Ulu Aiono

Uluomato'otua Aiono
File:Uluomato'otua Saulaulu Aiono.jpg
Born	Uluomato'otua (Ulu) Saulaulu Aiono Apia, Samoa
Nationality	Samoan
Citizenship	New Zealand Samoa
Education	Auckland Grammar School, University of Otago
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Organization(s)	Habitat for Humanity The Cause Collective NZ The RiseUp Trust
Known for	Founder of Cogita First Pacific Islander to complete an MBA First Pacific Islander with a Bachelor of Computer Science
Spouse	Margaret Aiono (nee Gavin Brown)
Children	1
Honours	Officer of the New Zealand order of Merit (2012)

Uluomato'otua Aiono, also known as Ulu, is a technocratic, problem-solving, Samoan entrepreneur who is currently involved in social housing through Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army. Ulu founded COGITA® in 1983 while working full time and after he had completed his Bachelor of Computer Science at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. COGITA was an enterprise resource planning software company which grew to be the world's largest company in its niche. He is the first Samoan to start a high-technology enterprise in New Zealand. Ulu and his wife later sold COGITA to Silicon Valley company, Epicor, in 2012.

Early life

Uluomatootua (Ulu) Saulaulu Aiono was born in 1954 to a Christian family in Apia, Samoa. Later, in 1960, Ulu immigrated to New Zealand with his parents and siblings where they settled in Epsom. This is where Ulu attended Auckland Grammar School and was also where he says, 'the entrepreneur in him was born'. His mother was born into a very privileged family as her father was the paramount chief of Apia while his father was from a very poor but hardworking background. His father would later become the chief interpreter for the Supreme Court of Samoa.

His mother, Faifuaina Seumanutafa Loligi, struggled to adapt to New Zealand intitally as Tua tells RNZ in an interview that: 'It was a very great, severe change for her to come to New Zealand with my father.' The Aiono family lived in Epsom, across from Alexander Park, where Ulu and his brother started their first side hustle as children.

"We lived opposite Alexandra Park racecourse. At the time, my brother and I would've been 6 and 7 years old. They had trotting club races on Saturday nights sometimes and so early on Sunday morning we would get up at 5 o'clock, jump the gates and collect all the Coca-Cola and Fanta bottles we could find. Late after church on Sunday, we'd go to the dairy and then sell them. My brother and I lived like princes because of that."

Ulu led a life from humble beginnings and his journey from an immigrant child to a millionaire has continued to influence the younger generation.

Education

Ulu attended Auckland Grammar School in Epsom for five years where he maintained a position at the top of his classes right through to the end. He says that during that time of his life he was a child who didn't like being told what to do and rather craved freedom. In 1979, Ulu enrolled in the University of Otago, where he received his Bachelor of Science in 1981. In 1984, Ulu returned to university to complete his Master of Business Administration (MBA), Finance and Information Systems at Otago. At the end of his tertiary journey, Ulu would become New Zealand’s first Pacific Islander with a Bachelor of Computer Science and also the first Pacific Islander to complete an MBA.

Personal life

Ulu was raised Christian and is still man of faith today. He credits his faith in his success and believes recognition for his journey is not only his own but rather shared. In a 2011 interview with Vaimoana Tapaleao, Ulu declares:

"I am a product of Christian parents, so I am thankful to God and them. I am also indebted to my wife Margaret and family. Without them I would be nowhere."

Ulu married Margaret Gavin Brown in the late 1970s and they had a son in 1998, Loligi Alexander Salofata Aiono, who was named after his maternal great-grandfather.

On Saturday 5th of April 2018, Ulu's brother, Punipuniolo Mulinu'u Aiono passed away in Middlemore Hospital. The funeral was held at 10am on Wednesday 9th May at the Otahuhu Salvation Army Corps.

Past and current interests

1980 - 2015

Founding of COGITA

Ulu founded COGITA in 1983 while working full time. He had just graduated from the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Computer Science. COGITA is a enterprise resource planning software group that operates as a holding company in New Zealand and Australia. In 1988, COGITA sold software for blue chip manufacturing companies throughout Australasia and the Asia-Pacific region. Ulu grew this company from the ground up and in 2012, it had grown into the world's top-selling agent for US based Epicor software and was sold to tech giants, Silicon Valley. On the 31st of May 2012, Ulu completed the sale of COGITA's international ERP business interests and assets including all offices, equipment, customer contracts, intellectual property and sales pipelines to Epicor. COGITA granted license to Epicor to be able to use the COGITA name and brand until June 2015. Ulu has numerous companies under COGITA that he overlooks despite selling, of which he has multiple chairman and directorships.

In October 2005, Ulu was a forum member of the Auckland Regional Economic Development Forum which was responsible for the stewardship of the ongoing implementation of the ARED Strategy and the Metro Project Action Plan. The ARED Strategy set a vision and directions for the economic and social well-being of all Aucklanders. The Metro Project Action Plan was developed subsequently to enable the implementation of the Strategy. The forum was replaced by new departments within the Auckland Council after the inaugural super-city elections on 9 October 2010 and this is when Ulu ceased his time here.

While being a forum member, Ulu was also a University Council Member at Auckland University of Technology from 2002 to 2010. During this time, the New Zealand Governor General (1985-1990) Sir Paul Reeves was the chancellor and also Ulu's governance teacher and coach.

During November 2008, Ulu joined the People's Centre Trust (TPCT) Board and later became the Chairman in 2010. TPCT was a primary health organisation (PHO) providing medical and dental services to over 8,000 patients located in Central Auckland, Mangere and Manurewa. Most of the patients were Māori, Pacific Islanders, new immigrants and refugees.

Ulu was appointed Chairman of National Pacific Radio Trust on the 1st of October 2010. NPRT was established in May 2002 to direct government funded projects such as various campaigns which promoted anti-family violence and awareness for rheumatic fever and chronic illness. Ulu would continue his role as Chairman into 2011 as appointed by Hon Jonathan Coleman, Minister of Broadcasting and again in 2013 as appointed by Hon Craig Foss. After seven years, Ulu would retire from his role as Chairman of National Pacific Radio Trust on the 31st of July 2017 after usurping a role as council member at the Manukau Institute of Technology.

In 2012, Ulu became the Deputy Chairman at Alliance Health Plus which is another primary health organisation (PHO) which operates to fund, support and develop approximately 13 medical practices in the Auckland super-city region of New Zealand.

In May 2014, Ulu stepped into the shoes of Director on the board of Habitat for Humanity New Zealand Ltd, a limited, charitable, company which serves all of New Zealand's Habitat for Humanity affiliates. Ulu stepped down from this role in December 2016 where he was preceded by Michael McLean, a fellow board member of his.

Ulu was ministerially appointed as a board member of the Pacific Business Trust by the New Zealand government in July 2014. In this role, he considered social and economic factors which contributed to the under-employment of Pacific Islanders in New Zealand and what was needed to fix this. Ulu's answer was to create entrepreneurs. In September 2015, Ulu would step down from his role as board member from the Pacific Business Trust.

In March 2014, Ulu co-opted onto the board of decile 1, co-ed secondary school, Otahuhu College alongside a friend from his church, Salvation Army Otahuhu Crops. Ulu would be elected by parents as Vice Chairman/Chairman of Finance and Property Committee. He would retire from all roles associated with the school in December 2016.

2015 - present

On the 12th of June 2017, Hon Paul Goldsmith would appoint Ulu as council member at the Manukau Institute of Technology and as an alumnus of Auckland University of Technology Council, he learned a lot about the tertiary education sector that he'd implement in this role. In this role, Ulu claimed "If Aotearoa NZ's tertiary education leaders do not develop radical, effective, methods of drastically cutting the lead time to produce skilled people...then Kiwis will have to get used to being foreigners in their own country."

Chairman of Habitat for Humanity Northern Region,

In 2010, Ulu became Chairman of Cloud Region Limited, an entrepreneurial company under the COGITA group that provided computing services to New Zealand's primary health sector and the global online travel bookings industry. Cloud Region Ltd ceased trading in 2012 as it was acquired by 2Onions Ltd, but Ulu still remains Chairman.

Since February 2017, Ulu has been the Treasurer of the RiseUp Trust. What started out as a home-schooling programme in the garage of its founder, Sita Selupe, grew into an initiative that connects Māori and Pacific families to a three-way learning process, where Whanau Educators take parents and their children through real-life, problem-solving strategies in order to reach higher academic achievement and greater engagement in their children’s education. RiseUp values connecting children with their parents and stresses the importance of knowing your roots. The trust opened The Rise Up Academy, a charter school in Mangere, in 2014. The Rise UP Academy transitioned to a Designated Character School in 2019. Ulu remains as Deputy Chairman and Treasurer.

On the 1st of September 2017, one of New Zealand's newest biotech companies, SensorFlo, was introduced into the industry with Ulu as a Seed Capital Funding First Investor. On the 21st of January 2018, SensorFlo received ethics approval for their first clinical trial and would later seek FDA certification. Progress was made when Callaghan Innovation approved a research and development grant for SensorFlo on the 19th of March 2018 which enabled experimental designs on non-invasive blood glucose measurement through to September 2018. This trial ended in March 2019. SensorFlo would later receive notice of allowance granting noninvasive blood glucose patent from the US Patent Office, which lasts 20 years, in 2020 and a European Patent granted in June 2021 after a second clinical trial ethics application was approved. Ulu remains actives in this role at SensorFlo but is now also Director as of 2019.

Ulu is Chairman and Founder of SenDit etc (Easier than Cash), a startup technology formed in January 2021. Directed for practical person to person/merchant money transfers, SenDit etc aims to be the Afterpay of funds transfers and remittances.

Since 2016, Ulu has been the Chairman of The Cause Collective NZ. Established in August 2010, The Cause Collective is a Pacific social change organisation working out of South Auckland that focuses on the causes of social problems facing communities most in need to see what obstacles prevent them from thriving. In January 2022, Ulu began building a team for the development of a new product and work begun through Aqil Abbas in the Netherlands. In October 2022, the team released a limited prototype to a cohort of 500 people. In December 2022, Ulu integrated The Cause Collective and Alliance Health Plus. He said, "The combination and integration of our two organisations’ collective skills and experience will make us more effective in identifying the bottlenecks and constraint in the full inventory of determinants for health and wellbeing. Only then can any organisation improve prevention, reduce inequity and inequality in health, and cause people in our communities to live longer, healthier, quality lives."

On Tuesday 21st of March 2023, The Cause Collective started a new programme, Get Ready, Work Ready, which aims to equip Pacific youth in Auckland with employment skills to the enter the workforce or into further training.

Awards and accolades

• In 2011, Ulu became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business.
• In 2015, Ulu won the Pacific Business Trust Pacific Enterprise Award winner at the SunPix Pacific Peoples Awards.
• In 2022, Ulu was inducted into the New Zealand business hall of fame alongside Graeme Hart, New Zealand's richest man.
• In 2023, Ulu won the Augusta Award from Auckland Grammar School which are given to Old Boys who are at the top of their respective industries or specialties, or who have demonstrated a remarkable contribution to the fields of Arts, Business, Sport and/or Public Service.