"Whaea” Ella’s professorial lecture
It was a hui of wairua, aroha, and mana.
When Ella Henry (Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa, Ngāti Kuri, Te Rārawa) delivered her professorial lecture as AUT Business School’s inaugural Ahorangi Professor of Māori and Indigenous Entrepreneurship, the 100-strong audience responded with waiata, applause, and heartfelt acknowledgement of “Whaea Ella”– a wahine toa known in and beyond Aotearoa as an academic, activist, and expert across many fields.
Ella joined AUT in 2008. Initially, Ella worked in Te Ara Poutama | Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Development, where she taught and researched across Māori media and film. Six years ago, when the AUT Business School sought an expert in entrepreneurship, Ella was gifted to the school by her former Dean, Professor Pare Keiha. She took up the role of Director of Māori Advancement alongside her teaching and research in entrepreneurship.
As soon as Ella took the floor, it was clear this would be no ordinary lecture. Not just because she joined academia as a former Treaty negotiator and a TV star (remember Ask Your Auntie?); not just because it was 17 years between Ella earning her Masters degree and PhD.
Ella’s address was special because of her wonderful turn of phrase, her sharp wit, and her capacity to distil her expertise into soundbites that resonate. From leaders in te Ao and te Reo Māori, to Indigenous, industry and equity movers and shakers, to researchers, colleagues, and students, the crowd who came to tautoko Ella felt the impact of her robust evidence, and her valuable (and sometimes slightly irreverent) perspectives.
Describing her journey “from Muriwhenua to urban Māori street kid to world traveller”, Ella acknowledged the many people who believed in and supported her on her journey – from the Far North of Aotearoa to the wilds of British Columbia in Canada to the hallowed halls of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Ella’s professorial lecture explored the history of Māori entrepreneurial spirit – “a Millenia of looking to the horizon and seeing opportunity” – as well as the threats to entrepreneurialism by colonisation and the subsequent “ripping away” of economic foundations, and the impact of intergenerational poverty.
The last 50 years of Māori language, culture, and economic revitalisation has also brought the renewal of the Māori entrepreneurial spirit. Ella cited the Māori screen industry as a prime example of “emancipatory entrepreneurship, an expression of tino rangatiratanga in action”.
After analysing theories of entrepreneurship and data from her own earlier studies, Ella has formed a framework for Kaupapa Māori entrepreneurship. Rather than conforming to the western notion of “curiosity + courage + rugged individualism”, Māori entrepreneurship is founded on what Ella calls “Te wairua auaha | The creative spirit” – a holistic approach that is underpinned by:
- Mana motuhake – people and places that nurture your desire for emancipation
- Tino rangatiratanga – enacting emancipatory Māori entrepreneurship
- Mana tangata – people who build your efficacy
- Mana wairua – people and places that enhance your spirituality
- Mana whenua – plaes that reinforce self-efficacy.
At its heart, said Ella, Māori entrepreneurship is the equation of curiosity + courage + collectivism.
“Wairua is the spiritual capital that we bring to our kaupapa, to our intent,” said Ella. “The whakatauki ‘Kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanaui – be bold, be brave, be steadfast’ is a great motto for Māori entrepreneurship.”