A Quiet Boom

nā Adrienne Rewi.

Success by stealth may have been the strategy, but Tuaropaki Trust is starting to appear on the national business radar as awards and accolades start to roll in.

In 2007 Tuaropaki won the North Central Region Māori Excellence in Farming Award and last year was named as National Business Review's Most Exciting Company, pipping Ngāi Tahu's Whale Watch. Trust chairman Tumanako Wereta is a reluctant commentator on the trust's well-documented achievements, although he has previously acknowledged that "the (trust's) success and growth have been due to transformational leadership from our elders".

"We have a corporate team which looks after the bottom line while our leaders look at the horizon. The key is finding a balance between the two and we have had that," he told the National Business Review last year.

It has been 30 years since the Tuaropaki lands were transferred from the management of the Department of Māori Affairs to Tuaropaki owner trustees. The trust continues to make good progress in its key sectors: food, energy and communications. In the last ten years, it has increased revenue from $1.5 million to $59m, profits from $225,000 to $17m and assets from $45m to $582m.

Tuaropaki grew out of the 1952 amalgamation of lands owned by seven Ngāti Tuwharetoa and Ngāti Raukawa hapū. It is an Ahu Whenua trust acting under provisions of the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993. It now owns 900 hectares of land on which it runs sheep, cattle and deer. Land that is not suitable for pastoral farming is used for afforestation and set aside as conservation areas. They also run a large scale dairy operation and 25hha has been set aside for horticultural development.

The jewel in the trust's crown though, according to Wereta, is the large geothermal field beneath its land. In 1994 the trust established the Tuaropaki Power Company and working with a multi-million dollar Australian investor, commissioned the trust's first generator, Mokai 1. A second plant has since opened to produce a total 110 MW of electricity, with Mighty River Power taking a 25 per cent stake in TPC.

Further diversification in 2002 saw the trust invest in Gourmet Mokai, a joint venture with produce grower and exporter, Gourmet Paprika and the first 6.2 hectares of geothermally-heated, hydroponic glasshouses have been established on trust land. Tuaropaki is also a shareholder in the vineyard/winery Vinoptima Estates in Gisborne; and more recently it has invested in New Zealand's third mobile phone company 2Degrees.

At the core of its business practice, Tuaropaki upholds its primary mission statement "to protect and advance the interests of its people and their whānau".

"Despite the many challenges that seem to beset our nation, the trust is in good heart and continues to make good progress throughout its key sectors," Wereta said in his recent chairman's statement.

"The trust will act as a beacon of hope and prosperity for our people and I know my mokopuna will be well looked after when I am gone," he said..

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