Mātātoa

I’ve been trying to figure out what to write and have read through many of our Tai Tam Tai blogs which have been awesome and gave me flashes of different scenarios or people I have met in my own life. Clever, haututu, not shy, inspiring, risk takers, game changers, whanau and community minded, blending the old and the new etc. So I’ve had to ask how does this relate to me and where am I in all of this??

I’ve been drawn more to the social entrepreneur concept in this paper as I think that’s just who I am because of the influences in my life. I’ve been raised in a whanau with a strong social justice conscience and many of us followed in the footsteps of our mum, nanny’s and koro’s taking on careers to influence change for our people. I came across the concept of Mātātoa described as the Māori concept of being fearless, courageous and energetic. It encourages social enterprises to be open to embrace new and innovative ideas that generally go against an established way of doing things. There are many examples of Maori doing this in life but I just want to acknowledge one who recently past away here in Te Taitokerau, Ricky Houghton who embraced and  transcended Mātātoa.

Ricky created He Korowai Trust in Kaitaia along with Whare Ora a housing programme providing a range of option from transitional housing, cabins, hotel accomodation, recycling homes for rent to buy at affordable rates for whanau and setting up a building academy to teach skills to young people in the building industry. His whakaaro was wellbeing of people through employment, safe housing and wellness. He did this within a Kaupapa Maori model and contributed hugely to the community in so many other ways. Like many he mortgaged his own home to get things started.

Ricky won the Kiwibank 2018 New Zealand local hero award and in 2019 was awarded the Outstanding Māori Business Leader Award in recognition of his exceptional career success and outstanding leadership characteristics. In all of this he was a really lovely man, humble, avoided the lime light and worked tirelessly for his people.

Moe mai ra e te Rangatira