Mana meets Machine: Māori Voices in Tech

Amber Taylor is an award-winning tech founder, strategist, and storyteller exploring how technology can bring people and culture closer together. Drawing on her experience leading innovative projects and her global ventures Native Sentient and Launch Mode HQ, she is shaping the future of tech in Aotearoa and beyond. Amber is passionate about opening pathways for young people and underrepresented groups, blending Māori worldviews with tools like AI, geolocation, and gamification. She believes technology should not only drive growth but also strengthen culture, wellbeing, and care for the planet.

Brittany Teei is an award-winning entrepreneur, business strategist, and founder of ventures across technology, education, and finance. She is the driving force behind 3BagsFull (3BF), dedicated to creating cradle-to-career pathways into tech and finance for Māori and Pacific communities, and is also the founder of KidsCoin and Learn English Live.

Brittany is passionate about building enterprises that succeed commercially while creating lasting impact for people and communities. She balances entrepreneurial leadership with governance roles and is recognised for bridging vision with execution, helping others see opportunity in challenge. Her mission is to inspire the next generation to build future-focused, sustainable, globally connected businesses.

Being a Māmā at 17 to Waiaria motivated Haylee to move through the University of Waikato Law school and into legal practice across Waikato and Tāmaki Makaurau, before joining Fonterra for 10 years.  During this time, she was part of the Maniapoto Māori Trust Board, Chair of Te Reo o Tainui (radio) and continues to support a whānau-owned tourist entity.

Now working as Group Governance Manager at Tū Ātea (a Māori-owned tech group), Haylee brings over 25 years of corporate and governance experience to help organisations move beyond tick-box exercises and surface-level commitments. Haylee’s practical, future-focused approach empowers leaders to align environmental, social, and governance priorities with long-term business success, ensuring genuine progress and accountability.

Maru Nihoniho is a game designer and producer passionate about Indigenous storytelling. She believes culture-based games are powerful tools for engagement, learning, and connection. As founder of Metia Interactive, she has written, designed, and developed Māori games including Tākaro (teaching coding concepts), Sparx (teaching rangatahi to manage depression), Māori Pā Wars (a strategic tower defense). She is also the creator and producer of Guardian Maia, an epic tale of a Māori woman navigating a dystopian Aotearoa. Maru’s goal is to create meaningful, culturally rich games that share unique stories with an authentic Indigenous voice.

Mike is the Managing Director of AMA, known for his Te Hapua roots and his relentless drive in both business and thought. A former teacher and principal, he brings a wealth of experience in education and leadership. Always juggling multiple ideas, he thrives in dynamic environments and excels at turning vision into action. Passionate about creating pathways for rangatahi, Mike is at his best when surrounded by whānau, where his energy and commitment to both whānau and business shine.

Tam Roberts is Head of Business Development at BlinkPay NZ, a Māori-founded fintech pioneering open banking in Aotearoa. With extensive experience in business development across the IT and SaaS sectors, Tam has a proven track record in sales, business planning, and people management. He leads BlinkPay’s growth strategy, building partnerships with banks, enterprises, and councils to expand adoption of secure, bank-approved payment solutions. Tam combines commercial expertise with a strong commitment to trust, inclusion, and innovation, helping make payments easier, safer, and more accessible for all New Zealanders.

Kōtui is a leading edtech business leaning into indigenous principles to develop conscientious and innovative technology that brings learning to life.

Te Ariki draws on a mix of audacious ambition, being a haututū, hyper-competitiveness, and an inherited propensity to work, to create a business that is woven with culture, purpose driven, innovative and commercially astute with excellent growth opportunity. His pride as Managing Director, however, lies within his team, there is nothing more important in a startup than a great team and Kōtui has this in spades.