Te Aka AI - a partnership

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AI built for kaupapa Māori, right here in Aotearoa

Most AI tools were built for one person at a desk. They were not built for a Māori business programme running cohorts of SME owners, connecting them with tuakana mentors, and trying to measure outcomes that matter to funders and community alike.

Te Aka AI is different. It is a customised Ask Astro workspace built specifically for Te Matarau a Maui's programme, Te Aka Pakihi, and it is the model we now offer to Māori business networks across Aotearoa.

What Te Aka AI does

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Te Aka AI gives Maori SME participants a thinking partner that helps them run their businesses from within -- not a workshop they attend and then leave behind.

Participants use it to:

  • Draft documents, contracts, and business cases
  • Research competitors and market opportunities
  • Build onboarding systems and processes
  • Prepare for mentor sessions and follow up on actions
  • Get a reality check on assumptions before making decisions

At the same time, the programme team uses Ask Astro to run the programme itself -- managing cohort administration, board governance, reporting to funders, and keeping all organisational knowledge in one place.

Built on a kaupapa Māori foundation

The tool is configured with a knowledge base that reflects the programme's kaupapa, structure, and the needs of Māori SME participants. It is not a generic AI assistant with a Māori logo on it.

The approach is human-centred throughout. Te Aka AI amplifies what people can already do. It gives them better context, faster answers, and a system that remembers. Final decisions always rest with the person. The AI provides the thinking support, the participant provides the judgement, the relationships, and the accountability.

Each organisation's data is held in its own encrypted environment. It is never shared between clients, and it is never used to train AI models.

The Programme Delivery Partner model

Ask Astro works with Maori business networks as Programme Delivery Partners. We configure a Te Aka AI workspace for your programme, train your team, and support each cohort as it runs.

The model compounds over time: a programme subscription covers the cohort and your team, and graduates who continue using Ask Astro after the programme ends become direct subscribers.

The second cohort of Te Aka Pakihi is underway in Wellington. We are now expanding this model to further Maori business networks around the motu.

Register for Te Aka Pakihi