Capability vs Accessibility in tech and innovation – a divide that limits our future potential

The evident under-representation of Māori, as well as Pacific Islander, low-income, and other students in entrepreneurial activity persists in part because indigenous and other non-western cultures have been stereo-typically portrayed as antithetical towards excellence in technology and innovation; these notions carry into young peoples self-belief, and consequently their self-identification regarding their potential to excel or have place in enterprise, and ultimately feelings that they do not belong in such spaces.

We need to challenge the status quo by demonstrating that capability is not the barrier, and that the real impediment is us restricting access to young minds.