Poutama Newsletter
February 2010
- Nature's Country Gold
- Ulva's Guided Walks
- Taking a closer look at Maori Participation in Regional Economic Development projects
- Rakiura Kiwi Watch
- Getting to know Poutama - Richard Jones
- Contacts
Nature's Country Gold Ltd - Hayden Pohio
Iwi – Ngati Pikiao, Ngai Tahu, Ngati Kahungunu
It’s exciting times for family owned and run honey specialists Nature’s Country Gold as new technology opens doors to new markets and endless opportunities.
Hayden Pohio fronts the company which was started by his parents Adrian & Lania.
Lania, Adrian & Hayden Pohio.
They were inspired by French markets on a European trip, impressed by the role that local markets played in the lives of the communities they visited. On their return Adrian & Lania decided to package their honey in order to share their great products too.
Hayden joined the company in 2007 adding his vital skills, experience and background in Food Technology. Adrian takes care of the hives and works in conjunction with Hayden in fostering a culture of product innovation. Lania spearheads the marketing side of the business and is proud to be a supporter of, and contributor to the Farmers Market movement in New Zealand.
Hayden has a food technology degree from Massey University. He went to the UK for five years where he spent time developing new food products, including an extra virgin olive oil margarine.
Returning to New Zealand in February 2005, Hayden worked in Mount Maunganui as a Production Manager for a company producing McDonalds Sundae toppings and fruit sauces for yoghurts. “So with this experience behind me getting a food manufacturing facility up and running was not foreign.”
He has developed the company’s flagship Manuka Boosta Bar - a gluten free health bar made from nuts, seeds, dried fruit and 18% Manuka Honey. The bar is currently the main focus and was derived from a secret family recipe. “I have been increasing retail outlets for the Boosta Bars, primarily concentrating on all of the New World supermarkets.”
He is also launching a dairy free bar at the end of February. “It has a longer shelf life and will be more suitable for the export markets. He admitted getting them into the supermarkets was time consuming. “You’ve got to get out to convince them all that your product is worth selling so it’s a matter of leveraging off your sales in other supermarkets to get into some of them.” They also sell their products including honey and the bars at food shows, festivals and farmers markets throughout NZ.
Hayden says while he might be managing the business, he still goes to his mum and dad for advice. “For instance mum’s the expert taster. She helps me fine tune the bars and helps me finalise the
end product.”
Hayden makes the bars in a factory he shares in Hamilton. With help from Poutama last year Nature’s Country Gold was able to purchase a flow wrap machine allowing it to package the bars. “Before that I was manufacturing the bars at Pop’n’Good in Te Awamutu. We had a small amount of equipment but we required their nut roaster and flow wrap machine to package the bars.” Hayden said Poutama also brokered a relationship with Kiwibank and helped leverage a loan to assist purchasing the machine which was very costly.
“We’ve got capabilities to do anything now. I’m working on some new projects making bars in another company’s name specific for their requirements.” He said it also gave him the ability to look at contract manufacturing other people’s products. “Having our own equipment and premises means we are extremely flexible.” Hayden said it also gave the company the capacity to explore the export markets, which is where he has always wanted to head.
“Manuka Honey is obviously unique in that it has wonderful health properties. It’s unique to NZ and the world just can’t get enough of it. Each bar that I make contains 2 teaspoons of our wonderful Manuka Honey.”
He is currently talking to a company in the United States, a couple of people in Japan and he went to China in November with the help of Tekau Plus, a NZ export support business program that assists indigenous businesses. “There I met a lady wanting to be a distributor so we are working on different ideas for her at present.”
Hayden said capacity wise he can make approx 10,000 bars a week. “Maybe even more than that.
I made 4000 bars on Saturday so we have the capacity to make a lot of bars when the large orders come in.” “It’s really important to keep building our NZ market but ultimately I’d like to get into exporting.”
As well as the bars, they supply a range of speciality and pure honeys unique to New Zealand including Manuka, Rewarewa, Tawari and Wild Flora and have a regular following for these.
For more information - www.naturescountrygold.co.nz
Ulva's Guided Walks
Iwi – Waitaha, Katimoemoe, KatiScots
Ulva Goodwillie quite likes the fact people wonder if she’s named after Stewart Island’s Ulva Island or it’s named after her. In the end it doesn’t matter what people think - she simply loves that she has made a business out of being able to work on the southern most bird sanctuary in the world.
She is, in fact, named after the island and a direct descendant of the first Maori peoples of Stewart Island. After more than ten years of guiding on Ulva Island, she is a specialist on this extraordinary island. Ulva and her team of local guides provide visitors with a unique experience, learning about native flora and fauna from a Maori and local Stewart Island perspective.
There are a lot of visitors to Stewart Island over the summer season. Only two percent of Stewart Island is inhabited, most live in the small township of Oban, with approximately 400 residents.
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| Ulva Goodwillie |
“That swells to about 35-40,000 visitors over the summer season. The Stewart Island Experience ferry runs four times a day in the summer and Stewart Island Air also arrives three/four times a day but increases when necessary or runs on demand.”
Ulva says Stewart island is shaped like a triangle. “Paterson Inlet is like a bite out of the side of that triangle and Ulva Island is right at the start of Paterson Inlet which is a drowned river valley. Ulva Island is about seven minutes away from the nearest jetty at Golden Bay.
Ulva Island which is about 266 hectares - it’s not particularly big and you can easily walk all the trails in a half day, or it’s a good day trip for everybody, says Ulva. It was used as Stewart Island’s Post Office from 1872 until 1923. Whenever the irregular mail boat arrived, the postmaster would raise a flag from the hill to let people know. Everyone would don their best clothes to visit Ulva – picking up the mail became a social occasion.
Located in Waka o te Wera (Paterson Inlet), Ulva Island has 11km of coastline. Described as a scenic gem of unsurpassed beauty, it is an open bird sanctuary which has been predator free (since 1997).
Under the green mantle of podocarp forest the Ulva Island walks are rich with seasonal orchids, mosses, ferns, liverworts and the beautiful filmy ferns.
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| Bird watching on Ulva Island |
It took about two years to exterminate all the rats from Ulva Island using a grid system, and since then rare and endangered birds have been reintroduced, consequently visitors come to see the bird and plant life that they would be hard pressed to find elsewhere in the world.
She said the island appears to have received more domestic visitors the past few seasons. Her surveys saw a rise in North Island visitors, more so than say, visitors from Invercargill. Her main market is the United Kingdom, NZ domestic market followed closely by Europe and USA/Canada.
Ulva said it was a huge advantage being a member of the New Zealand Birding Network – birding tends to be seen as a niche market in tourism and plays an important and significant part in visitor numbers for Ulva’s Guided Walks.
Visitors also included people interested in the natural history of Stewart Island because it was the least modified of the New Zealand archipelago. “That’s why it’s easy to sell our little area of the world because people want to see the way that it used to be.”
This year is the tenth season for Ulva’s Guided Walks on Ulva Island Bird Sanctuary. The first year of operating she attended Trenz under the Maori Tourism banner with Poutama Trust. “The networking between like minded operators, wholesale and inbound buyers was outstanding. The buyers that I met in that first year are still with me now.”
Taking photo's on Ulva Island beach
Her first marketing principle is to ensure a quality and valued experience for all visitors
– consequently word of mouth is still the best selling point for the business. Stewart Island has an outstanding reputation and is renowned for its wildlife and birdlife. Seasonality is a given on Stewart Island – “we have winter off.” Ulva has attended the British Birdfair at Rutland Water for the past three years now under the 100% Pure NZ Tourism banner with the NZ Birding Network’s Albatross Encounter, Heritage Expeditions and Kapiti Island Alive. It is the biggest international Birdfair in the world with over 26,000 visitors over three days – New Zealand tourism does well from this fair which has been going for over 20years. The RSPB has over 1.8million registered birders. Imagine even having 1% of that total visiting NZ!
So what is it about……?
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“Ulva Island has a lovely feeling and energy. It’s an absolute joy to be here. It’s like having a gentle amble through a botanical garden and an aviary at the same time.”
“We call in local guides to help during the busy times, such as cruise liner visits. My main criteria is that they need to love Ulva Island as much as I do, and everything else will fall into place. They love the land, they love where they are; they know their birds and their plants and the natural history of the area. If they can pass that love on to the people who come to visit, that’s perfect.”
For more information - www.ulva.co.nz
Taking a closer look at Maori Participation in Regional Economic Development projects
Evan Nathan - Project Leader
This programme, funded by Te Puni Kokiri, and delivered by Poutama, was developed in order to provide impetus to Maori participation in regional development projects that aligned to the previous governments’ economic development programmes.
The rationale for this project was to develop the networks, information and scale, to provide opportunities for economic development
A key component of the programme was to initialise projects that had the potential to provide growth in a region and aimed at groups where there was potential for further investment and to leverage the opportunities and leadership of key organisations.
Other key elements were to facilitate the development of these initiatives through working with resourceful Maori organisations and facilitating information and relationships with regional and national economic development agencies.
Poutama has firstly identified and assessed projects and then if they meet certain criteria, has provided seed funding for participants to develop information, strategies and capability. This then can lead onto the development of business cases for specific projects, particularly where this could lead to a new major initiative or leverage off current initiatives within regions.
Since the programmes commencement in May 2007, twelve projects of nineteen considered, have been invested in by Poutama. The projects range from eco and cultural tourism, film and television production, food manufacturing, economic research, a web based business network and land development.
They include:
- South Hokianga – Tourism and Twin Coast Discovery Route.
- Dinosaurs Aotearoa Trust – Taniwha Theme Park – Education/Tourism
- Te Ahu Ohanga – Takitimu Economic & Business Prospects for Maori
- King Country Western Corridor – Eco Cultural Tourism Trail
- Wakatu Incorporation – Centre for Seafood & Aquaculture Innovation
- Rakiura Maori Land Trust - Kiwi Watch Initiative
- Rangitaiki 29 A1 Trust – “Green” Business Park
- Otago Entrepreneur Centre – Interactive business portal
All projects have either been completed or are nearing completion.
In this month’s newsletter we are taking a closer look at the Rakiura Maori Land Trust’s Kiwi Watch Initiative.
Rakiura Kiwi Watch
Steve Harteveld - Rakiura Maori Land Trust
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Kiwi on Stewart Island’s Rakiura Island have some odd habits but those very habits have allowed their huge population to exist and are why Rakiura Maori Land Trust have recognised an exciting tourism venture with a real wow factor.
Trust chairman Steve Harteveld said the usually nocturnal birds were often seen during the day, meandering on the beach in search of bugs from the kelp. Anywhere else in New Zealand kiwi were only seen at night and very rarely away from the bush that is their home.
But it wasn’t the kiwi that first caught their eye as a business venture. Steve said around 2002 the trust decided it wanted to have some commercial activities on land it owns at Rakiura.
“We went through planning sessions and started to identify the areas where we thought we might have something that we could use and most of that centred around tourism activities. From there we started to look at the assets we had which were basically land based including some “pretty nice” virgin forest which became its focus. The trust employed a consultant to find out, of the assets it had, what particular use those assets had in a tourism type venture.
“From there we initially identified guided walking and that was really the starting point. We then started to do a number of trips on our land using some old tracks that had been there in the past but were no longer in operation.”
He said they looked at the logistics of doing guided walks and bought in a specialist who was already immersed in the business.
“They did some of the walks with us and effectively what started to emerge was that it was probably a cost prohibitive exercise, building tracks was expensive and the remoteness of Rakiura meant that it was going to be even more expensive than most other places.” However, in doing that, the trust also found that on the walks over the old tracks they were regularly coming across kiwi.
“That’s one of the unique aspects of the kiwi on Rakiura. They have a totally different behavioural pattern than kiwi in any other part of New Zealand. You’ll regularly see them in certain places during the day and on our tracks we’d see them.”
That was the “wow factor” in terms of a tourism business, said Steve. “Wow you guys have got kiwi.”
He said there was already an operator on the island that had an established kiwi viewing venture on Department of Conservation (DOC) land. “He currently operates on a reasonably restrictive consent on DOC land so we knew there was a demand for it.”
The trust started to further investigate where it had land where kiwi viewing was possible. Then it started to determine whether it was going to be something it could realistically undertake and began a review of the land that was involved. It found there were kiwi and other birds on land but there were also a whole lot of land management issues that needed to be dealt with.
There were environmental issues including pests, flora, fauna, grazing and illegal farming of the land which was occurring.
Around 2007 Steve said the trust started working through the issues taking it through to 2009 where it developed a plan and a management strategy to be able to go forward. It identified quickly that it needed funding to carry out more in depth research in regards to a whole lot of issues including business structure, where the birds were, transport issues, and issues in regards to setting up the business. While this was being done it realised that the potential was good and started implementing small parts of the business activity based on the information that it was getting from the research work that was being undertaken. So that’s where things are at now, said Steve.
“We have set up a business on the island, we are not yet doing kiwi viewing, that’s our icon product. That probably won’t come on stream for another 12 months.”
In the interim the business was getting involved in support activities that was helping it build its back office and infrastructure so once it moves on its icon product it is better prepared.
“So at the moment we are running a ferry service to Ulva Island on Stewart Island which is the bird sanctuary and that’s helping establish a network amongst the operators and it’s also working with a customer base that would suit almost the same profile of people that would want to do our tours.”
In developing the business it’s not a one-horse-pony, he said. The trust has a number of natural assets that it can leverage off; including yellow eyed penguin, kereru, tui and albatross.
“So we will also be building on a range of activities and combining the history of the area, both Maori and European, into our tours.” The operation only started in January 2010 and expects to start yellow eyed penguin viewing in mid-late February. The kiwi viewing will commence in early 2011.
Steve said there were an estimated 40,000 kiwi on Rakiura. “I have heard various numbers from 20,000 to 40,000 and they are just about to undertake a survey to better confirm those numbers but there’s reasons why the numbers are different on Rakiura as to other parts of the country.” Steve said Rakiura kiwi were not solitary birds as they appeared to be on the mainland. “They actually appear to be a family unit. What that means is that the adult birds and the juveniles, birds up to two years of when they are kicked out to go and seek out there own territory, all look after the egg and small chicks.” He said effectively there was always an adult bird in the vicinity of a chick or an egg.
The main predators were feral cats, rats, possums. “A full grown kiwi can quite easily take care of a feral cat. With a large bird around most of the time the predators don’t appear to have such an impact on the smaller birds that may be happening on the mainland.”
Getting to know Poutama - Richard Jones
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Q. Where are you from/raised/iwi affiliations etc? Q. Where are you based now? Q. Children? Pets? Partners, husbands, wives? |
Q. Hobbies/interests
A. Trying to be a self-taught fly fisherman, have no dedicated hobbies, I like skiing, art house movies, playing around with coffee, wine and Maori traditional foods, I'm into a fusion of ethnic cooking, I love international travel and Aotearoa, most of all though I love hanging out with my kids
Q. Favourite book of all time and why?
A. I don't really have a favourite book of all time but really like 'To Kill A Mockingbird' because of the way the story is told through a child, Hunter S Thompson's Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas because it’s an out there story, anything by the likes of John Pilger and Robert Fisk because they give another side to right wing spin, and I like reading and referring to Nga Iwi o Tainui, by Pei Te Hurinui Jones (hey I'm not biased!!) & Bruce Biggs, as it tells stories about Tainui and has links to my whakapapa
Q. What is your role at Poutama and how long have been doing it?
A. My role in Poutama is multi-faceted ranging from working directly with small businesses, interacting with Maori collectives, developing alliances and creating relationships with businesses in different parts of the world
Q. What is it that most excites you about your job?
A. A saying by Confucius 'If you find a job you love, you'll never have to work'
Q. You’re meeting Maori in business everyday. If you were a guest speaker at a high school careers day, what advice would you give students wanting to establish their own business?
A. Be very excited because if you aren’t then don’t do it
Q. What most impresses you about Maori in business?
A. An ability to be innovative through just being Maori
Q. If you could choose three people anywhere in the world to join you at a dinner party, who would they be and why?
- My tipuna Pei Te Hurinui Jones because I didn't really get to know him
- My tipuna whaea Heni Te Pore who took up arms and fought against the British at Gate Pa
- Jimi Hendrix because he was a wildman and I love his music
Q. What three words that best describe you?
A. Under the Radar
Q. What is your favourite New Zealand holiday experience?
A. Hanging out with Joe & Mel from 'East Cape Fishing Charters & Mels Place' at Hicks Bay and Pihi Hei from 'Maraehako Bay Retreat' at Maraehako Bay, learning about the forest with Ngahuia of pureORAwalks and going into the bush with Danny at 'Go Bush' and Glenn and John at 'Aotearoa Safaris' near Taumarunui........all friends of Poutama who are also great laid back people
Q. Can you reveal one thing not many people know about you?
A. I climbed to the summit and skied off Mt Blanc the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe
Q. What’s your idea of a great day off?
A. Hanging out at the Waipa River fishing, swimming and sleeping
Other News
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After a few technical hassles Poutama has finally joined Facebook. At the moment we’ve got a very basic presence and few friends!! But check it out as we would love to be your friend!! Just enter Poutama as a friend and see what comes up. |
Contact Us
Tom Manaena, Commercial Manager ( 021 538 838 or 04 495 1132) – Tom is responsible for the finance, investment and accounting side of the business and also spends a lot of time out on the road covering the lower North Island, Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Central and Upper South Island regions. He also deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors.
Oscar Nathan, Business Adviser ( 021 801 559 or 07 348 8903) – Oscar covers the wider Bay of Plenty and East Coast regions and deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors.
Vonese Walker, Information Manager ( 021 683 681) – Vonese covers the Northland, Auckland and lower North Island regions. She deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors.
Gail Maxwell, Office Manager ( 021 375 090 or 04 473 2652) – Gail is often the first point of contact for Poutama clients. She also supports Tom with the accounting function and provides back up to all of the team.
Kylie Stafford, - Communications, ( 021 494 977 or 03 570 5333) – Kylie is responsible for Poutama’s newsletter and communications. Feel free to make contact with her with any relevant information or networking events for publication in the newsletter.
Richard Jones, CEO ( 021 619 075 or Skype richtj) – Richard looks after the national and international stuff, strategic issues/relationships/development and also deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors.