Making Work More Awesome With Manaaki

In March 2020 New Zealand Businesses were thrust into the unknown as COVID19 forced many businesses to shut and everyone else to work from home.
Of the 550,000 businesses in NZ, around 440,000 are sole traders with no employees. During that first lockdown small business owners had more questions than answers and needed help.
Pat MacFie, Monty Betham and Andy Hamilton and their teams formed Manaaki, to help these business leaders access the information, knowledge and expertise they need to survive.
It started as a QnA forum and within weeks more than 100k businesses had engaged through questions, answers, comments, applications for support.
The team learnt that even in a small country like NZ communities and groups remain disconnected and isolated. And expertise is not evenly distributed.
Today Manaaki is a social platform (similar to LinkedIn, without the ads) with profiles, groups for topical QnA (in a safe, moderated environment), courses, events and much more to come.
Justin Flitter caught up with Manaaki General Manager, Rachel Adams to hear about the genesis of the project, where they are today and how you can get involved.
Manaaki is quickly bringing together those disparate groups, isolated by the digital platform they’re on or their physical location, connecting businesses with expertise.
Manaaki are making work more awesome and we love that.
So how can you get involved?
Whether you’re working inside a company, leading a business or keen to share your knowledge, Manaaki is a place for you.
Here are 5 groups you can join for free today; and there are plenty more to choose from, or create your own.
What The Buck$ – our Consult Recruitment group for employers and hiring managers
Career Hacks – Guidance for building fulfilling careers
All things Furbaby aka your pets – thumb-stoppers for cute laughs
AI New Zealand – events and discussions on Artificial Intelligence for business
Cyber Security for SME’s – share your expertise to help NZ businesses stay protected
Consult Recruitment
Recent Posts
You’ve got the interview. Now make it count
April 2026 Recruitment Market Update
Retention in 2026: What actually keeps people engaged?
Celebrating B Corp Month at Consult
What the heck is a coffee interview?
Fix in ‘26 – Economic Outlook Insights with Jarrod Kerr,…
Blog categories
Our latest blog posts.

Congratulations to the 2026 NZ Hi-Tech Award Winners!
Auckland, New Zealand: On Friday 22nd May, hundreds of NZ’s tech leaders, founders and innovators came together at Spark Arena

You’ve got the interview. Now make it count
You made it. The application landed, the CV did its job, and now you’re sitting with an interviewer for a

April 2026 Recruitment Market Update
A lot has happened since our last update in December. Between global trade tensions, rising fuel costs and continued inflationary
Hiring or job hunting? You’ll want this.
Get our latest What the Buck? Market Snapshot & Salary Report.
What the Buck? is proprietary research we run once a year. It’s fresh, NZ-specific and built to help businesses and professionals understand the job market and make better hiring and career decisions.