impact magazine june issue

8/16/2019 Impact magazine June issue

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Showcasing Social Enterprisein Aotearoa – New Zealand

JUNE


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The Patu concept is a national

social franchise model for a group

exercise programme designed for

Māori and Pasifika.

When Levi Armstrong says Patu Aotearoa is a

gang, he knows what he’s talking about – he

grew up around gang members, with his father

and uncles in the Hastings Mongrel Mob.

“You can’t separate yourself from your whānau.It’s not great being labelled as a gang affiliatebecause we have family members in gangs,

but we know we’re making a difference.”

And that difference, Levi says, is this gang is

about fighting obesity through health and

fitness.

Levi says it’s hard for people to understand

gangs if you haven’t been part of it. His own

father joined a gang when he was 16.

“My dad had nothing and was looking fora group of mates. And that’s what we’re

trying to create at Patu – an alternativebrotherhood for rangitahi (youth) who arelooking for a family.

“Patu is our own gang, with our own patch,our own clubs around the motu (island), butwithout the alcohol, drugs and crime.”

Levi worked at a timber mill after school and

started slipping down a pathway to trouble.

“I was hanging with the wrong crowd and getting into drugs. When my first son wasborn, it helped me realise I wanted more.”

He started a degree in sports and recreation

at the Eastern Institute of Technology at the

age of 20.

“My daughter was born in my third year soI was studying and working part-time andbeing a dad – it was a lot of work.”

Levi says it wasn’t until his last semester of

his third year of study that he found what he

wanted to focus on – Māori health.

“Through my studies and my experienceworking at a gym, I identified where the gapwas, where there was the most need. I wasshocked at the health inequities Māori andPacific Island people face. We started triallingour approach with whānau coming into the gym straightaway and got positive responses.”

Along with Jackson Waerea and Kia Diamond,

the team started as a limited liability company

but came across other organisations

operating as charitable trusts and accessing

grants to do similar work. Levi found a paper

on social enterprise and tracked down Ākina.

A fitness gang fighting obesity – Patu Aotearoa

Impact magazine is an

occasional series highlighting

the incredible achievements of

the long-standing and rapidly

growing social enterprise sector

in New Zealand.

Issued by Ākina Foundation, it

features interviews with social

enterprise leaders around the

country and shares insights

into ways to help advance thesector.

This edition features Patu

Aotearoa, an organisation that

Ākina has worked with since

2014.

Ākina is a Māori word meaning a call for bold action. It also conveys a spirit of watchful and

active encouragement, helping others to identify pathways through their challenges.

Find out more about social enterprise in New Zealand and other ventures at:

www.akina.org.nz, email [email protected] or phone 04 384 9676.

Photography thanks to Bev Meldrum www.bevmeldrum.com

Jointventures

Transitionnot-for-profits

Socialbusinessstart-ups

Māorienterprise

Communityenterprises

Lee Waerea is an ex-gang member who is

turning around his life

Levi Armstrong

with basketball


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“Ākina was running a social enterpriseworkshop in Gisborne. We travelled up to seeif we fitted in and loved it. Next we applied for Launchpad and attended the warm-upsin Wellington – we were sure we were on tosomething good.”

“Now I feel like I’m advocating for socialenterprise all the t ime.”

Patu won the People’s Choice award at the

2015 Launchpad programme, Ākina’s social

enterprise accelerator programme, and now

has gyms in Napier, Hastings and Wairoa,

with a site opening in Kaikohe in June. Patu

is also mobile and visits schools, marae and

workplaces.

Levi co-authored a report in the New Zealand

Population Health Congress 2014 proceedings,

which included quotes from participants. One

quote sums it up: “It’s just so encouraging, you feel comfortable, just like at home. Wedon’t see each other as just gym members;we see each other as whānau.”

“Your typical Patu person is an average Joe.Some have never been to a gym before orhaven’t exercised in the past 20 years. Weoffer motivation and support in a comfyenvironmental – there is no lycra!”

Levi says while getting fit and active brings

people in the door, Patu is more of an urban

marae than a gym and offers budgeting and

nutrition advice as well as other support.

“We’ve set up a health indicator tool calledthe ‘meke meter’ that helps us get a betterunderstanding of someone’s overall mental,social and physical health. We ask questionsabout motivation and self-image as well ascollecting data like blood pressure, weightand percentage fat, then measure it againafter 12 weeks to identify where they’veimproved.”

One area that makes a big impact overall is

financial literacy as it connects to being able

to make healthy eating choices, says Levi.

The team always wanted to create a social

atmosphere with positive male Māori role

models. He says some people are doing

things they never though they could – joining

sports teams, joining the workforce, no longer

committing crimes.

“Seeing the smiles on the faces of your ownwhānau, seeing them achieve their goals,seeing the camaraderie and sense ofbelonging – that’s the real buzz.”

Levi says they are even taking their approach

to gang members, working with leaders in

gangs.

Patu

Establi shed in 2012

Operating model Limited liability

company

Number empl oyed 14

Annual turnover $123k (2015) – predicted

to double in 2016

Website www.patunz.com

“Gang members are joining Patu and are getting jobs. We want to support young ones so theycan make choices and don’t have to follow thatpathway. Gang members want the best for theirkids – they can’t always show it.”

Patu is now developing its own accelerator

programme to help people across Aotearoa start

up their own Patu gym.

“We want to scale up more efficiently so we’recreating a Patu accelerator and looking New

Zealand-wide. We’re aiming to run a miniLaunchpad with eight participants over the nextsix to 12 months with us supporting them.”

Levi says it’s a privilege and an honour to

do this work.

Patu is changing lives, including their own.

h Whatarau is one of the Patu trainers and is studying for a Degree in Sports and Recreation

Ben Tahau enjoys Patu

with his whānau - his

wife and children all

attend

■ 2015 winners of the People’s Choice award inthe Launchpad programme

■ 1,500 whānau members engaged in Patu inHawke’s Bay

■ Average weight loss over 12 weeks is 5-6kg

■ A Te Puni Kōkiri 2014 evaluation reportstated “Patu is achieving some outstandingresults in terms of positive life changes forparticipants”

■ 2016 winners of the Sports Hawkes Bay SBSBank Innovation in Sport and Recreationaward.


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Why social enterprise?

Social enterprises use commercial models to deliver

on social and environmental goals. They can use

a variety of legal structures including companies,

charitable trusts, joint ventures, and collectives.

Commercialmethods +financially

self-sustaining

Social &environmental

impact

$

The advantage social enterprises present

is that they deliver:

■ Inclusive economic development: fostering

entrepreneurship, creating jobs, and tacklingdisadvantage

■ Innovation: solving persistent social andenvironmental problems in new ways, and

■ Independence: proliferating local solutionsthat harness community ideas, resources, andleadership.

There is no special legal form for social

enterprises, says Russell McVeagh solicitor Sam

Green and as a result they come in different

shapes and sizes with different legal forms.

Sam says the area is not easy. “What you mightexpect to be charitable because it addresses

a social problem doesn’t always meet thedefinition of charitable under the law. Thatmakes it a good idea to seek advice early.”

He says some social enterprises fall outside

the charities law test by providing “private

pecuniary benefit” – this can happen when

owners of the enterprise receive profits or when

only a narrow group of individuals supported by

the enterprise receive the benefits or profits.

Sam says unless a social enterprise is charitable

under the law, it does not receive legal benefits

for the social value it contributes.

Ākina’s Emma Geard adds: “A social enterprise withoutcharitable status may struggleto access the limited pool ofsocial funding. Plus it canalso struggle to get investorson board because investors

generally only focus on thecommerciality of an enterprise.”

“With a lack of recognition forsocial enterprise, and even

awareness around the approachof seeking both social and

financial outcomes,it can be hard

work to grow.

Start out on the right foot – get advice early

Ākina Foundation CEO Alex Hannant says Patu started as

a limited liability company with a clear social mission, but

there are different ways for social enterprises to structure

themselves. Russell McVeagh has worked with Ākina

providing pro bono legal advice to ventures, and to Ākina

itself, since 2012.

However, a successful social enterprise is a game changer – large-scale solutions comewhen financial growth and making a difference go hand in hand.”

Sam says new models designed for social

enterprises have been created in the USA,

Canada, UK and other European countries,such as community interest companies. He

says the most common legal forms that

social enterprises operate as in New Zealand

are charitable trusts, incorporated societies

or charitable companies, or in the case of

non-charitable social enterprises, they use

conventional business structures such as

companies.

“There are no more fishhooks in one legal formthan there are in another – what matters is thatthe structure suits your needs and that you’re familiar with the legal duties involved.”

“An incorporated charitable trust board isstructurally similar to a charitable company,which there are far fewer of, but charitablecompanies seem to be becoming more popular.”

An incorporated society suits enterprises

with a natural membership base, he says, but

warns that incorporated societies can be more

cumbersome to administer.

A business structure without charitable status

has the ability to be more flexible as it is not

limited to the restricted range of activities

permitted by charities law.

The key is choosing something, he says.

“Creating an organisation without a structurecan be risky – you need to think about limitingliability for the individuals involved.”

Sam Green, www.russellmcveagh.com

The Ākina Foundation

supports people with ideas

to drive positive social and

environmental change through

social enterprise.

Its vision is for a sustainable,

prosperous and inclusive world.

Ākina offers workshops, one-

on-one support, consultancy

and investment services,

regional and national

partnerships, accelerator

programmes and international

connections, and works with a

wide range of organisations all

around New Zealand.


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\Get involved!

Register for an intro workshop, apply for coaching,

sign up for the Ākina newsletter, get involved as a

mentor or volunteer, or find out how to invest in

social enterprise.

email [email protected]

phone 04 384 9676

www.akina.org.nz

impact magazine june issue

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