Friends Receive Awards, Inspire Others to Seek Greater Opportunities 

Two friends have been recognized for their individual efforts to inspire others through their cultural heritage, and, as a result, have received significant scholarship awards to assist them with their continued educational pursuits. 

New Zealanders Dallin Lawrence, of Dunedin and Salvis Laurenson, of Auckland, have both received scholarships recognizing their continuing efforts to infuse their cultural heritage into their educational and planned business pursuits, and their efforts to clear a path forward for others to follow in seeking to improve their lives. 

The pair met each other in the Mission Training Center (MTC) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Provo, Utah USA in November 2018, as they prepared to serve as full-time volunteer missionaries for the Church. 

“Salvis and I met the first day we arrived in the MTC, and from then on we just became close friends during our time there,” Lawrence said. “We still keep in touch and meet up whenever I'm in Auckland.” 

“We see each other’s updates in online business forums, and it's cool seeing his achievements,” Lawrence continued. “It’s pretty motivating to see what he’s doing, and I've always looked up to him.” 

Laurenson is equally complimentary of Lawrence. 

“Dallin’s just a fantastic man and he’s one of my best friends,” Laurenson said.  “He's a very motivated guy who is doing some really great things.” 

“He comes from a really great family, and I just love him,” Laurenson said. 

An accounting student at Otago University, Lawrence was named one of the six recipients of the Te Waiu O Aotearoa Trust Scholarship because of many of “the really great things” Laurenson said he’s doing. 

The Te Waiu O Aotearoa Trust promotes education and advancement of Māori within the banking and finance industry with scholarships to Māori recipients in the latter years of banking or finance-related degrees. 

Lawrence received a $5,000 scholarship to assist him in his schooling. Now in his final year at Otago University, Lawrence said that his goal upon graduating as a Chartered Accountant will be to bring the principles of his Māori culture, especially those of dignity and respect, into the business place. 

He hopes that by doing this, he can create a space in the business world where Māori culture and traditions are valued more.  

“My biggest motivation to take on accounting was to prove to myself that I am capable of achieving a greater education for something I am passionate about, and to represent and give back to the Māori community” Lawrence said.  

“I'm proud of my Māori & Pasifika heritage and aim to implement the Māori cultural framework into my career," he explained. 

"I believe the skills I am developing will be of great use to the Māori and Pacific communities,” he continued. “I hope to inspire the younger generation of my culture to pursue a career in business.”  

When he served as a missionary in Eastern Europe, Lawrence became fluent in the Albanian language spoken in Albania and Kosovo, where he spent his time. 

“I have a friend who is Albanian and also attends Otago and we speak Albanian all the time," he said. "So, I’m keeping my language skills up,”

“The business world is truly a global space, so who knows how that might come into play in the future.” 

As he wraps up his schooling, Lawrence says he’s grateful and humbled for having his hard work and accomplishments recognised.  

“There’s a sense of accomplishment that comes from being recognised for my achievements,” Lawrence reflected. 

“I will definitely be paying it forward in the future.” 

Like his friend Dallin Lawrence, Salvis Laurenson is also a very busy young man.  

Not only is he working full time and traveling overseas for an international accounting firm, but he is also finishing his studies at the University of Auckland, becoming a Chartered Accountant, and leading a group of tutors on campus who assist Māori and Pasifika students in navigating the challenges of a busy university environment. 

Add to this his calling as a lay leader in his local congregation in the Manukau area, and he is, indeed, very busy! 

But not so busy that he couldn’t be recognised with one of the Prime Minister’s Pacific Youth Awards (PMPYA) in the Commercial and Corporate category, awarded to him last December. 

The Commercial and Corporate Award category recognises a young Pacific person “who has shown significant academic achievement or business activity in the fields of commerce, accounting, marketing and/or international business.” 

The award makes it possible for him to complete his chartered accounting qualifications at the University of Auckland. 

Having served as a volunteer missionary in Madasgascar, and with a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Science degree already in hand, Laurenson, the university's 2022 Pacific Business Student of the Year, is well equipped academically for his career ahead.   

“My parents truly made a grand sacrifice moving over here to New Zealand from Samoa with our family of eleven,” Laurenson said. “Winning this award validates their belief in what they chose to do, and now me and my siblings are just as motivated to make a difference. It’s an awesome feeling!” he said. 

In addition to his accounting schooling, Laurenson also works as the Business Tuakana Engagement Coorindator at the university.  Combining that with a full-time job, his accounting classwork qualifications and his weekly church calling, it becomes even more clear that his life is based on an overriding principle—service to others. 

“There can sometimes be a lot of inequity in the education environment, and I've got a team of 20 to 30 tutors that I manage, who deliver weekly tutoring sessions to those younger students that need them,” Laurenson said.  “So, kind of like the MTC experience, I teach the teachers,” he said.   

“I make sure these tutors are prepared to help these younger kids.” 

And like his friend, Lawrence, he desires to see the Pasifika fundamentals of humility, hard work, respect and service to the community become a part of the business workplace. 

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"I am constantly reminded of who I am, and the sacrifices my parents and many others have made,” he said.  “There is great potential we have to take every opportunity to, quoting one of our church leaders, to ‘lift where we stand,’" he said.  

Laurenson said at his job he works in something known as the Centre for Innovation and Technology— the “innovation side of things,” he explained.  

“I look at systems in the business workplace that are ‘manual’ and look for ways to automate them,” he said. 

But what he would ultimately like to do is bring that automation to a Pacific Islander world that is largely manual 

“Eventually I would like to have my own consulting firm, specialising around Pasifika models—bringing that ideology to work life everywhere,” Laurenson said.  “We’re very people oriented, so it’s not only how do we make this process better, it’s how do we enhance the abilities and skills of the people working with them.” 

“I have a vision of sharing Pacific values with the rest of the world,” he added.  “Not only are they meaningful to my people, but Pacific ideology and values present solid solutions to many larger world issues.”  

Salvis says the PMPYA award he received has provided him with the kind of financial and professional resources to get started on his career journey.  

“In the end, my goal is to be able to—and I know it sounds very cliché—to spend 100 percent of my time building the kingdom of God and serving in His Church” he said. “I think if I have everything else sorted correctly, the Lord will point me in the career directions that I need to go that will lead to that.”