There are not enough Maori and Pasifika people involved in the corporate world in New Zealand and TupuToa intends doing something about it.
The non-profit charity, TupuToa aims to increase the number of Maori and Pasifika in the corporate world through internships. Photo: 123RF
The non-profit organisation is unveiling a new scheme to put Maori and Pasifika students in internships with New Zealand companies.
TupuToa, which has a number of corporate sponsors, will pay for the internships of 24 students over this summer but aims to increase this to several hundred by 2021.
Its chief executive David Gray said the group wants a fundamental shift in the pattern of Maori and Pasifika success in the corporate world.
"When one looks at the corporate sector in New Zealand, our largest companies, our big professional firms, they are overwhelmingly pale, male and stale," he said.
"And when you consider against that that Maori and Pasifika together make up 22 percent, and growing, of the New Zealand population, that's not good enough and that's something that we aspire to change."
