Trustee
BDes, PGDipTchg
Iwi affiliations: Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Hauā
Associations: Tangata Huawhenua Inc. (Deputy Chair)

Born and raised in Tauranga Moana, Manu has spent most of the last 25 years working in community development and biotechnology. He established Rua Bioscience, the first NZX listed company founded by Māori. He is also co-founder of Hikurangi Bioactives, a venture focused on clinically-proven therapeutic products derived from Kānuka and is working with kaitiaki Māori on developing medicines from a number of other native plants and fungi.

Manu lives with his wife Natasha Koia (Ngāti Porou) at her pa just south of Ruatorea, and works mostly between Tairāwhiti and Tauranga. He is passionate about the truly sustainable use of whenua, so whānau can continue to live and work on their ancestral land.