How can minorities be better represented in professional services?
Read a guest article by second year University student Josiah Teh, who was on the winning team of the SDG Solveathon 2025.
Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in SDG Solveathon 2025, a student-run case competition focused on developing tangible solutions to advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The competition was organized by UN Youth Auckland and supported by Auckland University Commerce Students Association (AUCSA). The focus of this year’s competition was on SDG 8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
Our team was allocated to the SDG 8 case, sponsored by KPMG New Zealand. Our task was to address youth unemployment, underrepresentation of minorities in the professional services industry, and the implications of the skills mismatch between education and industry needs.
Over a couple of weeks, our team of five (Matthew Lay, Sebastian Kirman-Martin, Renée Liao, Cooper Beale, and me) conducted research before creating a report and presentation slide deck.
We focused on the underrepresentation of minorities like Māori and Pasifika in university institutions, which means tertiary-focused outreach programmes are drawing from an already less-diverse pool of talent. We also underscored that the existing interview and recruitment processes of the professional services industry still faced persisting accessibility issues. Underprivileged communities often lack connections, making it difficult for them to enter the industry, or even know what a career in the professional services industry entails.
Backed by these insights, we proposed strategies for KPMG to focus outreach efforts towards high school students. We suggested they use two key mediums: a mentoring programme that connects students with KPMG professionals with similar backgrounds and goals, as well as a programme to support and equip said students to host and run community events, fundraisers, and projects. These would provide hands-on opportunities for students from underprivileged communities? to develop organisational skills that directly translate to employability and a pathway to the professional services industry.
We presented our findings in a 15-minute presentation to industry judges from KPMG and Electric Kiwi, progressing through to finals and eventually earning the overall win.
Taking part in this competition helped us see that sustainable development goals are more than lofty overarching targets, but rather, real goals that, once contextualised, could genuinely empower and impact people today: seeing how a company like KPMG could provide a pathway for a teenager from an underrepresented community to discover a future in the professional services industry.
My biggest takeaway from the case was that meaningful progress on SDGs is not limited to international law or government organisations, but often begins locally: through discussions, competitions, and initiatives like these. We saw how ideas to address and achieve meaningful progress can be translated into action.
Article by Josiah Teh, 2nd year LLB/BCom (Law/Accounting/Finance) at the University of Auckland
Photo from left to right: Sebastian Kirman-Martin, Renée Liao, Josiah Teh, Matthew Lay, and Cooper Beale
The opinions expressed in this article reflect the views of the author and are not necessarily the views of the Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.