Georgia Latu

The 14-year-old CEO of the world’s largest poi company

Georgia is a wahine toa and ākonga at  Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ōtepoti. Raised at Te Manaaki Ngā Tamariki kōhanga, Georgia started making poi at age 12 to raise funds for a trip. At age 14, she is now the CEO of the world’s largest poi company.

Her business is founded on the principles of connecting to kaupapa (she teaches “The Art of Poi” workshops to share her matauranga of poi), inclusivity (her employees have diverse abilities and she pays them all the living wage) and sustainability (she creates her poi with eco-friendly, second hand materials as much as possible to reduce its footprint on the environment).

Georgia stocks her poi in over 30 retailers locally (including Te Papa Museum) and internationally (in Australia and Japan). She also sells wholesale poi to ECE, Kōhanga, Schools, kura and Kapahaka groups.