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Entrepreneur taking South Auckland storytelling tech to Dubai
An award-winning wahine tech CEO whose new game animates South Auckland historical stories has been chosen as one of just two edutech businesses to represent Aotearoa at January’s World Expo in Dubai.
Amber Taylor is CEO of ARA Journeys, which is about to launch Tuwhiri, an augmented reality app created to make South Auckland Māori historical narratives come alive.
Taylor was chosen to represent New Zealand because ARA Journeys – which is 100% Māori owned and describes itself as an ethical games developer – combines indigenous tech with NZ female entrepreneurship.
An award-winning wahine tech CEO whose new game animates South Auckland historical stories has been chosen as one of just two edutech businesses to represent Aotearoa at January’s World Expo in Dubai.
Amber Taylor is CEO of ARA Journeys, which is about to launch Tuwhiri, an augmented reality app created to make South Auckland Māori historical narratives come alive.
Taylor was chosen to represent New Zealand because ARA Journeys – which is 100% Māori owned and describes itself as an ethical games developer – combines indigenous tech with NZ female entrepreneurship.
Expo 2020 – which actually runs October 2021 to March 2022, having been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic – is significant because only a handful of entrepreneurs get to represent their country at the event.
Tuwhiri can be thought of as like Pokémon Go, although users pursue pop-up augmented reality Māori history rather than cuddly critters.
Creating Tuwhiri was a natural next step for Taylor (Ngāti Whātua, Ngapuhi, Ngāti Mutunga), who co-founded ARA Journeys in 2018. The concept of Tuwhiri appealed to Taylor because it helps urban Māori reconnect with indigenous knowledge which has been paved over with centuries of migration and development.
“My team and I were inspired to create Tuwhiri because I’ve been in South Auckland all my life but my tūpuna are from Taranaki and I had never heard the Māori narratives of this place,” Taylor says. “The stories in Tuwhiri are stories I thought we might have learnt at school, or even seen more visibly in the community. I grew up in Ōtara which, to me, has always had a strong Pasifika cultural identity, while Papatoetoe, Māngere and Manurewa seemed to have either very little or no Māori narratives, so Tuwhiri is a platform that can help us reconnect to local history.”
“Using technology in this way enables us to bring our stories to life in a fun and engaging way – gamify them, in other words. I grew up as an Urban Māori, and my children are too, so Tuwhiri is a way for them to connect to their culture and our history, no matter where in the country – or world – they might live.”
Tuwhiri – which means ‘revealing something hidden’– is downloadable as a mobile app and is aimed at all people, from new tourists and migrants to Tauiwi and Māori residents. Beginning with a focus on Tāmaki Makaurau, the app will soon animate Māori stories across Aotearoa. Users download the app, plan the locations of their journey (whakamaheretia), roam/explore (tūhurahia), and collect (kohia) items such as kumara and pounamu in exchange for real world discount codes (ngā hua) to be spent at local businesses. The app encourages users to pursue quests and improve their physical fitness through walking. For example, a user can wander around Ambury Regional Park and learn about the ancient stories of the Manukau Harbour, and enjoy sounds, images and maps which make characters come alive on screen.
Before co-founding ARA Journeys with Dr Isaac Warbrick, Taylor worked in the tertiary sector for 18 years, much of it focused on research and innovation in emerging technologies. Taylor is a business mentor, National Digital Forum Auckland Regional Ambassador, Young Business Leaders member and USA Female Founded Club NZ scout.
Taylor hopes Tuwhiri will encourage more Māori and Pasifika to consider tech as a career pathway. “I want people to instantly recognise the Tuwhiri app as being uniquely Māori at first glance, rather than something developed offshore – it’s important that our younger generations see there is a place for culture in tech and that embracing their culture can lead to opportunities here and overseas.”
The World Expo is massive for ARA Journeys because United Arab Emirates is celebrating STEM in the Arab world, having sent a satellite to Mars operated by 80% female staff. Taylor is looking forward to being part of the New Zealand Education delegation and speaking to audiences keen to learn about the potential of indigenous female entrepreneurs.
In Dubai, a four-day programme arranged by Education New Zealand (the crown agency responsible for promoting New Zealand education to international markets) will centre on the Expo’s International Day of Education (January 24).
ARA Journeys’s previous creations include ‘Journeys of Manu’ in which an AR character narrates 12 stone carvings under Maramataka (the calendar), as well as Ahi Kaa Rangers, a mobile app game which combines environmental science and indigenous knowledge and which won the Unity for Humanity Award this year. ARA Journeys was a 2019 NZ Hi Tech Awards finalist, has created tech for clients across the Pacific, and was invited to present at Asia’s largest tech conference in 2019.
