Who we are
About Us
The Story behind the Foundation
The Click Foundation was founded in 2020 by Creative Technology entrepreneurs Aliesha Staples, Rohan Ardarkar and Te Aroha Grace who throughout their careers in the film, games and tech industries noticed an inequality to accessing the industry as a viable career option.
They set up the foundation to fund educational scholarships for New Zealanders and Refugees to New Zealand who had a lack of access through locational, physical and/or financial limitations.
The foundation provides access to Film, Game and Technology courses through educational scholarships and is designed to enable a more diverse creative technology workforce.
Mission
Our mission is to provide a more diverse workforce to the creative technologies sector in New Zealand.
Vision
We address inequality in Creative Technology through education and employment pathways, funding scholarships for New Zealanders and refugees lacking career access.
Our team
The team driving diversity in the Creative Technology industry.
Sam van Tuyl
A mother of two amazing girls, Samantha has worked in the not for profit sector for a variety of organisations over 5 years wearing many hats from administration, accounts, management to people wrangling and operations.
Samantha considers it a privilege to be involved within the charity sector, not only working alongside some incredible people, but having the opportunity to give back to the community.
Helping others has always been on the forefront for Samanatha, her keen eye, can-do attitude and willingness to learn, is what brings it all together.
Aliesha Staples
Aliesha Staples is a businesswoman and digital technology entrepreneur. Aliesha has won multiple awards spanning across the Film & television and technology sectors.
In 2014 Aliesha co-founded a rental company for high-tech gear for the film and game industries. The company later developed into Staples VR, specialising in augmented, virtual and mixed reality technology. Staples also founded vRemedies, a company supplying emerging tech solutions in the digital health field.
The following 10 years has superseded Aliesha's expectations, co-founding Click Studios, a co-working space, working alongside international film talent on films shot in New Zealand., creating training solutions in the New Zealand Defense and Aviation divisions and she is currently situated across multiple accredited boards within New Zealand.
Aliesha's knowledge for the industry and dedication to education is second to none. Aliesha has a reputation for mentoring, empowering and upskilling team members and has an ability to communicate and relate to stakeholders.
Te Aroha Grace
Te Aroha is a highly committed, passionate, and driven leader across multiple spaces, in particular – technology and indigenous culture.
He has an unusual background that has seen him traverse from growing an industry award-winning technology company, to directing a central-Auckland school, to working for his own tribal nation who have established a $2bn economic footprint in New Zealand’s most global city
Rohan Adarkar
Rohan Adarkar is an enterprising and passionate business development professional with over 20 years of experience in managing and growing businesses internationally. He has an entrepreneurial approach and enjoys leveraging technology and fresh ideas to innovate. He has always balanced the creative and technical in his work, with an uncanny knack of solving problems with unconventional solutions.
Over the years, Rohan has delivered numerous products and services to a wide range of industries across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania. He is an avid traveller and maintains his extensive business network and play the odd game of tennis!, Rohan co-founded Click Studios and is passionate about exporting the best creative technology from NZ to the world.
Learn more about the Click Foundation and our initiatives
