September 09, 2019
Toi Kai Rawa steaming towards prosperity
A new trust promoting Māori economic development in the Bay of Plenty has launched its new Steam strategy.
Chair Tamarapa Lloyd says Toi Kai Rawa Trust was formed by professionals who were involved in the economic development agency Bay of Connections but felt the need for a specifically Māori focus.
He says the youth demographics of the region means much of the labour supply for any initiative in the region will come from the Māori sector.
The Steam initiative is about shifting that labour force up the value chain by encouraging young Māori to train for occupations that revolve around science, technology, engineering, arts and maths.
"This isn't a new field for us. We have a lot of engineers. We have a lot of Māori scientists. We have Māori mathematicians. But what we want to do is increase the percentage, increase the numbers, and from that we will then be able to resource the economic development we have coming on line in the bay," Mr Lloyd says.
An example of the opportunity is geothermal enterprises, many of them on Māori-owned land, which could struggle because of a worldwide shortage of geothermal engineers.
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