Andrew Howard

TL;DR: The Māori economy’s asset base grew 83% to $126 billion between 2018 and 2023, outpacing New Zealand’s overall economic growth. This isn’t a story about luck or financial engineering. It’s about patient capital, strategic sector selection, collaborative investment, and workforce development. These are proven business principles applied with discipline and an intergenerational perspective.

What the data shows:

• Māori GDP contribution grew from $17 billion (6.5%) in 2018 to $32 billion (8.9%) in 2023

• Asset base expanded 83% from $69 billion to $126 billion in five years

• Workforce shifted: 46% of Māori workers now in high-skilled roles (up from 37% in 2018)

• Professional services overtook primary industries, contributing $5.1 billion to GDP

• Self-employment increased 49%, employers grew 31% between 2018 and 2023

I’ve spent decades working with business owners across multiple sectors. Most follow predictable patterns. They chase quick wins. They celebrate revenue growth whilst ignoring whether they’re building value. They diversify into areas they don’t understand because a consultant told them to.

The Māori economy’s trajectory tells a different story. One worth paying attention to.

The asset base grew 83% from $69 billion in 2018 to $126 billion in 2023. The GDP contribution nearly doubled from $17 billion to $32 billion, reaching 8.9% of New Zealand’s total GDP. Finance Minister Nicola Willis acknowledged this exceeded the economy’s overall asset growth rate.

The numbers tell you what happened. The strategy behind them tells you why.

What Strategic Sector Repositioning Looks Like

In 2018, agriculture, forestry, and fishing contributed $2.4 billion to Māori GDP. By 2023, professional, scientific and technical services alone contributed $5.1 billion. Administrative support, construction, and technical industries now lead the Māori economy’s GDP contribution.

This shift didn’t happen because someone wrote a strategy document. It happened because of deliberate choices about where value exists and how to build capability in those areas.

I’ve worked with business owners who stay stuck in what they know. A manufacturer keeps manufacturing even when margins compress. A retailer opens more stores when the model is broken. They confuse activity with progress because they’re measuring the wrong things.

The Māori economy’s sector diversification shows strategic repositioning based on where value exists, not where it used to exist.

The lesson: Strategic diversification means moving capital and capability to sectors with sustainable margins, not spreading resources across whatever looks appealing.

Why Infrastructure Becomes a Strategic Focus

Helmut Modlik, chief executive of Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira, puts it plainly: “Iwi, by definition, is an intergenerational enterprise, as is infrastructure. There are so many characteristics of infrastructure that have perfect alignment.”

Infrastructure employs people. It has social and environmental considerations. It generates long-term returns.

From a commercial perspective, infrastructure represents patient capital deployment. You don’t get quick returns. You build assets that generate value for decades. This requires a different mindset from quarterly reporting cycles.

Most businesses struggle with this timeframe. They’re trapped in quarterly thinking because that’s what their board wants to see. They need to show growth now, so they make decisions that extract value rather than build it.

The Waikato-Tainui and Brookfield joint venture demonstrates patient capital thinking. A $1 billion investment in the Ruakura Superhub logistics precinct. Not a quick flip. Not financial engineering. Strategic infrastructure that positions the iwi and region for sustainable value creation.

The lesson: Infrastructure investments require patient capital and long-term thinking, but they deliver sustainable returns and strategic positioning that short-term plays don’t provide.

How Collaborative Capital Deployment Works

Aotearoa Harrison, with 15 years working with Māori businesses, identifies a key strategy: “Co-investments are Māori clubbing together to form bigger pots of money to chase larger investments and, hopefully, better quality investments.”

The Iwi Collective Partnership shows this in practice. Nineteen iwi fishing companies pooled their quota under the Māori fisheries settlement. They achieved economies of scale in commercialising that quota. Individual entities get access to opportunities they couldn’t pursue alone.

I see business owners struggle with this approach. They want to control everything. They won’t partner because they fear losing autonomy. So they stay small and locked out of quality investments that require larger capital pools.

The collaborative approach solves a commercial problem: access to institutional-grade opportunities. Larger capital pools mean access to infrastructure projects, strategic assets, and investments with better risk-adjusted returns.

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise reports their pipeline of investment opportunities from iwi and Māori entities grew 130% to 113 deals in the past financial year. The value of that pipeline is estimated at more than $500 million. Delegates managing $6 trillion in capital attended the Infrastructure Investment Summit, where Māori businesses featured prominently.

The lesson: Collaborative capital deployment gives you access to better opportunities and institutional-grade investments that individual entities miss out on.

Why Workforce Capability Matters More Than Sector Choice

Māori workers now hold 46% of high-skilled positions, up from 37% in 2018. For the first time since 2006, more Māori work in high-skilled roles than low-skilled jobs.

This workforce shift changes the economic equation.

Higher-skilled workers generate more value per hour. They command better wages. They create more sophisticated businesses. They execute complex strategies that low-skilled workforces struggle with.

The shift from primary industries to professional services requires this workforce transformation. You don’t build a professional services business with a low-skilled workforce. You don’t execute infrastructure projects without technical capability.

The workforce data shows the Māori economy isn’t simply shifting sectors. It’s building the capability to compete in those sectors before making the move.

The lesson: Workforce capability enables sector diversification. Build the skills before you chase the opportunity.

What Attracts Institutional Investment

Global capital follows proven execution. It follows strategic clarity. It follows entities that demonstrate commercial discipline whilst maintaining long-term thinking.

The attention from institutional investors validates the strategic approach. These investors don’t chase stories or pitch decks. They deploy capital where they see sustainable returns backed by operational capability.

The lesson: Institutional capital flows to entities that demonstrate commercial discipline, operational capability, and strategic clarity, not to those with good stories.

What This Means for Your Business

The Māori economy’s growth rate of 49% in self-employment and 31% in employers signals entrepreneurship at scale. This creates economic diversity, reduces concentration risk, and builds resilience.

When one part of the economy grows this fast whilst maintaining commercial discipline, it changes the landscape. It creates new partnerships. It opens new markets. It demonstrates alternative approaches to value creation.

I’ve worked with New Zealand business owners who struggle with succession, strategic clarity, and long-term thinking. The patterns repeat across sectors:

• Short-term extraction wins over long-term building

• Financial engineering trumps operational excellence

• Individual control beats collaborative strength

• Familiar sectors win over strategic opportunities

The Māori economy’s trajectory proves a different model works:

• Patient capital deployment

• Strategic sector selection based on where value exists

• Collaborative investment for access to better opportunities

• Workforce development before sector diversification

• Infrastructure focus for long-term positioning

These aren’t new concepts. They’re fundamental business principles applied with discipline and an intergenerational perspective.

The lesson: Commercial discipline combined with long-term thinking delivers sustainable growth that short-term extraction doesn’t match.

What Prevents You From Applying These Principles

The Māori economy’s GDP contribution nearly doubled whilst the asset base grew 83%, both exceeding the broader economy’s growth rate. Sector diversification happened strategically rather than opportunistically. Workforce capability improved before sector shifts occurred.

This raises a straightforward question: What prevents you from applying these same principles?

Most businesses have access to capital. You form partnerships when the deal makes sense. You invest in workforce development when you need capability. You choose strategic sectors over familiar ones when margins demand it.

The difference isn’t resources. It’s perspective.

The Māori economy shows what happens when you combine commercial discipline with intergenerational thinking. When you prioritise operational excellence over financial engineering. When you collaborate rather than compete for control. When you build capability before chasing growth.

By 2030, iwi are positioned to dominate New Zealand’s infrastructure investment. This outcome didn’t happen by accident. It happened through strategic choices made consistently over years.

The broader business community faces a choice. Learn from this approach, or watch whilst a more strategically disciplined model reshapes the economic landscape.

The choice belongs to the people making the decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did the Māori economy grow faster than New Zealand’s overall economy?

The Māori economy grew through strategic sector repositioning (moving from primary industries to professional services), collaborative capital deployment (pooling resources for larger investments), workforce development (increasing high-skilled workers from 37% to 46%), and patient capital investment in infrastructure. These strategies were applied with commercial discipline and a long-term perspective.

What is collaborative capital deployment?

Collaborative capital deployment means multiple entities pooling their capital to access larger, higher-quality investment opportunities. The Iwi Collective Partnership pools fishing quota from 19 iwi companies to achieve economies of scale. This approach gives smaller entities access to institutional-grade investments they couldn’t pursue individually.

Why does infrastructure matter for long-term economic growth?

Infrastructure investments require patient capital but deliver sustainable returns over decades. The Waikato-Tainui and Brookfield $1 billion joint venture in the Ruakura Superhub demonstrates this approach. Infrastructure creates long-term value, employs people, and positions regions for economic growth, rather than extracting short-term profits.

How important is workforce capability for sector diversification?

Workforce capability enables sector diversification. The Māori economy built high-skilled workforce capability before shifting from primary industries to professional services. You don’t build a professional services business with a low-skilled workforce. The data shows 46% of Māori workers now hold high-skilled positions, up from 37% in 2018.

What attracts institutional investors to Māori businesses?

Institutional investors deploy capital where they see sustainable returns backed by operational capability. The Māori economy attracted attention because it demonstrates commercial discipline, strategic clarity, proven execution, and long-term thinking. NZTE reports their pipeline of iwi investment opportunities grew 130% to 113 deals worth over $500 million.

What percentage of New Zealand’s GDP does the Māori economy contribute?

The Māori economy contributed $32 billion to New Zealand’s GDP in 2023, representing 8.9% of total GDP. This nearly doubled from $17 billion (6.5% of GDP) in 2018, exceeding the broader economy’s growth rate over the same period.

What business principles drove the Māori economy’s growth?

Five principles drove growth: patient capital deployment (long-term infrastructure investments), strategic sector selection (moving to where value exists), collaborative investment (pooling capital for better opportunities), workforce development (building capability before sector shifts), and commercial discipline (operational excellence over financial engineering). These are proven principles applied consistently.

How does intergenerational thinking differ from quarterly thinking?

Intergenerational thinking focuses on building assets that generate value for decades, whilst quarterly thinking prioritises short-term results. Intergenerational perspective enables patient capital deployment in infrastructure and strategic positioning. Quarterly thinking leads to value extraction rather than value building. The Māori economy’s 83% asset growth demonstrates the commercial advantage of long-term thinking.

Key Takeaways

• The Māori economy’s asset base grew 83% to $126 billion between 2018 and 2023, outpacing New Zealand’s overall economic growth through strategic sector repositioning and patient capital deployment.

• Strategic diversification means moving capital to sectors with sustainable margins (professional services grew to $5.1 billion) rather than staying in familiar but declining sectors.

• Collaborative capital deployment gives smaller entities access to institutional-grade investments by pooling resources, as demonstrated by the Iwi Collective Partnership and NZTE’s $500 million investment pipeline.

• Workforce capability enables sector diversification. The Māori economy built high-skilled workforce capability (46% in high-skilled roles) before shifting from primary industries to professional services.

• Infrastructure investments require patient capital but deliver long-term strategic positioning and sustainable returns, as shown by the Waikato-Tainui and Brookfield $1 billion Ruakura Superhub joint venture.

• Institutional capital flows to entities demonstrating commercial discipline, operational capability, and strategic clarity, not to those with good stories or pitch decks.

• The difference between sustained growth and short-term extraction isn’t resources. It’s perspective. Combining commercial discipline with intergenerational thinking delivers results that quarterly thinking misses.