Arama Kukutai, of Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto and Te Aupouri descent, is a global mover and shaker.
The venture capitalist, who lives in the USA, has just been appointed chief executive of a billion-dollar vertical farming company called Plenty.
But that's just one of the investment-backed companies he's involved in, and he's planning to open doors for rangatahi Māori wanting to step into his world.
Kukutai was one of the founders of a venture capital company Finistere Ventures that invests in agriculture and food companies around the world including New Zealand.
It has invested in New Zealand companies such as Sprout Agritech based in Palmerston North, one of the world’s leading ag and food accelerators. It is also in partnership with the likes of Walmart and Jeff Bezos.
Vertical farming is what Plenty specialises in, with Kukutai saying, “it’s about using fewer resources, it's about growing all year round, much higher quality. We don’t use pesticides or herbicides, we don’t have to wash the produce and it lasts longer in your fridge because shelf life is better with better nutrients.”
Even though he has lived in the United States for 16 years Kukutai still knows his roots and how to ensure rangatahi Māori will benefit from a future in food production.
“We are looking at new developments in food technology and we can look at them fearfully or we can think about how to embrace them.”
Kukutai has set up an internship for rangatahi Māori to get exposure to Silicon Valley.