Collaboration unveils hidden gems
Hidden Aotearoa launched in Wellington. From left: Yee Hung Lim, Hidden co-founder, Singapore
High Commissioner William Tam, Ngāti Kahungunu Ki Tamaki nui a Rua chairman Hayden Hape,
Aaron Hape, and co-founder Loh Jun Wei.
By Tracey Cooper
Working with the indigenous people of New Zealand on a local version of the award winning
interactive game HIDDEN has enabled the Singapore social enterprise founders to see the world through different eyes.
HIDDEN is the brainchild of friends Lim Yee Hung and Loh Jun Wei, who created the HIDDEN Singapore game during COVID as a way to uncover the largely ignored heritage and stories of Singapore’s unique neighbourhoods through the use of story-tech.
Since its 2022 launch, HIDDEN Singapore has attracted more than 40,000 players and won a swag of awards, including the 2024 TripAdvisor Traveller’s Choice and other tourism and educational awards. In what is believed to be the first collaboration between a Singapore tech company and the Māori people of New Zealand, the launch of HIDDEN Aotearoa was held at the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa in November.
Māori organisation Ngāti Kahungunu Ki Tamaki nui a Rua has invested in HIDDEN and played a key role in the development of HIDDEN Aotearoa and Lim Yee Hung says the partnership has been an eye-opening experience.
“We are Singaporeans, we are people of math and science and technology and when you sort of collide with people who are about stories and the real meaning of things, it’s hard to explain but it’s really been life-changing and we see the world differently now because of this partnership,” Lim Yee Hung says.
“We like storytelling students, learning as much as we can from these storytelling masters and it’s something we want to bring not just to Singapore, but all over the world.”
The partnership with Māori, who have a deep and spiritual connection to their lands, was essential to ensure the stories being shared in HIDDEN Aotearoa were authentic and true to their meaning, he says.
“To do it authentically and make sure that you respect the culture and don’t cause any offence is not easy and I’m glad to be able to learn from the master storytellers.”
“The only person who can say it is authentic is the person who owns the story and they have to tell you that this is the right way to tell it and I think what’s unique about how HIDDEN approaches telling stories is that we always work with the people who own the stories and make sure they have control over the story before we publish it.”
The partnership had its genesis when Lim Yee Hung worked with Andrew Te Whaiti on a Game of Thrones Experience in the UK but COVID meant that project ground to a halt, but they are now working together on what they see as a much bigger project.
Te Whaiti says ensuring the HIDDEN team fully understood Māori culture was an important first step so they brought the Hidden team to Aotearoa to help them connect with te ao Māori (the Māori world).
“The tech is one thing but having the ability for Yee Hung and Jun Wei and their team to actually understand te Ao Māori (the Māori world), to understand who we are as Māori people, to understand what our stories mean to us they actually need to understand who we are as people, how we connect to our environment, how our people’s stories are sacred,” says Andrew Te Whaiti.
“To tell the stories of different tribes, there’s a process that we must go through to have the authority to use those stories and the people need to have an understanding of the
platform those stories will be used on and how they’re protected.”
Ngāti Kahungunu Ki Tamaki nui a Rua chairman Hayden Hape says some people in New Zealand had been surprised they had not worked
with a New Zealand company to develop the game but it made sense as HIDDEN had already established the initial game and knew what
worked.
“This company, HIDDEN, has
designed the game and it’s working. These entrepreneurs have already got this up and running and they’ve
pretty much got it locked down with what they’re doing.”
The HIDDEN Aotearoa game allowed people to engage with the history and culture of New Zealand in ways that were not possible previously, he says.
“It is really just embracing our history in a different way and the cool thing is that all the data and information they receive on the day, they actually get to take that with them so they can refer to it
later, it’s always there, whereas in the normal case, you go there, you see, your read you watch and that’s it. With HIDDEN all the information is able to be used again when they go back to where they
live in whatever part of the world.”
Hayden Hape says HIDDEN Aotearoa will not only provide insight into Māori culture, but all cultures in New Zealand.
“HIDDEN gives us the ability to celebrate te Ao Māori but actually it has the ability to celebrate all cultures that have come to New Zealand and built their lives here. There were no towns and then people built those towns, so there’s history that we want to celebrate as well, he explains.
“We have a word in the Māori language, Kotahitanga, for unity so HIDDEN has the ability to tell everyone’s story and this is what we want to be seen to doing, that Māori are investing into companies like HIDDEN to be able to tell everybody’s story, not just our own. A lot of our history has disappeared visually but HIDDEN can bring it all back.”
As a shareholder in HIDDEN, Hayden Hape says Ngāti Kahungunu Ki Tamaki nui a Rua will receive a dividend each year and is hopeful the investment brings wider benefits to his people.
“For us as taiwhenua to step into this space is a big deal. We’ve been able, over time, to build our resource up to get us into a space where we can do something different and not put all our eggs in one basket, but this technology space is quite challenging. They could be here today, gone tomorrow or here today and skyrocket tomorrow and we’re hoping that we’ve found one of those things.”
Meanwhile, Lim Yee Hung is confident they’ve found a winning formula and says it’s a social enterprise model that can be used anywhere and with six more projects already agreed around New Zealand, he could be right.
“The great thing about using technology is that it’s already in place, meaning the margins are so healthy that it gives us a lot of flexibility to do the right thing by supporting the local businesses, sharing with the storytellers, these are things that technology allows us to do. That’s why it was great having the investment from the tribe.
“They’re an investor who understands that social enterprise, because traditional technology venture capitalists don’t care about that. The tribe actually agrees with us and helps us to say, how do we give back? How do we take that margin and give it back to the people who actually deserve it?”