Business School
Māori Business Leaders Awards
The Aotearoa New Zealand Māori Business Leaders Awards™ acknowledge the academic success of Māori. The Awards also honour and celebrate the success and achievement of Māori business leaders.
It is important for New Zealand's tertiary institutions to honour our successful Māori graduates because they serve as excellent role models for New Zealand's young Māori population. The Business School has some 3,900 Māori alumni, including Peter Cooper, Rob McLeod, June McCabe, Erima Henare, Lynette Stewart, and Charmaine Edwards‐Newson.
Originally created to acknowledge the academic success of Māori, and to honour and celebrate the success and achievements of Māori business leaders, the annual event has fast become New Zealand's premier Māori business awards ceremony. It has grown in size and stature each year, attracting politicians, Māori business and community leaders, iwi organisations, government agencies, Māori Business School alumni, Business School partners and friends, family and business associates of the award winners, and current Māori students and faculty members.
As a result the awards have enabled the Business School to develop a network of Māori business alumni who support each other professionally and gather each year to reaffirm their commitment to support the academic and business successes of our Māori students.
This prestigious award honours an individual who has made a significant contribution to business enterprise and the economy.
This rangatira award is given to individuals who satisfy three sets of criteria. The first – traditional Māori attributes – looks at the main talents and qualities of rangatira, including knowledge, mediation, courage, strategy, concern, technology, and wisdom. The second looks at the achievements of award winners that have been recognised by their peers. The third criteria is the sustainability of their career and associated business interests.
Traditionally, rangatira was considered in terms of the eight talents, attributes and qualities of leadership (e waru ngā pūmanawa):
- Knowledge of and industrious in ensuring production.
- Able to mediate, manage and settle disputes.
- Courageous in adversity.
- Strategists and leaders in times of hardship.
- Knowledge of the arts.
- Concerned with the welfare of people.
- Has the knowledge and technology for the protection of the community.
- Wisdom in whakapapa and tradition..
(Tikitu and Te Rangikāheke)
The 2010 winner of the Outstanding Māori Business Leaders Award was Sir Ralph Norris, KNZM.
View full details of past winners of the award
The Dame Mira Szászy Māori Alumni Award recognises outstanding achievement by graduates of the Business School, and excellence in tribal and business endeavours nationwide and internationally.
The late Dame Mira Szászy was one of the most outstanding Māori women leaders of the twentieth century. She was the first Māori woman to graduate with a degree from The University of Auckland. She was also president of the Māori Women's Welfare League and was made a Dame in 1990.
Her influence extended into many areas of society and community. Dame Mira made significant contributions in education, broadcasting, social welfare, and small business development. She received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Victoria University of Wellington in 1993 in recognition of her contribution to the nation, and she was very active in women's rights and Māori issues.
View full details of past winners of the award
The Māori Business Recognition Award showcases the success of an existing Māori-based business making waves nationally and internationally.
View full details of past winners of the award
