New Zealand Māori have for some years been rated among the most entrepreneurial people in the world (Frederick & Chittock, 2005), the statistics regarding business start up rates are certainly impressive, however there is some concern over the business failure rate which is almost double that of non-Māori businesses (Frederick & Chittock, 2005). Only 38% of Māori businesses make it past the 3 ½ year mark, and despite attempts to provide support to Māori entrepreneurs this has not improved. This investigation report examines literature surrounding the entrepreneurial process and support networks with the aim to identify where the support networks are currently engaging with entrepreneurs and whether the level of engagement is adequate for the requirements of Māori entrepreneurs. Eight Māori entrepreneurs around New Zealand are interviewed in order to gain some understanding regarding this issue and identify areas where the situation can be improved. The entrepreneurial process is separated into five steps, combining models created by Churchill and Lewis (1983), Greven (1995) and Deakins and Freel (1998). The key results of the research found the lack of information to be a key factor in the intention of entrepreneurs to utilise support networks in the future, the lack of information in some cases led to assumptions regarding the criteria and difficulty of the support service. The research also found that entrepreneurs found stage three of the entrepreneurial process to be the most difficult and there was an obvious lack of assistance in that stage, as most support services tend to be focussed on the first two stages in the process. The key findings as well as other smaller ones provided information where some recommendations could be made for support networks to refocus their efforts and to further enable the dissemination of information. However it is noted that further research is required with a larger and more diverse sample size in order to provide some more practical solutions as what specific support services are required by Māori entrepreneurs. What is obvious from the literature and from the interviews is that network support isn’t the solution for entrepreneurs, it is a means by which entrepreneurs are able to find the support, information and solutions they require for their business success.

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