Directors and Trustees of Maori incorporations and trusts are being encouraged to build on their governance and management skills by attending the E Tupu agribusiness workshops being held on Friday 8th September in Whangarei at the AgFirst offices 53A Norfolk St and on Saturday 9th September in Kaitaia at the REAP (Rural Education Activity Program) offices at 33 Puckey Ave.  Participation is restricted to trusts and incorporations registering at least three members.

 

Developed by Meat and Wool New Zealand and Zennex Corporation, the E Tupu workshops centre on strengthening Maori owned farm businesses to lift production and financial performance through successful governance and leadership.

Chairman of Pouto Topu a Trust Rawson Wright from Hapu of Te Uri o Hau, who attended an E Tupu workshop in Rotorua earlier this year described it as a great investment of time.

 

“I’ve been a farmer and involved as a trustee in the agribusiness sector for number of years now but still learnt a lot from the course participants as well as the experts.”

“We learnt from each other, worked together and found some exciting solutions to real business problems.

I would encourage all Maori trustees and directors of incorporations to attend an E Tupu workshop and improve the performance of their businesses“.

 

Designed for agribusiness Directors and Trustees, the E Tupu workshops are practical, challenging, and encourage open debate. Participants share experiences and work together to find solutions to real issues facing their own enterprises. They also draw on the experience of recent winners and finalists from the Maori Farmer of the Year competition.

 

Zennex Corporation director Peter Madden says that although the performance of Maori Agribusiness has risen considerably over the past few years improvements need to be made in the areas of governance and leadership. The Maori Farmer of the Year competition has shown the vital importance of these elements in becoming top operations.

“Directors and Trustees of agribusiness trusts and incorporations are a vital link in ensuring that Maori farms continue to grow their productivity and their financial performance. To do that they need good planning, communication and monitoring skills.“

 

The workshops have the support of Te Puni Kokiri, the Bank of New Zealand, MAF Sustainable Farming Fund and the Agriculture Industry Training Organisation.

 

Eight successful E Tupu workshops have been held to date and the two to be held in Northland will be followed by one in Hamilton and one in te Kuiti.

 

Registration costs $100 per participant and forms can be obtained from www.meatandwoolnz.com

 

For further information contact

Rawson Wright, 027 2766263 e-mail rawsonw@ihug.co.nz, Zennex Corporation;

Peter Madden, 0274 896237 ,Meat and Wool New Zealand; Jan Keir-Smith 027 2717593 

 

Background Notes

Feedback from participants in the earlier workshops:

“Awesome course even though I was the only female there. The presentations and the discussion groups were well organised and brought out a lot of interesting views from the different Trusts. It was a shame some of the other Trustees weren’t able to attend.”

 

“I came because I want to see better performance from our business but my fellow trustees are complacent - you have given me the tools to bring about change”

 

“It’s related to our people’s culture - getting voted on in relation to those holding the biggest shareholding irrespective of skills and once there, they aren't able to contribute and are reluctant to be exposed to outside enquiry – it is most revealing how others have got around this. “

 

“These workshops should have been on offer 10 years ago – it’s been a fantastic day”

 

“Practical and worthwhile – good to have widened my network.”

 

“The numbers attending are about right as the group is small enough for the shy ones among us to get involved.”

 

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