The Māori economy is entering a new phase of growth, with Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka facing the challenge of turning a rapidly expanding Māori asset base into more jobs, higher incomes, stronger businesses and lasting intergenerational wealth for whānau, hapū and iwi.
New Stats NZ data shows Māori authorities controlled $32.6 billion in assets in 2025, an increase of $830 million in just one year, while Māori businesses captured in the latest statistics employed around 55,700 people.
The figures provide a powerful backdrop for Potaka, who holds the Māori Development and Māori-Crown Relations portfolios and has responsibility for supporting Māori economic development.
MĀORI BUSINESS BUILDING SERIOUS ECONOMIC WEIGHT
Stats NZ identified 1,362 Māori authorities and 4,488 other economically significant Māori enterprises, giving a combined 5,850 businesses within the categories captured by the dataset.
Importantly, that is not the total number of Māori-owned businesses operating across Aotearoa. Stats NZ’s methodology captures particular economically significant Māori enterprises, meaning the wider Māori business footprint is larger.
The financial numbers demonstrate the growing scale of Māori commercial activity.
Māori authorities generated $5.7 billion in total income, while their combined pre-tax surplus climbed 28 percent to $781 million.
Their $32.6 billion asset base increased 2.6 percent despite challenging economic conditions, while total income across the wider New Zealand business sector covered by the Annual Enterprise Survey declined slightly over the comparable period.
55,700 JOBS — AND A CHANCE TO CREATE MORE
Employment may ultimately be one of the most important measures of Māori economic success.
Māori authorities employed about 12,500 people, with another 43,200 working for other Māori enterprises identified by Stats NZ.
That represents approximately 55,700 jobs.
Those numbers take on added significance at a time when employment and the cost of living remain major issues for Māori whānau.
For Potaka and the Government, the question is increasingly how policy can help successful Māori businesses expand further, employ more rangatahi, develop skills and create better-paid careers in the regions where many Māori live.
The Government has put economic growth, investment, exports and productivity at the centre of its wider economic programme, including changes intended to attract investment, improve procurement opportunities and expand international market access.
The opportunity will be ensuring Māori enterprises are positioned to capture their share of that growth.
NOT JUST FARMING, FORESTRY AND FISHING
The latest figures also challenge outdated perceptions that the Māori economy is overwhelmingly concentrated in primary industries.
Among the 4,488 other Māori enterprises, the largest industry group was professional, scientific and technical services, accounting for 834 businesses.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing accounted for 756 businesses, followed by construction with 495 and health care and social assistance with 315.
Māori enterprise now stretches across professional services, technology, construction, property, healthcare, tourism and international trade alongside traditional strengths connected to whenua and natural resources.
That diversification creates opportunities to move Māori capital further into high-value industries including technology, digital services, renewable energy, science, infrastructure and advanced manufacturing.
MĀORI EXPORTERS TAKING ON THE WORLD
International trade is another increasingly important part of the story.
Māori authorities exported $872 million in goods, while other Māori enterprises exported another $574 million.
Combined, Māori businesses represented in the dataset exported approximately $1.446 billion worth of goods.
China accounted for 24 percent of Māori authority goods exports, demonstrating both the importance of international markets and the exposure Māori asset owners can have to changing global trade conditions.
Opening new markets, strengthening trade relationships and helping Māori exporters move further up the value chain therefore have direct consequences for iwi, Māori businesses and the whānau who ultimately benefit from their success.
FROM SETTLEMENT TO ECONOMIC RANGATIRATANGA
Perhaps the biggest shift is in how the Māori economy itself is discussed.
For decades, Māori economic development was frequently framed through deprivation, lost land and Treaty settlements.
Those histories remain fundamental, but today’s Māori economy increasingly tells another story.
It is one of Māori as employers, exporters, investors, entrepreneurs, property owners, farmers, innovators and collective custodians of billions of dollars in intergenerational assets.
Many Māori authorities also operate differently from conventional businesses because commercial returns can support wider aspirations including education, housing, environmental restoration, cultural revitalisation, employment and services for whānau.
That means growth is not simply about making the balance sheet bigger.
It is about turning Māori capital into Māori opportunity.
THE NEXT CHALLENGE
The numbers provide Potaka and the Government with a significant opportunity.
With $32.6 billion in Māori authority assets already accumulated, the next frontier is unlocking investment while protecting intergenerational ownership, developing Māori land, improving access to capital, growing exports and helping smaller Māori businesses become larger employers.
It also means ensuring rangatahi Māori can see themselves not only as workers within the economy, but as entrepreneurs, executives, scientists, investors and business owners.
The Māori economy is already substantial.
The challenge for the next Government — and whoever holds the Māori Development portfolio after Election 2026 — will be whether public policy helps transform that economic strength into greater prosperity for Māori households and communities.
Because the latest numbers make one thing increasingly clear:
Māori economic development is no longer a conversation about catching up. It is a conversation about how Māori help drive the next generation of Aotearoa’s economic growth.
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