Pacific Business Trust

What Pacific Business Trust does

Pacific Business Trust (legally Pacific Islands Business Development Trust) is a New Zealand non-profit trust established in 1985 and headquartered in Auckland with a second office in Wellington. It operates as the designated Pacific economic development agency of Aotearoa New Zealand, delivering free and confidential programmes to more than 2,000 active Pacific-owned businesses that are at least 50% Pacific-owned with New Zealand residency or citizenship. Its primary funder is the Ministry of Pacific Peoples, with additional collaborative funding and programme support delivered through strategic partnerships with Amotai, Downer NZ, NZ Treasury, Auckland Unlimited, the Ministry of Social Development, and the Auckland Chamber of Commerce.

The trust's product portfolio comprises the Business Health Check (an initial assessment tool), a nationwide workshop programme covering accounting, tax, procurement, digital marketing, health & safety and other topics, an online community platform with a Service Provider Network directory, Customised Support (one-on-one business advisory), Procurement Support Services, the HATCH Pacific youth entrepreneur programme (18-35 cohort), and the annual Pacific Business Awards. Technology is non-proprietary and supports rather than defines the offering: the platform runs on Salesforce-backed member authentication and a standard web/analytics stack.

The business model is government-grant-funded non-profit operation rather than commercial revenue generation. All programmes are free to eligible Pacific-owned businesses, so revenue derives from Crown appropriations and partner contributions rather than fees, and pricing follows a freemium model with an annual reporting cadence to the Ministry of Pacific Peoples. Distribution is community-led and event-driven, with the online community, freephone line, two physical offices, and nationwide workshop tour forming the four primary go-to-market channels.

Name

Pacific Business Trust

Legal name

Pacific Islands Business Development Trust

Website

https://pacificbusiness.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Pacific Business Trust is a New Zealand non-profit trust that delivers free and confidential business advisory, workshops, procurement support, and community programmes to 2,000+ Pacific-owned businesses across Aotearoa New Zealand. It is funded primarily by the Ministry of Pacific Peoples.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Auckland

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: Primary revenue from government funding, specifically from the Ministry of Pacific Peoples. Services are provided free of charge to Pacific-owned businesses. PBT meets reporting obligations to funders with anonymized data.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Pacific Business Trust provides free and confidential business advisory, mentoring, coaching, and tailored support programmes for Pacific-owned businesses across New Zealand. Its offerings include a Business Health Check, customised advisory support, nationwide workshops, an online member community platform, procurement/tendering capability development, and the HATCH Pacific youth entrepreneurship programme. All services are delivered at no cost to eligible Pacific-owned businesses (at least 50% Pacific ownership with NZ residency or citizenship).

Product overview

Pacific Business Trust (PBT) is the Pacific economic development agency of Aotearoa New Zealand providing a comprehensive suite of free and confidential programmes to support Pacific-owned businesses. The organisation operates a platform of interconnected services including the Business Health Check (initial assessment), Workshops (skill development), Online Community Platform (member network), Customised Support (advisory services), Procurement Support Services (tendering capability), HATCH Pacific (youth entrepreneurship programme), Pacific Business Awards (recognition), Service Provider Network (specialist referrals), and Resources & Templates (self-service tools). Services are delivered free to businesses that are at least 50% Pacific-owned with New Zealand residency or citizenship, engaging over 2,000 active Pacific-owned businesses.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HATCH Pacific: Pacific innovation hub programme for young Pacific entrepreneurs offering Foundation and Start-Up programmes with online training courses designed to meet the needs of Pacific business entrepreneurs.

Products and services

• Business Health Check Free business assessment service that provides Pacific business owners with a clear picture of their current business status and future vision, identifies growth areas, and connects them to trusted service providers. Serves as the entry-point engagement for Pacific-owned businesses in New Zealand.
• Workshops
• Online Community Platform
• Customised Support
• Procurement Support Services
• HATCH Pacific
• Service Provider Network
• Resources and Templates

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and strategic.

• Downer NZcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 October 2023First Memorandum of Understanding signed with Downer NZ, a leading engineering company. The partnership aims to create pathways for Pacific businesses to access procurement opportunities with major contractors.
• AmotaicoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 February 2022Formalized partnership with Amotai, Aotearoa's Supplier Diversity Intermediary, to support Pasifika businesses into new procurement opportunities. The partnership brings together individual strengths to grow the Pasifika economy through supplier diversity.
• Ministry of Social DevelopmentminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2021Memorandum of Collaboration signed in Wellington underpinning partnership to empower Pacific learners, businesses, and employers. Recognizes the importance of Aotearoa New Zealand's current and future Pacific workforce.
• Auckland UnlimitedcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 June 2021Formalized working relationship with Auckland Unlimited (Tātaki Auckland Unlimited) to support Pacific people and businesses in Tāmaki Makaurau. Partnership focuses on shared goals of supporting Pacific communities.
• New Zealand TreasurystrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 December 2017Joint project with Treasury to identify and quantify the Pacific economy in New Zealand. The MoU aims to understand the economic contribution of Pacific communities and inform government policy on sustainable wellbeing for Pacific communities.
• Mahuki (Te Papa Innovation Hub)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Te Papa's innovation hub accelerator programme Mahuki. PBT supports startup teams through the Mahuki programme and helps develop Pacific innovation.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Downer New Zealand: A leading NZ engineering and infrastructure company that signed an MoU with PBT in 2023 to create procurement pathways for Pacific businesses. Downer is a partner rather than competitor, but its supplier-diversity programme is comparable in intent to the channel PBT is building around.
• Ministry of Pacific Peoples: NZ government ministry that is PBT's primary funder. The Ministry is not a commercial peer but is the key ecosystem stakeholder and policy counterpart for Pacific economic development in NZ.

Broad incumbents

• BusinessNZ: New Zealand's largest business advocacy organisation representing employers and businesses across the country. While BusinessNZ focuses on advocacy and policy rather than Pacific-specific support, it shares the membership-organisation structure and provides comparable business support services at a broader scale.
• Auckland Chamber of Commerce: Auckland's largest regional business chamber with which PBT announced a partnership in 2024. The Chamber operates a comparable model of business networking, advisory, and events but serves a generalist membership rather than Pacific-owned businesses specifically.
• New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE): NZ government's national economic development and trade promotion agency. NZTE operates a much broader mandate across all business segments, but shares the government-funded business advisory model and the role of supporting NZ firms' growth and capability.

Direct peers

• Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry of Māori Development): NZ government's principal advisor on Māori economic development and wellbeing. Te Puni Kōkiri operates the same ethnic-specific economic development model as PBT, but for Māori rather than Pacific communities, with analogous funding, advisory, and capability-building programmes.
• Amotai: Aotearoa New Zealand's supplier diversity intermediary, formalised partner of PBT since 2022. Amotai connects diverse-owned businesses with procurement opportunities, operating an adjacent but overlapping model focused on supplier diversity rather than ethnic-specific economic development.

Regional players

• Tātaki Auckland Unlimited: Auckland Council's economic and cultural development agency, with which PBT has a formalised working relationship (2021) supporting Pacific people and businesses in Tāmaki Makaurau. It is a comparable public-good economic development actor at city-region rather than ethnic-community scope.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/pbtrustnz
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCdrczEa8-lr19EN-wOOJRkw
• Facebookfacebook.com/pacificbusinesstrust
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pacific-business-trust
• Instagraminstagram.com/pacificbusinesstrust

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Pacific Business Trust