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National | Business

Buy Māori Made - By Māori, for Māori, about Māori

Buy Māori Made is a new social media platform helping small Māori businesses get on their feet following the lockdown. In just a little over a week, the Facebook page has attracted over 18,000 members and is proving to be popular as some businesses are selling out of products.

Buy Māori Made, by Māori, for Māori and about Māori.

"My business name is Nichola, contemporary Māori designs from Aotearoa, and I make contemporary Māori inspired kākahu, clothing and accessories," Nichola Te Kiri (Ngāi Tūhoe) says.

"I'm a knitwear designer and design coach. I've been designing since 2016 and I sell the instructions so you can make up your own version of the garment. That's really the beauty of it, taking an interpretation of another designer and really making it your own," Francoise Aroha Danoy (Ngāti Porou) of Aroha Knits says.

"So we've got two companies, one's The Brothers Green which focuses on the food. So we've got a nutritional hemp seed oil and that's a good salad dressing or garnish. With the hemp seed oil, we're discovering it's benefits of putting it on topically. So we've created a body care company called Kōaka," Brendon McIntosh from Ngāi Tahu says.

The Buy Māori Made Facebook page was set up by Michelle Paki from Te Tairāwhiti.

Paki says she wanted to create a business community uniquely for Māori. “I'm so pleased with the response, businesses are selling out of product, whakapapa connections are being made. My friends are telling me their credit cards are getting a thrashing. So that's awesome, that's what it's all about, dollars in the pockets of whānau.”

Nichola Te Kiri, who is based in Hamilton, says the platform has brought her a lot of customers. “Yes, we've had a lot of products sold out which has been amazing.”

Francoise Danoy, who is living in Japan, says it is a way of keeping connected. “For me in my work as a designer, I've used knitwear design as a way for me to connect with my Māori heritage, to incorporate the stories and my own personal journey of connection.”

Brendon McIntosh says his company is focused on improving Māori health outcomes. “In my work as a pharmacist over the last six years, everyone's talking about wanting to improve Māori health outcomes. So we're taking a different approach now and promoting the plant-based diet as a better option for whānau.”

Banding together under the Buy Māori Made banner is one step closer to recovering after lockdown.