I have spent the last 2 years living on the central plateau, where the natural wonders of NZ are in abundance. I was lucky enough to experience a lot of what was on offer. Magnificent mountains, largest fresh water lake in the southern hemisphere, fly fishing & tramping. It was here that I came across Pianika & Luke, from www.raftingnewzealand.com

Here you have the best of Tourism NZ, this entrepreneurial couple have successfully created an adventure company with growing sales in additional cafe & guided tours.

Business Tip – Pianika Boddington

Here is some advice from Pianika, three tips for people starting out in business.

• Get a good Financial Advisor – To help with your budget, so you have a good idea on what your target income is and to thoroughly analyse your expenditure.
• Research your business/market. Know it inside out.
• Systems – put In place systems for every aspect of your business.

Pianikas tribal affiliations: Ngati Maniapoto/Ngati Porou and Te Arawa

The programme has been operating since August 2009 and will be completed by March 2010.  Nearly 50 Maori Tourism operators have been benefiting from comprehensive business development mentoring from a range of assessors and mentors in business development, marketing, qualmark, Maori Tourism and online marketing.  You can find out more about the programme on the Tautoko website.  It is hoped that the programme will be repeated again with a new group of businesses for start in 2010.