Transcript
The Tupu Tek Pasifika Internships offer a programme to encourage Pacific learners to take up paid work experience within the tech industry.
It is a partnership between Summer of Tech, an IT internship programme in New Zealand, and the Ministry of Innovation Business and Employment.
MBIE Senior Advisor for Pasifika Tele'a Andrews says business technology and economic development are often an overlooked career choice among Pacific people.
"The tech sector offers those opportunities, those opportunities to upskill and have transferable skills and also enter into higher wage jobs. And that is the interest for me in terms of the future."
Tele'a Andrews says many people are also creative and the potential to develop this skill set in a digital native space is needed.
"It's a no brainer. We have to be ahead of the curve in terms of preparing for the future. And I really think that technology is obviously going to be one of the drivers of what economic development looks like in the future for a small country like New Zealand. And Pacific people need to know how to partake in that or we need to be supported in a way that leverage our strengths and ask what are the opportunities here that we have to offer in this space and for me it is exciting. "
The Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific Business Trust, Kim Tuaine [pron Twine-ee] says they are focussed on strengths within communities.
"Clearly creative is a big area of strength within Pasifika communities and there are a lot of young people who are tech savvy and emerging as tech entrepreneurs and I guess, for us, it is just such a really great opportunity to showcase whats emerging within communities, and give them an opportunity to network with each other and maybe explore, collaborating or new ideas. So it is about giving a space for that to happen. "
Kim Tuaine says it is not solely for youth.
"Looking at technology to develop enterprises is something that all ages of the community can explore and we are focused on developing business opportunities, investment pathways for those types of pathways and commercial skills surrounding them. And then giving people access to different networks."
PacHack or the Pacific Tech Hackathon is another initiative underway for people to attend a workshop to develop ideas.
Educator Don Smith says Enspiral Dev Academy wanted to sponsor PacHack to increase the diversity of people in the sector.
"We found that the impact that having increased diversity increases the applicability of the solutions that we are building because the people that are building it have diverse backgrounds. So its not just gender diversity or cultural diversity, but all, all kinds of diversity and so this means a lot more to us because we could be getting more people into technology."
The Pasifika and Tech-Building Creative Futures event was organised by the Pacific Business Trust, Creative New Zealand and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment.
