Te Haa o Manukau...

(Source: Te Haa o Manukau website)

A couple of days ago, I attended a Pasifika Businesses Social Enterprise seminar at the Te Haa o Manukau, Creative space which was my absolute first time there.

It was an interesting meeting in which we as business owners or interested peoples had the opportunity to talk and network together on what Pasifika Social Enterprises (might) look like. We were able to share our stories and also some insights as to our perspectives of what was happening for us in the various businesses that we were involved in.

The interesting thing I learned from the group discussions was the idea that in fact Pasifika churches are a form of Social Enterprise in that many are run like businesses and have a charitable arm that supports and helps its community as well as the day to day paying of bills and providing services for families, individuals and communities that are often paid for as well.

This was a new way of looking at churches because I hadn't thought of that aspect of churches like that but it was certainly something to consider in that many businesses are looking at ways in which they can invest into community interests or needs from the profits that are made in businesses.

I also learnt that there are 7 different stages from being a business run only for profits to the charity that is only there for support the needs often of a community of people or for other charitable needs of the community i.e. fundraising for animal shelters etc.

All in all, it was a good space to share and to consider what the future might look like for our communities with more interest and understandings around what Pasifika Social Enterprises might look like in the future...