Ulu Aiono
Software Entrepreneur & Founder, Cogita
Ulu Aiono is a Samoan-born entrepreneur who built one of New Zealand’s most successful software companies from Auckland, and became a rare Pacific success story in an industry that has few of them. His firm, Cogita, grew from a one-man consultancy into the top reseller in the world of a major enterprise software platform, before it was bought by a Silicon Valley company.
From Apia to Otago
Uluomatoʻotua Saulaulu Aiono was born in Apia, Samoa, in 1954, and educated at Auckland Grammar School before heading south to the University of Otago. There he made history twice, becoming the first Pacific Islander to earn a Bachelor of Computer Science and, later, the first to complete an MBA. He graduated with a computer science degree in the early 1980s and an MBA in finance and information systems soon after.
Building Cogita
In 1983 Aiono founded Cogita, an Auckland company that supplied enterprise resource planning software, the systems that run the accounts, inventory and operations of manufacturing and distribution businesses. Working across New Zealand and Australia, Cogita became the leading channel partner for the American software maker Epicor, and by 2012 it was Epicor’s top reseller anywhere in the world, employing dozens of staff. That year Epicor bought the business, a Silicon Valley firm acquiring a company grown out of Auckland.
Recognition
Aiono was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2012 for services to business, and in 2022 he was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame. In 2025 the University of Otago, where his unlikely path had begun, awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Commerce. He has also put his profile to work in the community, involved in organisations from Habitat for Humanity to Pacific health and social trusts.
Why It Matters
Aiono’s story matters because of how few like it there are. A Samoan boy who arrived in the New Zealand school system and came out the other side as a computer scientist and then a software company founder, at a time when almost nobody in the industry looked like him. He has spoken about wanting young Pacific New Zealanders to see technology and business as places they belong, and his own career is the strongest argument he could make.
About this profile
This profile was researched and written by Noteworthy using publicly available sources. If something here is out of date or incorrect, let us know and we’ll review it.
