Kelvin Davis: He Tangata, He Tangata, He Tangata

Kelvin Davis. Photo / File

Te Tai Tokerau has all the potential in the world, and some of us have been looking at the best ways to bring out that potential.

It's easy to get despondent about issues such as young people going silly in Kaikohe. It's also easy to think that these events define Te Tai Tokerau. We need to stop being negative and stop believing the bad press.

Te Tai Tokerau has all the potential in the world, and some of us have been looking at the best ways to bring out that potential. The Ngapuhi settlement is one. In order to get the most out of what should be the biggest iwi settlement ever we need the very best people to be involved with the post settlement governance entity.

Recently I met with a couple of businessmen to identify successful Maori businessmen with roots in Te Tai Tokerau. Five names came up. Each of those people has established for themselves multimillion-dollar companies, both here and overseas. I will meet with them all over the next few months to see if they are interested in being involved.

As hugely successful people they will have the knowledge and experience to manage a settlement of possibly $300 million, and turn that into $3 billion. Also, as people who are already extremely wealthy, they won't act in self-interest and will make sure decisions are made in the best interests of all Ngapuhi. Whether they are involved in a hands-on capacity or as advisers, we need people with a proven track record in creating wealth, who also know how to identify and nurture local talent to take over the running of the settlement within a generation.

Aside from settlement there are other opportunities for the North. A mate who grew up in Moerewa but now has a successful business in Australia is looking at growing cattle feed for China. He already does it in Australia, and wants to set something up in the Mid North and employ our people. He's looking for 2000ha.

Another contact I have is looking at an alternative crop that has three uses, as cattle feed, an artificial sweetener extract and protein pulp. The crop also improves soil, and animals that graze on it produce less waste. The same contact has developed alternative uses for sawdust, a waste product of a real Northland industry that could be converted into a real economic opportunity.

Last week I visited a laboratory in Auckland that produces stock feed out of algae. I was taken through their laboratory and shown the process they go through. The algae is protein-based, and is expected to increase milk production in cows by at least 10 per cent. They want to get involved in Te Tai Tokerau.

There are ample opportunities for Te Tai Tokerau to prosper. We have to be positive, believe in our future and the future of our young people, and seek out the opportunities rather than obsess with the negative headlines of the last week.