Māori & Pacific Business: Latin America ReConnect

Māori & Pacific Business: Latin America ReConnect is a free six-week programme that gives Māori and Pacific creative entrepreneurs the opportunity to explore the Latin America export market and develop high-value products that cater to this market.

The programme aims to reignite the ancient connections between people in the Pacific and Latin America, by exploring today's cultural, creative and commercial opportunities in Chile, Colombia and Mexico. Pacific people excel in the creative industries. As New Zealand has a large, diverse Polynesian population, it has access to a wealth of creative and cultural capital that could make New Zealand's creative sector the most vibrant and economically viable in the world.

Māori & Pacific Business: Latin America ReConnect involves a series of workshops on the cultures and markets in Latin America, and one-to-one mentoring. It equips creative entrepreneurs with the cultural and business knowledge they need to enter these markets, make contacts and build networks in the region.

Since taking part in the programme, participating businesses have started to take up opportunities to enter the Latin American market. For example, Auckland-based business Little Mouse Company , which began the programme working on its Lingogo language app, has rebranded as indie and created Legendary Links – A Muysca x Māori Collab, which is sharing traditional Māori and Muysca (Colombia) stories.

Māori & Pacific Business: Latin America ReConnect has been evaluated by a team of Polynesian academics from University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau. Feedback from the participating businesses shows most had never considered Latin America as an export opportunity. The programme gave them a vision of the market's potential and the confidence to tap into it, and a safe place to make new business connections and learn about other cultures and people.

Māori & Pacific Business: Latin America ReConnect is supported by the Latin American Centre of Asia–Pacific Excellence and run by a Pacific company called Oyster Workshop. Since it started in 2020, it has supported 16 Pacific and Māori businesses. In 2023, the programme will expand its scope beyond the creative industries.

Published 02 November 2023

Dates

Launched in 2020

Venues

University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau

Visit the project site

Māori & Pacific Business: Latin America ReConnect website