Ringa Rautia

Before you apply

The shape of this is what makes it worth knowing about. Ten weeks of group workshops, each on a different part of a business plan, plus a weekly one-on-one with a dedicated business coach. The stated outcome is a comprehensive business plan — the same artifact Poutama, MWDI and Work and Income all require before they will fund anything.

And then completing it opens a contestable $5,000 grant. Free training that ends in money, for a cohort of around ten pakihi at a time.

It exists because Ngāti Whakaue Assets Trust identified a gap in support for start-ups and went and built something rather than waiting. In 2019 the Trust shifted its distribution portfolio away from cash grants toward standing up initiatives for its iwi. That is a model other iwi could copy and mostly have not.

Check it is still running before you plan around it. Cohorts confirmed through 2023, and Tupu Accelerator's own pakihi support directory still listed it as of March 2026. Intake dates are not published anywhere public. Contact Ngāti Whakaue Assets Trust directly.

The Toi Ohomai news article originally linked here now sits behind a login wall — re-pointed the url to Tupu Accelerator's pakihi support services page, a currently public source that still names the programme.

Sponsors have included the Ngāti Whakaue Education Endowment Trust, RotoruaNZ, Te Puni Kōkiri and BayTrust — all of which fund other things listed here.