Sisters Raina Fowlds and Chris Murray (Mūaupoko, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Apa) are in the business of producing bi-lingual educational resources.

“We saw a need for good quality bi-lingual children’s books not only for our grandchildren but for everyone, so we decided to make our own,” says Raina.

“Chris and I have talked about writing books for years. In October 2007 we decided to lock ourselves away in a motel room in Rotorua and we weren’t going to leave until we came up with a business plan, story lines and logos,” she says.

In August 2008 the sisters launched their company Tū Māia Educational Resources Ltd initially to provide bi-lingual teaching resources to schools.

Since then they have produced a set of four bi-lingual children’s books called Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho Series, which are easy to read and have storylines that all children and teachers will love.

“We have drawn upon our upbringing and the inspiration of our mother to drive our business to succeed,” says Raina.

“My mum had 15 children and one hand but did everything for us and we are grateful to both our parents for making us who we are today,” she says.

The four books, titled Let’s Count – Me Kaute Tāua, Koro Tom Goes Fishing, Koro’s Sunflowers and Nanny’s Taonga, contain real characters from their whānau.

They have also produced a fifth book titled Ngā Karakia mō ngā wā Katoa.

“Te Puni Kōkiri has been really awesome and they have challenged us from day one and made sure we didn’t do anything in half measures,” says Chris.

“We are grateful to Te Puni Kōkiri and Jamie (Te Puni Kōkiri account manager) for their support in bringing our business to the point it is at today and we are very excited about the future,” she says.