Enriching Māori entrepreneurship (Māuipreneurship) : Te Haerenga o Te Awa = The Journey of Te Awa

Abstract

The aim of this research is to map the journey and development of “Te Awa” an undergraduate entrepreneurship (pathway) programme at Unitec Institute of Technology.

Some key objectives of Te Awa are to effectively recruit more Māori students into innovation and entrepreneurship courses, and to deliver these courses in a way that potential Māori entrepreneurs are more likely to enrol and respond positively to the content to become successful entrepreneurs. Thus providing a vehicle and unlocking the latent potential of the cultural competitive advantage for Aotearoa.

Te Awa takes a pragmatic yet creative approach and is very applied and relevant to the needs of people operating in real enterprise based on Māori kaupapa (Te Ao Māori) with Mātauranga Māori embedded throughout the curriculum.

The following questions will be addressed; how will tauira Māori respond to the pedagogy of Te Awa; how will tauira Māori respond to Te Awa in terms of recruitment and retention; will Te Awa achieve the vision set out “to nurture and support Māori “entrepreneurs” enabling them to be more innovative developing an enterprise doing what they are passionate about.

The[se] have informed critical success factors for Māori entrepreneurs. There is a particular focus on the use of the Māuipreneurship framework Understanding Māori Entrepreneurship (Keelan and Woods 2006) and the Māuipreneur (Keelan 2009)