Meet Āhau

The digital identity platform built on Maori principles and values

Marketing Exec Araina Pereira of the Centrality Accelerator powered by Lightning Lab introduces the teams that have been selected to develop a cutting-edge decentralised solution leveraging the Centrality ecosystem. To track the progress of the accelerator programme, follow Centrality on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and join our community on Centrality’s Official Telegram.

Built on Maori principles and values, Āhau is a decentralised data and digital identity management platform to help connect you with who you are, where you are from and what you do.

Āhau is co-founded by Kaye-Maree Dunn, Ben Tairea and Sam Kaw. Like their stablemate CarbonClick, Āhau was a winner of the Blockworks Hackfest hosted by Centrality and gained an entry into the accelerator programme as part of their prize. Here’s what they have to say about their journey so far:

What is the problem you are wanting to solve?

Āhau are aiming to solve the challenge of establishing an indigenous digital identity system enabling a safe and secure place to store whakapapa and from that information, create stronger communication channels between whānau, hapū, iwi and community.

What is your business planning to achieve by the Accelerator Demo Day?

We aim to co create our solution in partnership with tribal partners to ensure our prototype is useful and can create real impact for end-users.

Why have you chosen blockchain for your solution?

Blockchain can help revolutionise the way Māori and indigenous communities access, store and manage our own data in a way that aligns with our own values and protocols.

Transparency and data sovereignty are now requirements for organisations managing tribal and whanau assets.

Why did you want to be a part of the Centrality Accelerator?

Āhau know the importance of collaboration, partnership and support and we are grateful to working alongside Lightning Lab. It provides us with mentors, support, advice and the wider products and services associated with the Centrality whānau.

What has been your greatest learning so far on your journey?

Our learnings have been numerous including coming together as a team, applying kaupapa Māori values to the creation of our company and for these values to permeate throughout our product design and out to our relationships. Also, understanding the functionality of blockchain and ensuing we meet the needs of our end users.

What has been the biggest success/highlight/achievement so far for your business?

Partnering with Iwi partners to test our platform, developing strategic partnerships with research institutions and implementing the learning to the development of our business.

How did you decide on a name?

Āhau means me, myself, I…. Who I am, where I come from and who I connect to. It was a perfect name for our platform.

What has been the biggest hurdle that you have overcome?

Having to pivot quickly to learn a new blockchain platform and refining our idea to its most simplest version, as we have massive ideas of what we want Āhau to achieve.

What’s your why?

We want to ensure that everyone has the ability to connect to who they are and where they come from. We want our whānau to reclaim full ownership over the data and information that belongs to them and, as a result, be able to make better decisions.

What has been the funniest thing that has happened whilst on the accelerator?

Every week in the accelerator we do a ‘good/bad and ugly’ session. These are a good chance to share and laugh through the struggles of starting a new venture.

Want to know more? Get in touch with Āhau on Facebook, LinkedIn or their website.

To follow the progress of the accelerator programme, follow Centrality on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram plus join our community on Centrality’s Official Telegram.