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September 27, 2013
Trade trainees look to next generation
Waatea Team
Posted On September 27, 2013
One of the people behind a proposed Maori trades cooperative in Tamaki Makaurau says networking is an important part of finding jobs for young Maori.
Maria Paenga says the cooperative came out of a project to get more rangatahi into tertiary education and on to employment.
She says it quickly became clear that Maori lacked the strong business or employer networks that underlie a lot of job creation.
She says the Maori Allied Industries Association or MAIA fits the profile of Maori business.
"Most of our people are in small and medium enterprise so the concept of a co-op is the smaller businesses get together and they tender for bigger contracts. The second purpose is that it's clear in the work we have been doing in Maori trade training is that a lot of these employers were Maori Affairs trade trainees. They want to give back to rangatahi coming through, they want to employ their own," Mrs Paenga says.
The Maori Allied Industries Association is holding its first annual meeting next Thursday at Te Wananga o Aotearoa’s Mangere campus to set the path ahead.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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