Background:

Supplier diversity organisation Amotai holds an annual conference called Navigate Summit, which recognises the added value Māori and Pasifika businesses bring to public and private sector supply ​​chains across Aotearoa, New Zealand. 

Challenges:

For the 2023 Summit, Amotai wished to capture the positive impact of its procurement policy, which was to preference Māori and Pasifika suppliers across as many elements as possible for its event planning and delivery. Additionally, Amotai wanted to raise the bar for the Summit attendee experience, delivering a highly professional event program that was accessible and engaging. 

Solutions:

Māori-owned Professional Conference Organiser, Auaha was appointed to deliver the 2023 event. The organising committee and Auaha team sourced and engaged Māori and Pasifika owned businesses wherever possible to supply goods and services for the Summit, from photography to speaker gifts and audio-visual provider. On top of this, a new, enhanced conference experience was launched, using instant badging at registration (instead of pre-printed badges) and launching an immersive event mobile app.

Outcome:

An impressive 85% of the suppliers involved were owned by Māori or Pasifika individuals, accounting for 57% of the Summit’s total budget expenditure. The only exceptions were venue and its appointed caterers, which could not be sourced alternatively. Navigate Summit 2023 not only set a new precedent by showcasing the benefits of hosting a conference primarily supported by Māori or Pasifika businesses but also established a benchmark for advancing diversity across the entire supply chain for business events globally. Furthermore. the Summit implemented an enhanced delegate journey, enabling quicker and more professional attendee check-in process onsite and increased engagement with the program content via the mobile app. 

 NB In May 2024, Auaha was acquired by Arinex.