Tiowaana Harrington
Founder & CEO
Tiowaana Harrington has spent more than two decades close to the realities of Māori whenua, alongside trusts, trustees, whānau, and the systems they must navigate.
That experience gave her a view few people have. Not just of the importance of whenua, but of the burden created when records are scattered, processes are unclear, and too much responsibility rests on the memory and persistence of a few people.
She saw those problems from both sides. Tiowaana worked at the Māori Land Court. She has also served as a trustee herself. She understood the system professionally, but she also understood what it felt like to carry the responsibility personally.
That combination became the catalyst for Tākoha.
Today, as Founder and CEO, Tiowaana is building Māori Whenua Service Infrastructure. Technology designed to help important whenua work move more clearly between people, records, and institutions, while keeping authority with those who rightfully hold it.
Tiowaana is Ngāpuhi and Ngāi Tahu, and a Mōrehu of Te Hāhi Rātana. Her leadership is shaped by loyalty to her people, to the kaupapa she serves, and to the generations who will inherit the decisions made today.
She is an instinctive idea generator and a practical problem solver. She has a habit of seeing possibilities others miss, then doing the hard work required to make them real. Her work ethic is relentless, her standards are high, and she consistently pushes beyond what is expected of her.
But what defines Tiowaana most is not ambition for its own sake. It is advocacy.
When she believes something can be better, she will say so. When her people need someone to stand beside them, she does. She is prepared to challenge systems, ask difficult questions, and keep pushing until a better path becomes possible.
Tākoha is an expression of that instinct. To take something complicated, make it clearer, and build something useful enough to be carried forward.
For Tiowaana, the work has never simply been about technology.
It is about making the responsibility of whenua easier to carry and leaving stronger pathways for the generations that come next.
