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