Tania Pouwhare (Ngai Tuhoe) is the Poukahukura of Mana Atea, a Maori-owned business tackling abliesm and providing tikanga-led supports and allyship to tangata whaikaha (disabled people) and their whanau in their mana motuhake. Before that, Tania was the General Manager of Auckland Council’s Social Innovation department and The Southern Initiative with a focus on just, inclusive, circular and regenerative economic development that upholds and enhances the mana of everyday people, and the natural world. Her work spanned social procurement, Maori and Pasifika entrepreneurship, active labour market policies, the Green New Deal, the politics of the urban diaspora and democratising wealth and economic power. She was also formerly the head of policy and campaigns at a UK women’s rights organisation and started her career as a policy analyst with NZ Women’s Refuge. Tania is an honorary fellow of Engineering NZ, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Fellowship for Social Equity, co-chair of the Maori Economic Development Advisory Board and member of Te Kahu Matai WorkSafe Partners Council on behalf of the National Iwi Chairs Forum. She also represents Nga Toki Whakarururanga on the civil society advisory group for the UK-NZ FTA Labour Sub-committee.

Hone Dalton has extensive experience in various roles, including being the Sustainable Procurement and Capability Lead at Auckland Council. Hone also served as an Executive Coach at Indigenous Growth Limited, Senior Engagement Adviser at Ministry of Social Development, and Provincial Development Unit. Hone has a background in logistics and leadership roles at companies like Air New Zealand and Mazda Motors of New Zealand Limited. Throughout their career, Hone has been actively involved in supporting the Maori and Pasifika communities with leadership development opportunities and community engagement initiatives.

Anna-Jane Edwards is the Manukura for Amotai. She is driven by an unwavering belief that every child has the right to thrive in Aotearoa. This has led her to explore how economics, indigenous knowledge systems, co-design and systems thinking can be brought together to disrupt the conditions preventing all people from living full and prosperous lives.

Her roles in health and local government over the past 15 years have explored this concept, eventually leading her to co-found Amotai in 2018 where she has recently returned as Manukura.

Anna-Jane believes that supplier diversity, where organisations buy more goods and services from diverse suppliers, is one of the biggest opportunities to grow meaningful economic step-change for Maori and Pasifika.

Anna-Jane shares her home time between raising a resilient, happy, socially and environmentally conscious little boy and participating at a governance level on a number of organisations including the New Zealand Drug Foundation and Hawaiki Hou Sport New Zealand.