She is the chief executive of one of New Zealand’s biggest Māori businesses that has an asset base valued in the hundreds of millions. 

Tauhara North Trust No 2 chief executive Aroha Campbell is also a tauira at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa in Rotorua where she says the Diploma in Māori Governance and Leadership programme she’s undertaking is proving invaluable.

Tauhara North No 2 Trust, which owns 1948ha of land between Rotorua, Taupo and Te Whaiti, some of it used for geothermal power productions, was last year listed fifth among the Deloitte top nine Maori business entities with declared assets of $317.8 million.
Aroha said studying towards the 36-week level 6 diploma in Rotorua made a lot of sense because the programme aligned well with what her organisation is trying to achieve.

“And because we are moving towards supporting other land trusts and incorporations in their journey and we are wanting to build the trust business of those undeveloped lands within the Ngāti Tahu/Ngāti Whaoa rohe,” she said. 

“My staff thought it would be a good idea to do this programme so they could get a sense of the challenges that different Māori organisations have whether that is at a whānau trust, or a marae reservation or an ahu whenua or incorporation to the governance of their people.”

Asked if the course was meeting her expectations and if she would recommend it to others, Aroha didn’t hesitate.

“It is certainly meeting my expectations in that I went in from the perspective that I don’t know everything and there are gaps that I need to refresh or look at and certainly building rapport with those others that are attending,” she said.

“I have some of my other team who have expressed interest so I thought I really need to see what this is and if it can provide benefts for them I can then promote it to others in our whānau.”

The Diploma in Māori Governance and Leadership helps tauira learn about the roles and responsibilities of leadership, management and governance.

The programme looks at how to develop a kaitiakitanga framework within a legal entity and communication strategies. It also shows tauira how to understand the obligations and practices of financial management and the finer points of strategic planning.