OUR KAUPAPA
We develop and support collaborative strategies that engage our people and grassroots leadership to solve major community issues across Te Tairāwhiti.

Since 2018, Startup Weekend Tairāwhiti has become the pre-eminent community-led entrepreneurial initiative in Te Tairāwhiti, with over 200+ participants representing communities up and down the region. Startup Weekends are 54-hour events designed to provide superior experiential education for both experienced and budding entrepreneurs. The weekend events are centered on action, innovation, and education.

PikUp is on a quest to save and share as much kai as possible. Now they’ve set a new goal to pick 23 tonnes and establish 4 new pātaka kai (free community food pantries) for 2023. Have excess fruit or veges? Get in touch with PikUp and list your tree or garden on the website. The team will come and do the hard mahi and pick and distribute the kai. One third will stay with the owner, one third will go to the PikUp tem and the last third redistributed to the 12 pātaka kai in Gisborne.

Youth who give a shit and get good shit done for our people and planet. Our group of 14-25 (ish) year olds meet at Tāiki e! every Monday 3.30pm to 5pm to build leadership capability, create opportunities for other youth, learn entrepreneurial skills and make our community a better place.

POP UP SHOP
Our Pop Up shop is available rent-free for 1-3 weeks at a time for youth businesses to learn valuable skills in entrepreneurship, marketing, finance, social media, customer service, tech and of course, how to make money.

Next Gen Escapes is Tairāwhiti's first escape room, powered by Tāiki e! Next Gen. Escape Rooms are challenging puzzle rooms where teams have 60 minutes to solve puzzles, riddles, and obstacles to complete the goal. The escape room provides a live business model where our next generation of rangatahi entrepreneurs can learn the ropes of creating a sustainable, impactful and profitable business.

One night of intriguing entertainment. Lighting Talks are a popular way of finding out what is buzzing around Te Tairāwhiti. We gather up some of Tairāwhiti’s finest creatives, entrepreneurs, thinkers and innovators, to share a little bit of magic with the community. Quick fire presentations on who-knows-what topics. Lightning Talks is held bi-monthly on the last Thursday night of the month.

A conference designed by… you. Tāiki e! brings together Tairāwhiti’s first unconference focussed on creating space for dynamic conversations that are led by the people of Tairāwhiti. An unconference is driven by the participants that show on the day. No topics are predetermined, no keynote speakers have been invited, no panels have been arranged. Instead the people that show up decide what topics will be discussed and they convene the breakout sessions.
We want to share and learn from each other, share new thinking and resources and build connections and interactions that last beyond the event. In short, we don’t just want a lot of talking. We want to inspire action and build community to achieve that. Unconference Tairāwhiti: Past, Present, Future is an annual event held during Matariki (late June/early July).

TECH BOOT CAMP AND INTERNSHIPS
Tech needs you! In partnership with Dev Academy, Tāiki e offer places in a 15 week training course to become a Full Stack Web Developer. The successful candidates are then supported to go into paid internships or jobs. This kaupapa is about building pathways into Technology related jobs for people living in Tairāwhiti. Growing our local talent and capability alongside partners such as Dev Academy and organisations who are taking on our graduates as paid interns or employees such as ARUP, Toro Studios and Snapper.

It’s a Tāiki e! podcast! It’s organic, evolving and experimental. Where we come together to share stories that deserve to be heard about the changemakers and doers who are making positive impacts in our community.

Lightbulb is a free community-led initiative designed to educate, engage and inspire entrepreneurs and changemakers from around the Tairāwhiti. A Lightbulb event utilises the power of the collective to support those in our community by empowering them with the tools and resources to break down barriers that stand in the way of starting and growing their kaupapa. The format for Lightbulb is a 6 minute presentation followed by a 20-minute question and answer session where the community ask questions, provide helpful feedback, and share similar experiences or support.