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Our Island CousinsWhy you should consider mentoring a pacific business By Markerita Poutasi You’re living in a Pacific country. For many of us that statement is non-controversial, particularly for the 260,000 New Zealanders that can call on cultural heritage and roots from any one of the 28 countries or territories that make up the Pacific Islands’ region. If it’s news to you, you are not alone. Every year, I meet people who do not associate New Zealand and the Pacific region as being integral to each other. Those long forgotten compulsory social studies classes of our youth may have mentioned that New Zealand is geographically part of the Pacific triangle, but what does that mean in the 21st century when foreign policy settings increasingly look north to the tiger economies in Asia for growth? Do we tend to sometimes skip over, miss-out or forget about our long association and connection with the “large ocean states” of the Southern, Western and Northern Pacific? What’s our place in the neighbourhood? As a person of Samoan/New Zealand descent who grew up in a century where New Zealand began embracing its cultural complexity, I have come to realise (obviously before reaching age 10) that not everyone is Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands, Fijian, Niuen, Ni-Vanuatu, I-Kiribati or Tokelaun-centric. In my professional career, I’ve had the privilege of travelling widely and working in the Pacific region. Our connections are not just people-to-people, historical or post-colonial. There are thousands of Kiwis working and playing in the Pacific each year and two-way trade is consistently over $1.2billion in goods alone. Every year, thousands of Kiwis venture “home” or travel for leisure in the region. And there is a return flow as well. One of the best initiatives New Zealand has developed over the past decade is the recognised seasonal employer scheme that sees on average 6000 temporary workers, many of them youth from the Pacific, travelling to New Zealand to participate in our horticultural and viticulture industries before returning home. Horticulture New Zealand has said it is “the single greatest improvement in the sector" that they have been involved with. Over the period of the scheme, exports in the fruit and vegetable industry have increased by $1.1billion. The International Labour Organisation describes the scheme as an example of best practice seasonal migration because it is a ‘triple win’. It benefits workers and employers, and regulates the use of illegal labour in some industries. And the Pacific is trending. The success of “Me’a Kai: Food and Flavours of the South Pacific” 2011 gourmand world food cookbook of the year, showcasing cuisine from six Pacific nations with internationally renowned chef Robert Oliver, is a case in point. A Gourmand Ambassador with over a decade of international restaurant experience, Robert understands soul food and the value of local produce and artisan products and gives a nod towards the future of regional fusion. Robert’s return home in 2013 will see Pacific cuisine on a new platform including a restaurant launch and television series. The Pacific Showcase that launched the Cloud in 2011, presented the best of regional culture, design, travel and cuisine in an appropriate Auckland waterfront format. A weekly showcase and marketplace will be launched from February 2013 down at the Cloud and you pick up local Pacific artisan products in addition to experiencing the best the region has to offer. The launch of True Pacific, a quality mark for top exporters from the region and ATEED’s move to brand their local Pacific events in a month of activities, will see the arts, cultural heritage and the New Zealand/Pacific context promoting the Pacific in a highly visual way. From a popular culture perspective, New Zealand/Pacific and regional talent is vibrant in the arts and extremely well represented in sports. I work with 25 of the top Pacific businesses exporting quality food and spa products to New Zealand and markets around the world. These businesses are market savvy, have supply chains that are enviable and leverage the value of their brands and the natural qualities unique to the Pacific region to market their competitive edge to the world. When engaging with success stories every day, it’s easy to see that a paradigm shift about the way we, as New Zealanders, look at the region is needed. The common lenses tend to be deficit based and I am not ignoring these. I can simply put them into context and consider areas of wider resilience. I haven’t mentioned that the Pacific Ocean is the largest carbon sink in the world or that the tuna fishery is one of the world’s largest shared resources. Other common filters include: natural disasters, political issues or poverty. As a small island nation in Australasia, New Zealand has common challenges on all of these fronts. What New Zealand also has is a thriving food basket mentality to smart exports, value chains that are looking long term into China and a wealth of knowledge about how to grow small business capability. I encourage you over the New Year, as we look to analyse areas for personal and professional growth, to get curious about the neighbourhood in which we all live. If you don’t have a Pacific regional experience, get out and embrace the opportunity to travel. Melanesia is extremely diverse in comparison to Polynesia and if you love to dive, Micronesia is amazing. If you love the region and you want to connect, there are multiple ways to get involved. Mentoring a business, buying “local” and including the high quality Pacific products or produce in your cuisine choices, or increasing your network to include regional businesses are all viable options. Markerita Poutasi Chief Executive, Pacific Cooperation Foundation www.pcf.org.nz |
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