The Manaia Go team in Tonga, working closely alongside Tonga Broadcast Commission.
When Norman Mann and Mark Hepi joined forces with Lloyd Togia and Mike Manuel to create Manaia Go, it felt like a destined collaboration.
Established in 2023, Manaia Go aims to deliver audio-visual and streaming solutions for various events from an outside broadcast truck, specifically aimed at our indigenous people in Aotearoa New Zealand.
After meeting with Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited (PCBL), the innovative team have quickly become connected and are making waves within the Pacific broadcasting community.
Norman, who is of Māori, Tongan, and Samoan descent, honed his sound skills at an early age, working in radio and recording studios which led him to working on live sound for events and festivals, and sound production for television, including documentaries, dramas, and films.
“After years of mastering these various skills, I decided to apply them to my own company… Manaia Go is a culmination of two companies: Go Live Media, founded by Mark Hepi, whose specialty is visual streaming, and Manaia Digital, which I founded, specialising in sound production and recording,” Norman explains.
Norman says both he and Mark recognised they each possessed skills the other needed to successfully provide the service they envisioned.
“Our chance meeting marked the beginning of what felt like a destined collaboration.
“Manaia Go was born – the name represents a combination of both our companies and holding significant meaning: in Māori and other Polynesian cultures, Manaia refers to the messenger between the spirit realm and the human world.
“This encapsulates the essence of our mission in a simple yet poignant way.”
In the early stages of Manaia Go, Mike decided to step away, leaving the team as a trio, Norman says.
“We quickly understood technology would enable us to create opportunities for our indigenous people to access services previously out of reach.”
From that point, the crew built its own outside broadcast unit with a unique twist, designing and creating specific equipment requested by international clients, and developing systems to empower their clients to generate their own ideas and content.
Based in Rotorua, Manaia Go’s mahi takes them around the country and lately, the globe.
Connection to the Pacific
After building the outside broadcast truck, which the crew named Maraea, they met the PCBL team, and asked to present Maraea at the Pacific Broadcasters Conference 2023.
The Manaia Go team, hard at work inside Maraea.
“Two weeks later, we found ourselves at the conference in Auckland, ready to showcase our work, and the presentation was a success.
“The Pacific broadcasters understood the concept behind Maraea and recognised how we utilised technology to create a system that could deliver high-quality content via IP and stream it to the world,” Norman says.
As a result of the conference, Manaia Go was invited to Tonga to build a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) unit – mandatory for any internationally sanctioned games.
“We designed and constructed the system alongside Manaia Go and Robert Te’o of True Audio in three days of initial communication, and by the fourth day, we were on a plane to Tonga, ready to deploy.
“The HIA system, referred to as the Fly Kit, was successful; however, we were able to modify it after discussions with the Tonga Rugby team doctor and tested it again on our second trip back to Tonga.”
The Tonga Broadcast Commission (TBC), led by Solomone Finau, requested their assistance in integrating the HIA kit into its setup for matches and broadcast.
Working together, TBC and Manaia Go have set up a replay system for both the broadcast and the large LED screen at the rugby stadium in Nuku’alofa.
Additionally, Manaia Go participated in the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa.
Hired by a private company in Samoa to assist with four service sites, Manaia Go was eventually seconded by the Prime Minister of Samoa to help with sound at several venues, including the event site for the inaugural opening of CHOGM.
“We have now been invited to return as the preferred technical team for all major conferences, working under the local company ESRT Quality Sound, owned by Tikeri Taulagi.
“Samoa presented an important opportunity for Manaia Go to be part of a fully indigenous crew, which included Robert Te’o, Mark Hepi, and myself,” Norman says.
“As Manaia Go profile grows, so does the awareness of the level of delivery that Manaia Go strives to achieve.
“Our goal is to empower our indigenous whanau in the audio-visual streaming field.
“Content is king, and our indigenous people possess countless stories, legends, and histories that the world has yet to see.
“If Manaia Go can contribute to the journey of growing and empowering our people, then I believe we will have made our people proud.”
While Manaia Go continues to gain momentum, there have been some challenges, including people not realising the crew possess the same skill set as their previous service providers.
“It took some time to convince our people of the benefits of trying our company, but once they did, there was no looking back,” Norman says.
“Because we are from the same community, they recognised we understood their cultural identity, and they did not have to compromise their culture in any way.
“As Manaia Go continues to grow, our people increasingly recognise their own potential.”
Visit the Manaia Go website for more information.
