At just 14 years old, Dunedin schoolgirl Georgia Latu is behind one of Aotearoa's brightest business ventures.
Potiki Poi has quickly become the largest "eco-poi" manufacturing company in the world, where special needs employees are prioritised.
"Poi has always been around me, from ever since I was a pēpi," she told Seven Sharp.
"Poi is me and I am poi so my feminine side, it connects me back to my tupuna, to my roots."
By day, Georgia is a Year 10 student at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ōtepoti.
"I've been raised in kura kaupapa Māori, kōhanga reo and that's ultimately brought me to where I am now," she said.
But after school, the 14-year-old continues her mahi as the CEO of the largest poi manufacturer in the world.
"We have buyers from Japan, from Australia, we've had some from Canada, and so we’re global now," Georgia said.
Two years ago, Georgia and her whānau started making poi in her lounge for a school fundraiser.
Super māmā Anna Latu says they had no idea how big it was going to get.
It was the arrival of her younger brother Api that inspired Georgia to take their business to another level.
"Because Api was born with trisomy 21 [Down syndrome], there was this ethos in the business that we wanted to support our community with diverse ability," Latu said.
Their home-based poi business relocated to the heart of Dunedin at Cargill Enterprises.
At Cargill Enterprises, people with diverse abilities come and do some mahi, Georgia says — including some mahi for Potiki Poi.
"We employ around four to five people to do some mahi for us," she said.
"And it's more to do with Api having Down syndrome, we wanted to give back to the community."
Māmā Latu says they want to make a stand as a small business.
"That this is our way of doing things, so we set rates for no matter what ability you are, this is the rate that we give you to do the stuffing or tie the tassels, and we look to employing our staff on the living wage not the minimum wage."
Without the support of her community and her whānau, she says none of this would be possible.
"Everything's turning into a beautiful dream that we thought we would never have."
Their second-hand materials are sourced locally from op shops and second-hand shops.
"We wanted to make sure there wasn’t a big foot print on Papatūānuku [mother earth] because I know that plastic is bad for Papatūānuku," Georgia says.
"And not only that, with our pillows we have the stuffing from inside them, we actually got 800-plus from the university halls of residence and they were all going in the landfill, and we got all of them for free and now we make beautiful taonga out of them."
Now business is booming. Potiki Poi has now diversified into earrings, clothing, and Georgia even has plans for a book.
"So if you want to learn how to use your poi, you've got a pukapuka, a resource, and also the kōrero behind your poi so you know where it came from."
Because these pois aren't just balls on the end of a string, they're giving purpose - tying together families and helping one girl live her dream.
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