A new scholarship has been created for Māori and Pasifika rangatahi to address the skill shortage in the hospitality and tourism sector.
The Jhunjhnuwala Family/Hind Management Māori and Pacific Youth Scholarship 2025 offers a paid internship with hands-on hospitality experience, leadership development, and financial incentives, including wages, a travel stipend, and a cash reward.
Aimed at 16-24-year-olds not in employment, education, or training, the program offers hands-on hotel experience, expert mentorship, a supportive environment, and competitive incentives to foster personal and professional growth.
Founder and CEO Hind Management, Sudesh Jhunjhnuwala, said the internship is a small step to supporting the Māori and Pacific youth
“[They] are fundamental to our country’s hospitality and tourism sector – they are the very fabric of Aotearoa and its future success.
“We are first and foremost a people business and it’s my lifelong mission to promote diversity, inclusion and accessibility, along with wellbeing and lifelong learning while leaving the planet in a better place than we found it. We’re proud of our latest national scholarship, and we invite eligible candidates to apply,” said Jhunjhnuwala.
The scholarship was inspired by Ngāti Whakaue Sudima Hotels Scholarship Programme, which has been in place since 2014.
Awatere Douglas, Inaugural Ngāti Whakaue Scholarship recipient, is the Hotel Manager at Sudima Lake Rotorua, and the cultural advisor to the Sudima Hotels group.
He said the opportunity had changed his world.
“The support of my whānau along with the scholarship and many mentors came together to change my world. That’s what these scholarships are all about. I was able to study for tertiary qualifications in tourism and Te Ao Māori and have never looked back.
“This new scholarship is a brilliant growth platform to bring more rangatahi into hospitality which is a wonderful, rewarding career. It’s a great moment to jump on our hospitality-tourism waka and you can uplift and inspire your whānau, community and the nation. I encourage Māori and Pacific youth to take the first step - Nau mai, haere mai, tauti mai!”
The paid internships are for either three months (intakes in February & October) or six months (commencing from October 2025), and applications close on January 27.
