It’s hard to know where to start when you’re trying to upskill, become more financially literate or buy a home. Whanake, the Waikato-Tainui team responsible for supporting the economic development of over 80,000 tribal members, wanted to create a comprehensive range of services and resources to make these things feel more achievable.

They tasked Nui to create a central hub where tribal members could connect with this kaupapa and start their own journey.

We started by speaking to tribal members to find out what their experiences of the home ownership, financial literacy and employment were. We published these stories, and then designed and developed an online space offering everything tribal members need to know about access to housing, financial literacy, pakihi support and more.

We created content like Tahua Talks a series of refreshingly honest koorero about puutea (money), quick tips, opportunities to increase your knowledge and practical free courses.

One of the common features of the stories we published was that many tribal members did not yet realised how capable they already were of purchasing their first home. For these people, it wasn't until they met with a mortgage broker who pre-qualified them that they thought 'hey, I might actually be able to do this."

With this understanding and our Co-Founder Leilani's experience in residential property development, we created the first home deposit calculator. A calculator available online, where tribal members can calculate what deposit they may already have in savings, KiwiSaver and income and what other assistance they may be eligible for through Kāinga Ora.

The calculator is now a key aspect of the financial literacy courses offered by the tribe and can also be used as a pre-qualifying tool for those applying to purchase homes being developed by the tribe.

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