November 22, 2022
Waipareira backs online mentoring
Te Whānau o Waipareira is stepping up its small business support through a partnership with mentoring social network Manaaki.
Manaaki was set up at the start of the Covid lockdown by We Are Indigo, an Auckland-based Māori-run digital education and services company co-founded by former Xero staffer Pat MacFie and former professional athlete Monty Betham
Waipareira chief executive John Tamihere says his organisation used to run Be Your Own Boss-style courses, but over the past two years he has been impressed with Manaaki’s approach to closing the gap for small businesses who often struggle to get professional advice.
“A lot of our people can’t get up again after being knocked down. Some people can but we start from a very low base so if you start from a low base and it doesn’t work for you, you feel you let yourself down, you feel you let the family down, you feel as usual you’re a useless hori. That is not true. So we just have to sort of try and pick them up,” he says.
Mr Tamihere says 75 percent of start up businesses fail because while their founders may be good at what they do they can’t handle administration details like cashflow.