The Triumph of Maori Entrepreneurs or Diverse Economies?

Abstract

Tuaropaki Power Company is the first Maori geothermal power company—a successful power company that built its own power station and sells electricity to the national grid in Aotearoa, New Zealand. After wresting their lands back from government control, the people of the Tuaropaki Trust are now an inspiration for other tribes when it comes to charting an independent direction. Tuaropaki Power Company is not only celebrated for charting an independent direction, but has also been held up as evidence that an independent direction for tribes lies in using corporate structures and a particular type of entrepreneurship. But is that all that the Tuaropaki Power Company represents? I argue that using a diverse economies framework allows for broader definitions of companies like Tuaropak, and for Maori economies more generally, and provides a richer picture of what is taking place.