Jack Keogh
Master of Entrepreneurship
Jack Keogh (Ngāpuhi, Tauranga Moana) believes Māori are born entrepreneurs – some of them just need to find the entrepreneurial spirit within themselves. Which is why the business studies teacher enrolled in the University of Otago's Master of Entrepreneurship programme in 2011, and why he's now taking his learning to the marae, to help others gain confidence in the world of business.
Jack saw the Master of Entrepreneurship programme as a practical means of progressing his business idea – to launch a marae-based literacy, numeracy and business skills programme for people seeking employment.
Jack has used his Entrepreneurship learning to develop a model for marae-based teaching which he says is more challenging to manage than traditional teaching models that typically have set timeframes and require students to come to the teacher in a classroom setting.
“Classrooms are a threatening place for Māori,” he says, “but on a marae you never fail. It's less threatening because the teacher is there to ensure that what is there to be taught will be taught.”
Currently he teaches his students the National Certificate in Employment Skills. He plans to follow that with skills that will help with self-employment.
“Māori have always been able to manage,” he says, “and most Māori have experience and skills, they just might not know how to tie that into business. I try to take the old ways of doing things and make them relatable today.
"Rather than studying someone who is foreign, for example, I get my students to study a chief and figure out what skills they would need to be a rangatira today – they'd have to understand financial skills and know how to use technology, for a start.”
Jack recalls the day his colleague on the meatworks line – who had been in the same job for 25 years – came in to announce he had bought his first house. It was the wake-up call Jack needed.
“I went to study because I could see that the people who were making the decisions in my life, like my boss and my landlord, had all done that,” he says.
Now Jack is deciding his own future.