responsible for the growth and development of at least $1billion of land and assets in New Zealand.

• Kingi holds a number of appointments and chairs many of the largest, most successful Māori owned agribusiness entities in the world: Wairarapa Moana Incorporation; Wi Pere Trust; Mangatu Incorporation; Tairawhiti Land Development Trust; and Miraka Limited. His achievements are significant. Kingi has:

⦾ Wairarapa Moana Incorporation – serves as a board member and also Chair for over twenty years, led the organisation through a period of significant restructure and refocus. WMI now operates a herd of 12,000 cows comprising 12 dairy units, producing 5.0million kilograms of milk solids a year along with 6,000 hectares of forestry. As a direct result of the restructure pre-tax profits over the last ten years have totalled $22.5million, with dividends to shareholders totalling $7.1million. Assets have grown from $74.4million in 2002 to $262million in 2016, to $315million in 2021.

⦾ Wi Pere Trust – As a trustee on Wi Pere Trust, Kingi has led a strategy which promotes a sustainable business management model to leverage total assets of $146million for the ongoing wealth and wellbeing of the Trust’s many shareholders.

⦾ Mangatu Incorporation – Is a director on Mangatu Incorporation and Integrated Foods Limited and is a key player in the development of a joint processing and exporting enterprise with total assets of $285million.

⦾ Tairawhiti Land Development Trust – Kingi also chaired the Tairawhiti Land Development Trust involved with productivity programmes with over twenty farms and 250,000 stock units on the East Coast.