Manawa Consultants brings specialist HR, employment, and people strategy to organisations worldwide. Built on lived experience, indigenous wisdom, and genuine care for human potential.
We are a specialist people consulting firm founded on a simple belief: that every person and every organisation deserves access to the kind of HR and employment expertise that was previously reserved for those with the deepest pockets.
Our consultants bring real operational experience from inside complex organisations. Including indigenous and iwi provider settings where people challenges are layered with cultural obligation, community responsibility, and deep relational accountability.
We are indigenous-founded, globally focused, and genuinely committed to the people we work with. Not just the problems we solve.
Eight specialist services covering every dimension of HR and employment advisory. From policy writing and recruitment to workplace investigations and health and safety. Fixed-scope, practical, and priced for real organisations.
Our advice is built on years of operational experience inside real organisations. Including indigenous and iwi provider settings where people challenges are culturally layered and cannot be solved with generic templates.
Employment agreements, staff handbooks, leave policies, codes of conduct, and more. Written clearly, compliant with relevant employment legislation, and adapted to your organisation's culture and operating context.
Guidance across personal grievances, disciplinary processes, performance management, restructuring, redundancy, and workplace investigations. Practical advice built on employment law knowledge and real operational experience.
End-to-end recruitment process design, job description writing, interview frameworks, and onboarding programmes that set new people up for success and reduce early attrition.
Health and safety policies, hazard registers, incident reporting systems, and H&S training facilitation. We help organisations meet their obligations under relevant legislation without unnecessary complexity.
HR and people-related training for managers and staff. Covering employment rights and obligations, performance conversations, health and safety awareness, and workplace culture. Delivered via workshop or online session.
Review and improvement of your HR systems, processes, and record-keeping. We identify gaps, recommend tools, and help you build an HR operation that is efficient, compliant, and fit for your organisation's purpose.
Specialist HR advisory for indigenous organisations. Where cultural obligations, community relationships, and tikanga are part of the employment context, not separate from it. Built from the inside, not applied from the outside.
Strategic funding application support for organisations seeking grants and community funding. We bring a track record of over $10 million secured for indigenous organisations, marae, and community groups globally.
Iwi providers, First Nations organisations, and indigenous communities where HR decisions carry cultural weight and community obligation. We understand this world from the inside.
Businesses that need senior HR expertise on a flexible basis. Without the cost of a full-time hire or the overhead of a large consultancy. Fixed-scope, practical, and right-sized.
Organisations operating across borders and cultures who need people consultants that understands cultural nuance, diverse employment contexts, and the complexity of managing people at a global scale.
Purpose-led organisations with complex people dynamics, volunteer and staff mix, and limited HR resource who need expert support without enterprise price tags.
People navigating workplace issues, employment contracts, redundancy, career transitions, or business ideas who need straight-talking, senior advice at an accessible rate.
Cultural institutions with unique governance structures, funding needs, and people challenges that require advisors who genuinely understand the context and the stakes.
30 minutes. Free. We listen to your situation, understand the context, and identify which of our consultants is the best fit for your challenge. No pressure and no pitch.
You receive a clear scope of work confirming what is included, who will lead the engagement, the timeline, and the investment. Nothing starts until you are fully comfortable.
Every engagement ends with something concrete. a document, a decision, a system, or a team ready to move forward. We do not bill for work that does not produce a real outcome.
Every engagement is fixed-scope. You know exactly what you are paying before we begin. No open-ended billing, no hourly rate surprises, no unexpected invoices.
Manawa Consultants works in partnership with MāramaAI. Our specialist AI strategy and literacy advisory firm. For organisations navigating both their people challenges and their AI adoption simultaneously, we coordinate both engagements seamlessly so you deal with one trusted team.
AI strategy, literacy, and digital products for Māori organisations, indigenous communities, and purpose-led organisations globally. Founded in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Visit MāramaAIFree 30-minute consultation · zoom or phone · no obligation · global clients welcome
Individual sessions are priced to be genuinely accessible. You get the same quality of advice and the same level of expertise at a rate that respects that you are investing your own money, not an organisation's budget.
If the rates below are genuinely out of reach, get in touch anyway. We will always do our best to find a way to help. Good advice should not be a privilege reserved for people with money.