Championing Māori and Indigenous Enterprise and Cultural Values

Kaye Maree Dunn, photo credit: Rawhitoroa Photography

Kaye Maree Dunn is supporting Māori entrepreneurs to build sustainable, thriving enterprises. By integrating tikanga Māori (Māori customs and values) with contemporary business practices, she is helping Māori entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of scaling and innovating in a western system.

As co-founder of Making Everything Achievable (MEA), Kaye Maree works with iwi, public, private, and social organisations to create cultural impact and enable systemic change. She focuses on creating levers to enable intergenerational change, while embracing the power and strength of partnerships. Under Kaye Maree's leadership, MEA has become a trusted partner for many Māori businesses, with her strong commitment to supporting both cultural and economic growth.

MEA’s core mission is to provide tailored support to Māori and indigenous entrepreneurs, offering expertise across a range of areas including business development, strategic growth, and cultural advisory, ensuring that Māori and indigenous businesses not only succeed but do so in a way that reflects their identity and aspirations. Highlights of MEA’s work during 2023/24 include evaluating a City Council’s homelessness approach, completed governance training with iwi and land trusts, contributed to EHF Fellow Hazel Heal’s film on hepatitis elimination in Niue, and engaged in forward-thinking work on payment systems and freshwater issues.

Exemplifying this dual cultural and economic approach, Kaye Maree and MEA released the 'Mapping the Māori Tech Sector 2023' report, developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, and NZTech. The collaborative 12-month research project, which Fellow Hazel Heal also contributed to, featured a summary of over 30 interviews with indigenous tech entrepreneurs sharing their reflections, challenges and hopes for the future of technology and Māori communities, shedding light on the growing presence and influence of Māori in the tech industry. 

The report explored how Māori entrepreneurs, workers, and business owners are incorporating mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) into technology-driven sectors, creating pathways to innovation and growth. By highlighting the intersection of technology and Māori cultural values, the report offered a blueprint for nurturing Māori tech talent and provided a framework for future investment and development.

The report also emphasised the role Māori tech businesses play in promoting intergenerational wealth, sustainability, and the benefit of taking a Māori approach to innovation. Kaye Maree’s leadership in this space has been instrumental in emphasising the value and importance of tikanga Māori within the fast-evolving digital landscape. Her advocacy is driving a movement that celebrates Māori tech advancements and promotes greater cultural understanding across the sector.

Left image: accepting the 2023 Kaiāwhina (Change Maker) award at the Te Hapori Matihiko Awards (photo credit: Te Hapori Matihiko Awards) ; centre image: speaking about 'Applying the learnings from a startup in Aotearoa NZ Context' at the Angel Association NZ Summit; right image: co-facilitating EHF’s first Mission Studio Convening

In addition to her work on the report, Kaye Maree has shared her expertise at prominent events such as the Angel Association NZ Summit in early 2024. Her insights into diverse business models grounded in tikanga Māori values have been widely recognised, earning her prestigious awards including the 2023 Kaiāwhina (Change Maker) award at the Te Hapori Matihiko Awards and the Māori Entrepreneur of the Year title at the GEN NZ Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Awards.

Kaye Maree also provided incredible support and guidance to EHF during the year, including co-facilitating the first Mission Studio Convening, and bringing te Kāhui Māori together to co-create and shape the EHF Kawa and Tikanga (protocols). 

Kaye Maree continues to be a catalyst for positive change, driving meaningful progress in Aotearoa NZ’s tech and business landscapes, supporting Māori tech achievements, while growing cultural understanding among the wider ecosystem.

Kaye Maree is part of the Fellow group Kawakawa, which had its Welcome Experience in 2017. Learn more about Kaye Maree via the Fellow Directory on our website.

Find out more about Kaye Maree’s work at www.mea.nz

A shorter version of this story appeared in the 2023/24 Hillary Institute & EHF Annual Report on page 24.