Social Enterprise & Government Turn to the person on your right and say Kia Orana… and now turn to the person on your left and say may you live well… and now turn to the person on your right and say you are beautiful… my name is Ina Michael and today I’ll will share a little about the story of a Cook Islands Community Organisation called CIDANZ developing social enterprises in New Zealand

FROM THE COOK ISLANDS Rarotonga, Cook Islands So where did it all start… my parents come from a beautiful (small) country call the Cook Islands but opportunities were limited so…

Auckland, New Zealand They travelled here to Auckland, New Zealand… and like many migrant families to give their children better opportunities. As they started life in their new home country, they worked 12 hour days working in factories. It was a real struggle for my parents, and out of their struggle… whether it was my destiny or not, my career as a social entrepreneur would start at 12 years old with my first venture becoming the world’s best golf ball finder and reseller… I wish! Anyway serious this is how learnt about responding to my parents struggle and finding a solution… [then tell the golf ball finding story] … for many Cook Island families adapting to life in NZ was a struggle… today we have a over 65,000 Cook Islanders living in New Zealand and for many their struggle puts pressure on the NZ State system…

So what do we do as Cook Islanders So what do we do as Cook Islanders?! Do we embrace change and go into the future?

Darwin put it that… as Cook Islanders, even with the benefit of dual citizenship, we struggled to respond to change and with it were faced with some serious social and economic issues…

10 years ago, a bunch of youngish volunteer professionals came together and said we needed to respond to issues facing Cook Islanders in New Zealand and so we created CIDANZ from scratch… I was the foundational CEO and given my background as world’s best golf ball finder and re-seller (jokes) we created a portfolio of one branded social enterprises… the one reflected our hope and desire for unity and prosperity…

This is life as we have it… how do we navigate this?

2001 – 2009: THE INAUGURAL YEARS

2009 – 2010: THE YOUTHFUL YEARS

2011 – 2014: THE NURTURING YEARS

2015 & BEYOND: THE CULTIVATION YEARS

Social Enterprises

Outcomes with Government Culture & Heritage Preservation Family Enterprises Cultural Tourism Co-operatives Outcomes with Government Community-led Development Early Learning Centres New Jobs Social Innovation & Incubation Social Housing New Health Services

WHY?

“It takes a Village to raise a Child” STAGE 3 – Open by 2020