Trustees
The Kāmahi Trust
We have four Trustees – Sacha MacDonald, Rebecca Mason, Allan Willoughby and Ysabella Abel.
All four Trustees are successful local business owners who have a keen interest in the Trust's purpose.
For now, Rebecca is the Chair, but this role will be rotated amongst trustees in years to come.
Meet The Kāmahi Trustees
Rebecca Mason
Rebecca Mason grew up in a distinguished household. Her father was the playwright Bruce Mason and her mother the well-known gynaecologist and obstetrician, Diana Mason. More than twenty years ago Rebecca discovered her own vocation and became a Leadership and Development Coach. She found this to be a most satisfying and rewarding career and used her coaching business to give back to young playwrights and young people in general through scholarship programmes. This continued a tradition of giving started by both of her parents. Since her retirement in 2021, Rebecca has continued to do this, through the Kāmahi Trust.
Prior to becoming a coach, Rebecca had a background in education, human resources management, and general management. She worked for a Crown-Owned Company for many years as a Senior Manager, Human Resources Manager and Acting CEO on occasion.
In 2010, Rebecca and her husband moved to Nelson from Wellington, to take advantage of the wonderful climate, access to the outdoors, and relaxed lifestyle.
Rebecca says, “Through all of my life and different careers, my major focus has been to make the world a better place by making a difference to the people I work with and come across in my daily life. This has been through values of kindness and courage and a strong commitment to developing myself and others.”
Sacha MacDonald
Sacha MacDonald of Ngāpuhi, Ngati Ruanui, Ngā Ruahine and European descent, has more than 20 years’ experience in business management, human resources, capability development and management accounting. She is frequently called upon for projects involving organisational capability, recruitment and the development of human capital.
Sacha is an entrepreneur herself, and is a founder and co-founder of several businesses. Sacha utilises her years of experience managing businesses and teams to deliver excellence.
Her passion for Māori entrepreneurship is ignited through her company Arewa. Arewa supports Māori development initiatives, organisations, and individuals looking to grow agile businesses. She is driven to create social impact initiatives by creating agile and scalable business models where people are at the heart of the organisation.
Sacha is a graduate of the Darden School of Business, an Edmund Hillary Fellow and an EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women 2017.
“I have a philosophy of developing people and their capabilities within all the businesses I interact with, whether my own or the businesses I assist,” says Sacha. “I’m passionate about Māori business, and also developing individuals and the wider community around them. I see these interests as a good fit with the Kāmahi Trust.”
Allan Willoughby
Allan Willoughby relocated to Nelson with his young family in 2013 as a born and raised Southlander with a broad career experience ranging from banking, personal training, security, Local Government, IT Account Management, Sales Management, Commercial Estimating for Painting and Branch Management.
Taking on a role with the emergent, locally based technology company, BlueBerryIT, Allan quickly established not only a core network of business across Te Tau Ihu, but also with the local community forming partnerships with Nelson Tasman Hospice, The Fifeshire Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters and The Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) via the Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce.
Now working with New Zealand’s largest home-grown IT company, Datacom, and with adult children making their way in this challenging world, Allan is very aware of the responsibility we have to support our young people in making a difference, whether that be on a local, national or global scale. This made it easy to accept a role as trustee for The Kāmahi Trust.
“I’m looking forward to nurturing the start of something, that could lead to making a difference to the world that our children, grandchildren and beyond will inherit.”
Ysabella Abel
Ysabella Abel works as an accountant with a well-established accounting firm in Nelson as she upskills as a student at NMIT. The young entrepreneur has also started a small business that assists older residents of the Nelson region, guiding them through financial procedures and technology support.
You may recognize Ysabella’s last name, as her father previously served as a trustee on the Kamahi Trust. Her family have been instrumental in supporting both her entrepreneurial growth as well as instilling an emphasis on community help and assistance through charity and other works.
As the recipient of the Kamahi Trust since 2020, Ysabella and her team assisted in providing schooling supplies and necessities to students of struggling families in the Nelson/Tasman community through Haere Mai Bags charitable initiative. As co-founder, she continues working with this initiative as it expands further through the New Zealand Community. After supporting charitable causes through the years, Ysabella is passionate about helping encourage young people to start their own projects that benefit the community.