March 23, 2025 • 13 mins
Meet Pasitaua Haufano.
Pasitaua Haufano, the CEO of Zeducation, is dedicated to helping businesses grow by growing their people. He leads Zeducation in collaborating with companies to understand employee training needs, develop tailored programs, and deliver engaging workshops through a diverse team of facilitators. With over 40 short workshops, Zeducation offers cost-effective, flexible, and sustainable training solutions in areas such as leadership, communication, diversity & inclusion, financial literacy, digital skills, and more. Pasitaua’s leadership ensures that businesses can continually enhance their teams’ capabilities, driving growth and success in today’s competitive landscape.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Unite our voices, we respectfully acknowledge them are too far
to our rkpeople of Tamaki Makoto is the traditional custodians
of the land from which just was created.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hi. I'm Crystal Consela. I'm a proud Jawin and MORADRII woman,
a supply diversity expert and published author. Welcome to Meet
the Mob, a podcast series dedicated to showcasing black excellence
and Indigenous business. Here I get to interview deadly First
Nation businesses from around the country and learn about their
why Tenna Koto kator. Greetings to all and welcome to
(00:51):
this special edition of Meet the Mob Alto. In this
special edition, I'm joined by Maldi and Pacifica businesses from
across New Zealand. Today I'm joined by Pasitawa Holfaro from
z Education. Will share with us he's why, why he
got into business and why he does what he does.
So let's kick it off. Hey, pussy, welcome, tell us
(01:12):
who you are. Here's your mom?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Okay, Well, I'm passy Toel half Funnel. I'm named after
my father, Hal Funnel and he's from Toma your Fall.
And my mother is Simmo and she's from Taki Tuala
as well. So yep, I am a father, I'm a husband,
I'm a business owner, three beautiful kids, and that's my wife.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Oh that's that's amazing. So tell us a little bit
about your business. There's a reason that you've got. I've
been challenged today just in even pronouncing it. Education. What's
the meaning behind that?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, So I'll start with what the name means first
and then I'll give kind of like the story how
it came about because I started the business, but education.
So it's education with zid at the beginning. But zid
is zebina that's what it means. Zebuino is from Malawi,
the language to Chewa. So zebuino has two meetings. The
(02:12):
first meeting is it's taking something ordinary and making it extraordinary.
The other meaning is taking something negative and turning it
into a positive. And that's what we're all about at Education,
and that's about helping people achieve their potential through education
in some of the programs that we provide. In terms
(02:33):
of how the education came about. Growing up, education was
hard for me. I mean, you know, both my parents
migrated here to New Zealand in the eighties. They met
each other in a carpet factory, seven kids later, working
long hours on low wages, providing for you know, family
of seven children. And my experience with that growing up,
(02:56):
you know, we didn't have much, but we're always grateful.
But taking member knights where you know, we couldn't afford
to have we'll pay the bills on time. My parents
didn't have the money, So there are nights where we
didn't have lights, called showers, sometimes no lunch for school. Right,
But ironically, even though my parents didn't have any qualifications whatsoever,
(03:18):
they always raise us kids education, education, education, because we
want you kids to have a better future than us.
And so I grew up with that mentality. But in
school I struggled with education because English was the second
language at home, right, My parents never read us on book.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
My language at home, well.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
It was mixed. It was like tong and someone and
a little bit of English. But that's because of the
kids and our friends and watching TV. It's it was
kind of a blend. But there wasn't any focused like
development or thing you know, at home. So anyway, in
school I struggled. I remember in primary school being taken
out of reading and writing time from the class to
(03:59):
do one on one because I was just behind everyone else.
But as a kid, and I would have been like,
you know, ten nine, at the time, I was like, man,
this must what's wrong with me? Why are they taking
me away from my friends? Why can I be with them?
So I grew up in education. I took that lack
of confidence with me until like high school, I avoided
subjects like English and math because I thought that's for
(04:20):
the smart kids. I'll do the easy stuff like art
and graphics. But anyway, I somehow got into a bachelor's degree,
and a three year degree should have taken me three
years took me four and a half years because I
just struggled. Right then, I went overseas and I served
a church mission, and I lived in Texas for a
couple of years just you know, every day studying the Bible,
(04:42):
teaching people the Gospel, and you know, changing their lives,
and I met a lot of amazing people. Then I
came back and did my master's degree, and I struggled.
But anyway, long story short. At then of it, I
graduated with a master's degree, but one of the top
in the class. And also I got recognition or inducted
(05:02):
into BGS Better Gamma Sigma, which is recognition or society
for top business students in one of the top business
schools around the world, and aut which is one of
the university I was at, had one of the top
business schools. So that gave me a lot of confidence
and changed my perspective around education. So I had the
(05:23):
experience of the challenge and how hard it was and
then what it's done for me. Education has led to
me working in corporate and then eventually starting my own business.
And so that's what we try to do with how business.
Long story short, as I try and help those who
have experienced similar struggles like I did, but also helped
(05:44):
them experience the good that comes from it as well.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, I can really relate to your story because you know,
I grew up in pretty tough times as well, in
poverty in Western Sydney and housing commission. But my mum,
you know, we didn't have a lot either. But my
mum always took about the power of education. Education is knowledge,
Knowledge is power, and I didn't. I mean, I was
(06:10):
pretty active in lots of extracurricular activities, but I would
never have thought that I was an academic. But I
did get into a bachelor's and an education, and I
later went on to an MBA, so I can really
relate and I no one in my family, you know,
has got an MBA like you know that I've been
able to do, but then to go and create a
(06:33):
business that's really powerful. I love the origins as well
of where the name comes from, about really helping people
realize their potential. So what are the ways that you're
working with organizations or is it individuals?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Predominantly? We have two parts of our business, so but
a lot of it is workplace training. So we work
a lot with employers and we help them grow their
business by growing their people. So it's very people focus,
so we help them understand or identify some of the needs.
What are the gaps there? You know? Are they not
getting the health and safety? Why is it something to
(07:08):
do with literacy? Is it something to do with humorcy?
Is the issues with conflict?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Like?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Why is it happening? Is it something to do with leadership?
Is it something to do with communication skills? Why aren't
your people progressing or taking on more responsibility or taking
on those leadership roles even when they're offered. Is it
lack of self confidence. So we help them understand what
the needs are and then we help provide training programs
as solutions to help bridge the gap. Right. But like
(07:35):
you know, the heartbeat of everything we do is helping
them unleash their greatness. Like everything we all the programs,
everything that we do, and because we believe that everybody
has greatness. It doesn't matter who you are, how old
you are, where you're from, everyone has something special. Our
job is not to turn you into something else. Our
(07:56):
job is to help you discover what greatness you have
and build upon it with what we have.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Ah. That's so powerful really, So you almost like an
organizational development and learning function that can get plugged into
any organization and identify what might be the development opportunities
or the learning or training and then be able to
plug in to help people realize their potential around it.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Yeah. Absolutely, I mean we help them identify the needs,
then build the programs, and then I have a team
of facilitators who helped deliver it as well, so they
go on site. The other part of our business is
community stuff, So every now and then I will take
on board some initiatives for the community. For example, we
landed a contract with the Ministry of Social Development to
(08:45):
help more Pacifica get into jobs or pathways into employment.
We had another contract with another Ministry of Pacific Peoples
to help upscale Pacifica people and their financial capability and
progress towards home ownership. So every now and then we
will accept partnership with the government to help provide programs
(09:06):
to the communities, almost like A B two C, but
predominantly our work as B to B with employers totally.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
But in regards to those particular types of contracts, you're
doing a service on behalf of government and you're probably
the best place person to do that because of your
Pacific background. They able to connect and share directly with
young people and other people that are identify as Pacifica.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah. I mean, I'll be honest with you. Initially, I
went in with the mindset like, it doesn't matter if
you're some more and you know, I can have a
Pakihar facility to teach the program as long as they
are culturally aware. But based on our research, based on
feedback from the actual students, they prefer and feel more
comfortable learning from someone that looks like them, that sounds
(09:55):
like them, that can relate to them, and I tell
people it's not a racial thing. It's nothing to do
with about it's not about racism. It's about cultural you know, relatability,
you know. So that's what it is, and that's why
our team is very diverse and we happen to stick
out like a sore thumb because there's not many pacifica
(10:17):
Muori owned training providers like us. And you know, the
results speak for themselves as well. You know, we've done
some amazing things and you know, thank you to my team.
And that's why. You know, when you do that, then
the government goes, look, these guys are doing amazing things.
They're showing the results. I trust them. We're going to
give them more work, you know. And it's good to
(10:37):
be in a space or part of the ecosystem where
we can help serve our people, you know, because to me,
when I see them, they're like my aunties, my uncles,
my cousins. You know, they're like family to me. So
that's why it's special.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Most definitely it relates so well for me because just
listening to you then talking about that those sort of
cultural nuances. It's the same in Australia for Aboriginal with Aboriginal.
You know, you want to have a sense of cultural
safety and have someone who understands some of those cultural
nuances of why you might speak a certain way or
(11:11):
I guess you know, need to learn in a particular
way around particular learning styles and stuff like that. So
what does the future hold for your business? Where do
you see yourself in the next three to five years.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I mean predominantly we're in Auckland and we're going to expand,
you know, all over New Zealand. I mean a lot
of our workers over New Zealand. In terms of online
we have programs online as well, but we want to
go global. We feel like, you know, we've got to
share the skiff or thing that we've been blessed with
and help more people around there because they're all over
(11:45):
specifically people not just here in New Zealand, Australia.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
They're in America, yeah, everywhere most definitely. Look, I think
there'd be definitely room for growth and expansion into Australia.
I mean, I remember growing up in Western Sydney. I've
lived everywhere between Paramatter and Pethon. You know, my next
door neighbors w was Salmon and my one of my
best friends was Tongan. So there's a huge Pacific community
(12:13):
out in Western Sydney. So yeah, that's something you have
on the radar. I think Australia really happy to welcome
you over there. Awesome. Yeah for it. You've got any
final message for anyone that's watching or listening to the
program today, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Come back to what my mom taught us, that you
know a lot of who I am and what the
business is today. I always say it started because of
my parents, Always started with them and how there raise us.
But one piece of advice that's always stayed with me
because of my mom and my dad. They always said,
never stop being a student. Doesn't matter how many qualifications
(12:49):
you get, doesn't matter how many programs you do. Always
being a student. And what she meant by that was
always be someone who is open minded and open hearted,
who's humble enough to learn from anything and anyone. And
if you're humble enough, even little children can teach you something.
So always be a student.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I love that. Thank you so much for joining me
on the program today. So there you have it. Thank
you for watching me the mob Alterolas. Stay tuned for
the next episode.
Unite our voices, we respectfully acknowledge them are too far
to our rkpeople of Tamaki Makoto is the traditional custodians
of the land from which just was created.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hi. I'm Crystal Consela. I'm a proud Jawin and MORADRII woman,
a supply diversity expert and published author. Welcome to Meet
the Mob, a podcast series dedicated to showcasing black excellence
and Indigenous business. Here I get to interview deadly First
Nation businesses from around the country and learn about their
why Tenna Koto kator. Greetings to all and welcome to
(00:51):
this special edition of Meet the Mob Alto. In this
special edition, I'm joined by Maldi and Pacifica businesses from
across New Zealand. Today I'm joined by Pasitawa Holfaro from
z Education. Will share with us he's why, why he
got into business and why he does what he does.
So let's kick it off. Hey, pussy, welcome, tell us
(01:12):
who you are. Here's your mom?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Okay, Well, I'm passy Toel half Funnel. I'm named after
my father, Hal Funnel and he's from Toma your Fall.
And my mother is Simmo and she's from Taki Tuala
as well. So yep, I am a father, I'm a husband,
I'm a business owner, three beautiful kids, and that's my wife.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Oh that's that's amazing. So tell us a little bit
about your business. There's a reason that you've got. I've
been challenged today just in even pronouncing it. Education. What's
the meaning behind that?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, So I'll start with what the name means first
and then I'll give kind of like the story how
it came about because I started the business, but education.
So it's education with zid at the beginning. But zid
is zebina that's what it means. Zebuino is from Malawi,
the language to Chewa. So zebuino has two meetings. The
(02:12):
first meeting is it's taking something ordinary and making it extraordinary.
The other meaning is taking something negative and turning it
into a positive. And that's what we're all about at Education,
and that's about helping people achieve their potential through education
in some of the programs that we provide. In terms
(02:33):
of how the education came about. Growing up, education was
hard for me. I mean, you know, both my parents
migrated here to New Zealand in the eighties. They met
each other in a carpet factory, seven kids later, working
long hours on low wages, providing for you know, family
of seven children. And my experience with that growing up,
(02:56):
you know, we didn't have much, but we're always grateful.
But taking member knights where you know, we couldn't afford
to have we'll pay the bills on time. My parents
didn't have the money, So there are nights where we
didn't have lights, called showers, sometimes no lunch for school. Right,
But ironically, even though my parents didn't have any qualifications whatsoever,
(03:18):
they always raise us kids education, education, education, because we
want you kids to have a better future than us.
And so I grew up with that mentality. But in
school I struggled with education because English was the second
language at home, right, My parents never read us on book.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
My language at home, well.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
It was mixed. It was like tong and someone and
a little bit of English. But that's because of the
kids and our friends and watching TV. It's it was
kind of a blend. But there wasn't any focused like
development or thing you know, at home. So anyway, in
school I struggled. I remember in primary school being taken
out of reading and writing time from the class to
(03:59):
do one on one because I was just behind everyone else.
But as a kid, and I would have been like,
you know, ten nine, at the time, I was like, man,
this must what's wrong with me? Why are they taking
me away from my friends? Why can I be with them?
So I grew up in education. I took that lack
of confidence with me until like high school, I avoided
subjects like English and math because I thought that's for
(04:20):
the smart kids. I'll do the easy stuff like art
and graphics. But anyway, I somehow got into a bachelor's degree,
and a three year degree should have taken me three
years took me four and a half years because I
just struggled. Right then, I went overseas and I served
a church mission, and I lived in Texas for a
couple of years just you know, every day studying the Bible,
(04:42):
teaching people the Gospel, and you know, changing their lives,
and I met a lot of amazing people. Then I
came back and did my master's degree, and I struggled.
But anyway, long story short. At then of it, I
graduated with a master's degree, but one of the top
in the class. And also I got recognition or inducted
(05:02):
into BGS Better Gamma Sigma, which is recognition or society
for top business students in one of the top business
schools around the world, and aut which is one of
the university I was at, had one of the top
business schools. So that gave me a lot of confidence
and changed my perspective around education. So I had the
(05:23):
experience of the challenge and how hard it was and
then what it's done for me. Education has led to
me working in corporate and then eventually starting my own business.
And so that's what we try to do with how business.
Long story short, as I try and help those who
have experienced similar struggles like I did, but also helped
(05:44):
them experience the good that comes from it as well.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, I can really relate to your story because you know,
I grew up in pretty tough times as well, in
poverty in Western Sydney and housing commission. But my mum,
you know, we didn't have a lot either. But my
mum always took about the power of education. Education is knowledge,
Knowledge is power, and I didn't. I mean, I was
(06:10):
pretty active in lots of extracurricular activities, but I would
never have thought that I was an academic. But I
did get into a bachelor's and an education, and I
later went on to an MBA, so I can really
relate and I no one in my family, you know,
has got an MBA like you know that I've been
able to do, but then to go and create a
(06:33):
business that's really powerful. I love the origins as well
of where the name comes from, about really helping people
realize their potential. So what are the ways that you're
working with organizations or is it individuals?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Predominantly? We have two parts of our business, so but
a lot of it is workplace training. So we work
a lot with employers and we help them grow their
business by growing their people. So it's very people focus,
so we help them understand or identify some of the needs.
What are the gaps there? You know? Are they not
getting the health and safety? Why is it something to
(07:08):
do with literacy? Is it something to do with humorcy?
Is the issues with conflict?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Like?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Why is it happening? Is it something to do with leadership?
Is it something to do with communication skills? Why aren't
your people progressing or taking on more responsibility or taking
on those leadership roles even when they're offered. Is it
lack of self confidence. So we help them understand what
the needs are and then we help provide training programs
as solutions to help bridge the gap. Right. But like
(07:35):
you know, the heartbeat of everything we do is helping
them unleash their greatness. Like everything we all the programs,
everything that we do, and because we believe that everybody
has greatness. It doesn't matter who you are, how old
you are, where you're from, everyone has something special. Our
job is not to turn you into something else. Our
(07:56):
job is to help you discover what greatness you have
and build upon it with what we have.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Ah. That's so powerful really, So you almost like an
organizational development and learning function that can get plugged into
any organization and identify what might be the development opportunities
or the learning or training and then be able to
plug in to help people realize their potential around it.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Yeah. Absolutely, I mean we help them identify the needs,
then build the programs, and then I have a team
of facilitators who helped deliver it as well, so they
go on site. The other part of our business is
community stuff, So every now and then I will take
on board some initiatives for the community. For example, we
landed a contract with the Ministry of Social Development to
(08:45):
help more Pacifica get into jobs or pathways into employment.
We had another contract with another Ministry of Pacific Peoples
to help upscale Pacifica people and their financial capability and
progress towards home ownership. So every now and then we
will accept partnership with the government to help provide programs
(09:06):
to the communities, almost like A B two C, but
predominantly our work as B to B with employers totally.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
But in regards to those particular types of contracts, you're
doing a service on behalf of government and you're probably
the best place person to do that because of your
Pacific background. They able to connect and share directly with
young people and other people that are identify as Pacifica.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah. I mean, I'll be honest with you. Initially, I
went in with the mindset like, it doesn't matter if
you're some more and you know, I can have a
Pakihar facility to teach the program as long as they
are culturally aware. But based on our research, based on
feedback from the actual students, they prefer and feel more
comfortable learning from someone that looks like them, that sounds
(09:55):
like them, that can relate to them, and I tell
people it's not a racial thing. It's nothing to do
with about it's not about racism. It's about cultural you know, relatability,
you know. So that's what it is, and that's why
our team is very diverse and we happen to stick
out like a sore thumb because there's not many pacifica
(10:17):
Muori owned training providers like us. And you know, the
results speak for themselves as well. You know, we've done
some amazing things and you know, thank you to my team.
And that's why. You know, when you do that, then
the government goes, look, these guys are doing amazing things.
They're showing the results. I trust them. We're going to
give them more work, you know. And it's good to
(10:37):
be in a space or part of the ecosystem where
we can help serve our people, you know, because to me,
when I see them, they're like my aunties, my uncles,
my cousins. You know, they're like family to me. So
that's why it's special.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Most definitely it relates so well for me because just
listening to you then talking about that those sort of
cultural nuances. It's the same in Australia for Aboriginal with Aboriginal.
You know, you want to have a sense of cultural
safety and have someone who understands some of those cultural
nuances of why you might speak a certain way or
(11:11):
I guess you know, need to learn in a particular
way around particular learning styles and stuff like that. So
what does the future hold for your business? Where do
you see yourself in the next three to five years.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I mean predominantly we're in Auckland and we're going to expand,
you know, all over New Zealand. I mean a lot
of our workers over New Zealand. In terms of online
we have programs online as well, but we want to
go global. We feel like, you know, we've got to
share the skiff or thing that we've been blessed with
and help more people around there because they're all over
(11:45):
specifically people not just here in New Zealand, Australia.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
They're in America, yeah, everywhere most definitely. Look, I think
there'd be definitely room for growth and expansion into Australia.
I mean, I remember growing up in Western Sydney. I've
lived everywhere between Paramatter and Pethon. You know, my next
door neighbors w was Salmon and my one of my
best friends was Tongan. So there's a huge Pacific community
(12:13):
out in Western Sydney. So yeah, that's something you have
on the radar. I think Australia really happy to welcome
you over there. Awesome. Yeah for it. You've got any
final message for anyone that's watching or listening to the
program today, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Come back to what my mom taught us, that you
know a lot of who I am and what the
business is today. I always say it started because of
my parents, Always started with them and how there raise us.
But one piece of advice that's always stayed with me
because of my mom and my dad. They always said,
never stop being a student. Doesn't matter how many qualifications
(12:49):
you get, doesn't matter how many programs you do. Always
being a student. And what she meant by that was
always be someone who is open minded and open hearted,
who's humble enough to learn from anything and anyone. And
if you're humble enough, even little children can teach you something.
So always be a student.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I love that. Thank you so much for joining me
on the program today. So there you have it. Thank
you for watching me the mob Alterolas. Stay tuned for
the next episode.
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