Maori shine as entrepreneurial go-getters

Maori have topped the world in a new survey of entrepreneurship that has included New Zealand for the first time.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Gem) found an astonishing 24 per cent of Maori are either trying to start a business or are full or part-owners of businesses that have been operating for less than three and a half years.

This compares with 17 per cent of European New Zealanders, and an average of 10 per cent across 29 countries in the survey.

New Zealand is the second most entrepreneurial country in the world, behind Mexico, where 19 per cent of the population are involved in new businesses.

New Zealand is first in female entrepreneurs (16 per cent of NZ women), and in "angel" investors, who have put money into other people's businesses, other than through the sharemarket or mutual funds, in the past three years (6 per cent of NZ adults).

Rhonda Kite of Auckland's Waiata Productions, who was pregnant at 16 but now runs her own business, said Maori had a wealth of entrepreneurial spirit because of their strong sense of community.

"Our culture is about community.

"The old tribal ways have gone out the window ... in other ways we have retained a lot ...

"The next nucleus outside of [the family] are the people who work with me and for me," she said.

The director of Unitec's NZ Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Dr Howard Frederick, said the figures for Maori were based on only a small sample of 160 out of 2000 New Zealanders surveyed.

He said the survey suggested that "Maori are every bit as entrepreneurial as Pakeha".

"One of the reasons that both women and Maori have such high rates has to do with their highly interactive communications networks," he said.

"'Knowing who' is as important as 'knowing how' for entrepreneurs. They call up everyone from their aunty to their employer. They communicate with a wider circle."

Using telephone area codes, the survey found that the 06 region (southern North Island) had the highest proportion of entrepreneurs, followed by the 09 (Auckland/Northland) and 03 (South Island) regions. The 07 (Waikato/Bay of Plenty) and 04 (Wellington) regions were lowest.

This suggests that entrepreneurs may be more common in rural areas.

Maori make up 24 per cent of the population in small towns and 18 per cent in rural areas, compared with only 13 per cent in the main centres.

Past surveys have suggested a link between levels of entrepreneurship and economic growth.

Dr Frederick said that this relationship might be weaker here because even though entrepreneurs were common, they were not respected.

Herald coverage of the GEM report