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Fully Funded Growth Strategy Support for Māori Businesses
Apply now for a place in the Export Accelerator from Te Puni Kōkiri.
A Growth Opportunity for Ambitious Māori Business Owners
Te Puni Kōkiri is offering fully funded access to an export acceleration program tailored for Māori-owned enterprises with bold ambitions.
Whether you're already exporting, preparing to expand internationally, or planning to in the future, this program helps you sharpen your strategy, clarify your direction, and make confident growth decisions. Designed for experienced business owners, not tech startups or theory-based incubators, it offers practical support for those who’ve learned by doing. The Te Puni Kōkiri Export Acceleration Program gives Māori business owners space to step back, gain a fresh perspective, and plan for sustainable growth.
Thirty Māori businesses will be selected to participate in the program, valued at $4,800 + GST. Places are limited, so please apply by the close of play on Tuesday, October 28th, to avoid disappointment.
Then, from those, ten businesses will be chosen to receive a personalised Market Scan, a six-week, in-depth research project valued at $12,000 + GST.
What’s Included
The Te Puni Kōkiri Export Acceleration Program
Think like an investor, act with intent.
This practical, hands-on program helps you step back, refocus, and move forward with clarity. Choose a one-day, in-person workshop or four online sessions (90 minutes each) in a small group of business owners.
With support from an experienced facilitator, you’ll:
Assess your current performance
Clarify your ambition and direction
Explore target markets and identify new growth opportunities
By the end, you’ll have a sharper view of where your business creates value and a clear plan for what to do next.
If you're planning a new product, eyeing a market shift, looking at acquisitions, raising capital, or preparing to exit, this program helps you shape those plans into a clear, strategic path.
Available to 30 selected businesses
12 months Access to the D/srupt Platform
Available to 30 selected businesses
Tools to apply, adapt, and stay on track.
The D/srupt Platform powers the program. It’s a simple, intuitive tool that helps you apply the framework directly to your business.
You get:
A guided pathway through each phase of growth
Practical tools for performance reviews and scenario planning
12 months of access to revisit and refine your strategy
It’s designed to extend the value of the workshop, giving you a practical way to apply, revisit, and evolve your strategy over time.
A Strategic Clarity Workshop
Available to 30 selected businesses
Turning Direction into Action.
After the Growth Navigation Program, you’ll meet one-on-one with a senior growth strategist for a three-hour session to sharpen your thinking. This is a focused session to help you reflect, prioritise, and turn direction into action.
Together you’ll test your thinking, build a stronger plan, and clarify what needs to happen next.
A Market Scan
*Available to 10 selected businesses
Data Driven insights
A Six-Week Strategic Market Research Project Tailored to Your Business
This intensive research project delivers deep, commercial insights into your market, customers, competitors, and the broader ecosystem you operate in. It’s designed to uncover the size, drivers, and dynamics of alternative target markets, highlighting “white space” opportunities where your business can grow.
A key focus is identifying potential strategic partnerships that can accelerate market entry. These may include joint ventures, alliances, distribution agreements, or licensing deals; all aimed at scaling efficiently while reducing entry costs and mitigating risk.
At the end of the six weeks, you’ll receive:
A comprehensive market intelligence report (100+ pages)
A set of growth scenarios outlining viable paths forward, including what each option involves and where the greatest opportunities lie
This is not generic research, it’s focused, actionable, and commercially grounded. It’s the kind of insight that has powered many of New Zealand’s most successful growth stories being built on strategic clarity, not chance.
Who It’s For
This opportunity is for Māori business owners who:
Want to grow, locally or internationally
Are ready to think differently about their business
Value clarity, structure, and practical tools
Are willing to invest time in the process
What You’ll Walk Away With
A clearer view of your business and its potential
A growth strategy grounded in commercial thinking
Practical tools to support decision-making and team alignment
Confidence to act on your ambition
Strategic insight into your target market (if selected for Market Scan)
Frequently Asked Questions
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The Accelerator is designed for ambitious Māori business owners and leaders looking to gain clarity and confidence in making bold growth decisions. If you're serious about scaling your business, this programme is for you.
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You'll gain:
A structured framework to navigate business growth.
Clarity on market opportunities, strategic moves, and a roadmap for growth.
Confidence to make bold growth moves.
Access to the D/srupt Growth Navigation Platform
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The Accelerator: Either a single in-person day, or four weeks with four live sessions (2 hours each).
The Clarity Workshop: A single 3-hour session.
The Market Scan: A six-week process including three 1.5-hour online workshops.
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Thanks to Te Puni Kōkiri’s investment it is completely free to you, but places are limited
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Simply fill out the application form using the “apply now” on this page.
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To get the full value from the Te Puni Kōkiri Export Acceleration Program, you need to attend either the full in-person day or all four online sessions. Each part builds on the last, giving you a structured way to think about your business and make confident growth decisions.
Dsrupt is a New Zealand-based company that helps ambitious business owners grow with clarity, structure, and intent. They’ve been doing this work for over a decade, supporting hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses across Aotearoa.
Their work spans industries: manufacturing, food and beverage, tech, tourism, professional services, and more. They’re known for their calm, focused approach, and for helping owners cut through complexity to make better decisions.
At the centre of their work is the Dsrupt Growth Platform. This is a strategic tool that helps business owners see their business as a whole, across four key dimensions: Market, Offer, Operations, and Ownership. It gives structure to conversations that are often messy or stuck, and turns strategy from something abstract into something useful and clear.
The Dsrupt team includes experienced strategists, facilitators, and researchers. They’ve led hundreds of sessions with business owners and leadership teams, helping them find clarity, align around purpose, and move forward with intent.
They don’t offer generic advice. They don’t pretend to have all the answers. What they do is help business owners think more clearly about what matters, and build a plan they believe in.
