Ricky Fife is telling his life story during Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.
He started as a packer in a Mosgiel red meat processing plant, and now leads Silver Fern Farms’ cultural progression in a senior role.
Mr Fife (Kai Tahu, Te Atiawa, Ngāpuhi) joined the company in 2006.
A decade later, his career took another turn within the company when he was asked to lead the company’s Māori kaupapa development, a statement from the Meat Industry Association said.
About 30% of Silver Fern Farms’ workforce - 6000 workers at the height of the season - identified as Māori.
In 2021, the company’s executive signed off on the "Te Ara Huri" programme, which means "a turning pathway".
The goal was to enrich Silver Fern Farms’ understanding and strengthen its connection to te ao Māori through four key pillars, or pou: cultural progression, inclusion, partnerships and relationships and wai-whenua, water-land.
Early the following year, Mr Fife was asked to lead the programme.
"It was a huge change for me and a leap of faith, but the biggest factor in my decision was wanting to ensure that the programme came together in the way we had envisioned it," he said.
"For the company to achieve cultural progression, we needed to take people who were not steeped in te ao Māori on the journey.
"Doing this first is critical. You have to learn about the fundamentals like history, tikanga and kaupapa to enable development."
The modules the company created covered Māori concepts such as storytelling.
They looked at basic te reo and at Māori society pre-colonisation, the roles of the marae, the pa, the concept of whānau, hapū, iwi and the specifics of the Treaty, te Tiriti o Waitangi.
They were made available to staff last year.
There had been strong uptake and feedback had been positive, Mr Fife said.
"It’s an ongoing process. The programme is underpinned by site visits, promoting our modules, holding wānanga across our network.
"You can feel a wave of Māori development as we progress with Te Ara Huri," Mr Fife said.
