Inaugural Whātua Whitawhita Scholarship Recipients Set to Lead New Zealand’s Digital Future

Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua has announced the inaugural recipients of the Whātua Whitawhita (Powering Up) Scholarship, a new initiative designed to propel Māori rangatahi into the forefront of the technology and digital innovation sectors. Manaia Acott Hodge Te Paa and LaDainian Faimanifo have been named as the first two innovators to receive the award, which aims to ensure the future of New Zealand’s tech industry is shaped by Māori identity and whakapapa. Developing the scholarship in partnership with innovation organisation Revved, the rūnanga is looking to address the underrepresentation of Māori in fast-growing digital fields. According to the report from Waatea News on 29 July 2026, the programme provides more than just financial support. Both Acott Hodge Te Paa and Faimanifo will receive high-level mentoring from industry and iwi leaders, introductions to investors, and professional networking opportunities. They are also set to attend the Revved 2026 Summit, an event connecting hundreds of technology and business leaders from across Aotearoa. The recipients bring diverse interests to the programme. Manaia Acott Hodge Te Paa is focused on digital storytelling, using photography, videography, and social media marketing to make kaupapa Māori accessible to a wider audience. LaDainian Faimanifo, a software engineering student, aims to build interactive technologies that integrate Māori perspectives into the industry’s future. This initiative joins a broader movement of Māori-led organisations, such as Rotorua’s Digital Natives Academy, which advocate for embedding tikanga Māori within technical training like coding and robotics. By treating digital tools as a means of protecting mātauranga Māori and creating Indigenous business solutions, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua views this scholarship as a long-term investment in a pipeline of Māori engineers and creators capable of designing technology that benefits iwi and wider society.