We were lucky to have two guest speakers, Everard Whangapirita and Inde King, who shared some valuable advice with our business members. Everard is the Procurement Manager of Waikato District Council (WDC), and Inde is the General Manager of Modern Building Solutions. They shared their insights on how to engage in opportunities that will help our Pasifika businesses be more sustainable in their line of work.

Inde, who is of Fijian descent, told us about the experience working with WDC and how it has helped his company, Modern Building Solutions, grow. Some of our Pasifika business members are also already reaping the benefits from WDC on the back of a lot of hard work they put into their tender preparation, with the assistance of the Waikato Pacific Business Network, Tonga Robertson, who is an Executive Board Member of WPBN and owner of NEST Interiors & Design, and our service providers.

As a network, our primary objectives are to #connect our members to key personnel from different organisations across the Waikato region and to #empower them by inviting those who have experienced successful outcomes to #share their achievements with our members.

We are grateful to Everard and WDC’s Procurement team, for recognising the capabilities of our Pacific businesses and the services they offer.