November 22, 2017
Whai Rawa helps Ngai Tahu share settlement
Ngai Tahu has spent 20 years building up a sound financial base, and now it can concentrate more on the well-being of its people.
That’s the word from kaiwhakahaere Lisa Tumahai as the South Island tribe celebrates a $126 million net profit from its commercial arm for the year ended June 30.
Tourism, seafood, farming, and especially the involvement of its property arm in the Christchurch rebuild helped push the tribe’s asset base past the $1.6 billion mark.
Ms Tumahai says Ngai Tahu holdings paid a dividend of $49 million to the runanga, which benefits whanau and hapu.
"$32 million went directly to individual families, individual Ngai Tahu whanui through our Whai Rawa savings scheme and also through our marae and the rest of it of course goes back into our big machinery to keep the wheels turning and as we know a post-settlement iwi has to spend a fortune protecting settlements," she says.
Fewer than half of Ngai Tahu’s 58,000 descendants live in the takiwa, so a priority for the future will be finding ways to give all members the benefits of settlement.
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