National picks multicultural candidates
Bala Beeram standing from Kelston is of Indian descent, while Nuwanthie Samarakone in Manurewa is of Sri Lankan descent and Agnes Loheni in Māngere is of Samoan descent
Last week, the opposition National Party announced three candidates, all standing in various electorates in Auckland, who belong to multicultural communities of New Zealand.
Bala Beeram in Kelston is of Indian descent
Bala Beeram is currently working as a Supervisor for a Food and Pharmaceutical testing company. He has been living in Avondale for the last 21 years, he lives with his wife of 25 years and his 19-year-old daughter.
He comes from a background in agricultural farming and his parents are still working as farmers today. He graduated from Bhopal University, in India, with a Masters in Chemistry and worked as a chemistry teacher for a secondary school in India.
Bala moved to New Zealand in 1999. He is an active member of the Telugu community in New Zealand and was President of the New Zealand Telugu Association for a term. He is still involved with the New Zealand Telugu Association and Telangana New Zealand Association, helping to organise events and meetings.
Bala contributes significantly to his local community. He has organised a tree plantation program, blood donation events, fundraisers for cultural activities, and a major badminton tournament to name a few.
Meanwhile, after his selection, Reddy on his Facebook page noted, “I just wanted to hop on here and say Thank you to the National Party for selecting me again as the candidate for the #2020 General Elections for the Kelston electorate. I am so proud to be representing my electorate again and I hope you all support me.”
Agnes Loheni in Māngere is of Samoan descent
Ms Loheni is an accomplished business woman in the manufacturing, export and retail sector as an owner of the Pacific fashion brand called MENA. Established fifteen years ago as a home business in Samoa, the business expanded its operation to Auckland 10 years ago to expand its wholesale and export channels. In 2010, the business was awarded the MIT Pacific Business Trust ‘Pacific Exporter’ Award.
Passionate about growing Pacific success and enterprise, Ms Loheni provides her time freely to mentor small business owners and is regularly asked to share her business journey at community, school or business networks events.
Ms Loheni has been a National Member of Parliament since early 2019. During this term she has been the Party’s association spokesperson for Small Business and Pacific People and has been a member of the Social Services and Community Select Committee.
In between raising her family and building a business, Ms Loheni completed her Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical & Materials) degree from the University of Auckland. She won the SunPix – Pacific Peoples Award for Enterprise in 2015 and was the MIT Pacific Business Trust Exporter of the Year in 2010.
Ms Loheni is of Samoan descent was born and educated in Auckland. She lives in Auckland with her husband and their five children.
Nuwanthie Samarakone in Manurewa is of Sri Lankan descent
Nuwanthie Samarakone is the founding CEO of ICE (Inspire, Create, Engage), an early-in-careers people consultancy firm specialising in designing, delivering and developing schemes for organisations looking to build talent pipelines for the future.
Born in Sri Lanka, Ms Samarakone attended Glendowie College and completed a Bachelor of Health Sciences at Auckland University.
Ms Samarakone’s experience building and running her own business has given her a unique perspective on the demands of small to medium sized businesses in New Zealand, as well as offshore markets, notably Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.
Some of the work ICE has been involved in includes building programs to support women to return to the workforce after a break in their careers, and attracting students to the public sector.
Ms Samarakone is also a trustee of the Well Foundation charity board, the official charity supporting North Shore Hospital, Waitakere Hospital and Local Community Health Services.
Outside of her work, Ms Samarakone’s interests include health, wellbeing and fitness, nature and the environment, dance and music.
(All biographies are courtesy National.org.nz)