When shearing contractor Jock Martin (Te Arawa, Ngā Kaihautū) started out in 1988, New Zealand had 70 million sheep - fast forward to 2012 and stock numbers have halved. The past 24-years has seen huge changes in the industry: a shrinking workforce, different business practices, new employment contracts, changing health and safety rules as well as new drug and alcohol policies.

In 2005, Jock met with a Te Puni Kōkiri business mentor. This was the start of his working relationship with the Māori Business Facilitation Service (MBFS). Jock admits the mentoring programme ”knocked the dust off” and helped with general business practice which at the time he knew little about.

“I never passed one subject in school certificate and here I was running a business turning over a million dollars. What I did know was how to get up early and work hard until very late, to do our best to please our farming clients and staff,” said Jock.

“This is when I realised our staff are our business. We are only ever as good as our worst staff member hence my saying, shearing is more than a job.”

A year later Jock was at a Māori business hui listening to guest speakers, Sir Tipene O’Reagan and Matt Te Pou and says he could completely relate to their experiences.

“It was like the elements of a shearing gang; co-ordinating people and getting the best out of them to realise their potential. It was about tradition and whānau working as a team to achieve results.”

In 2008 Jock was invited to the launch of the NZ Shearing Industry’s Best Practice Guidelines where he was impressed by many young Māori competitors who were proud of their heritage and loved what they were doing. However, Jock also knew the industry had underlying issues so he and others met with Te Puni Kōkiri for help to conduct a survey which revealed some astounding results.

“Ninety percent of our team are Māori. We also confirmed the issues that needed more attention and got involved with Te Waka Hauora (Public Health South) to address them. As a result I feel the whole industry has benefited”.

More recently Jock reconnected with Te Puni who linked him with an MBFS client, Brandon Terekia, who designed Jock’s brand with Māori workers and clients in mind.

“Te Puni Kōkiri has definitely helped me with confidence and understanding the business. I was very nervous at the start, once I got over that I had one regret - I wished I had this advice well before now.”