Commissioner Western, Mr. Apolosi Lewaqai,

Founders and Pioneers of Rise Beyond the Reef and Living Wealth, Mr. Semi and Janet Lotawa,

Employees of Living Wealth Fiji,

Invited Guests,

Members of the Media,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Cola Vina Nadi

It is a pleasure to be here with you all this morning to celebrate your achievements and success which you all have attained through your hard work and determination.

A hearty congratulation to Mr and Mrs Lotawa on establishing such a noble business model that has provided so many women an avenue to earn sustainable income in our rural and remote areas.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

“Yau Bula” or Living Wealth was born out of Rise Beyond the Reef which has been a beacon of changing times for our Creative Arts and Agriculture Industry. I am equally fascinated and proud to hear all the great work done by the organisation and the team.

Programmes such as the traditional contemporary arts & crafts income-generating initiative have recognised the beauty and potential of our vau, voivoi, kuta and Masi.

The vanilla programme looks to develop the niche and highly demanded product in Fiji. All of these have definitely been life changing for the rural communities.

You have been able to link tradition to business so seamlessly and stamp your mark in the business world. The fact that you were able to load your product on the world’s fasting growing online shopping site, Amazon speaks volumes of your resilience and determination.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The fact that we have a Fijian based entity, nestled at the bottom of the famous ‘Sleeping Giant’ who is able to source its products from all over Fiji to sell to the world is a fascinating story indeed. It’s quite inspiring indeed.

And that is why we are happy to partner with Living Wealth in their business endeavours and this has been made possible through our Integrated Human Resource Development Programme (IHRDP).

The Ministry through IHRDP had approved a total project cost amounting to $100,000 for product development, whereby the Ministry invested $66,667 and Living Wealth had contributed $33,333 through a loan from the Fiji Development Bank.

This is what we call Public Private Partnership or the “PPP”, an identified investment model which harnesses the best formulae for economic growth particularly for a country like Fiji.

It was through this investment that enabled Living Wealth to procure their materials to meet the orders demanded on Amazon.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our collaboration with Living Wealth has not only been in this project – we have also partnered and elevated many communal groups in forming co-operative businesses.

Through the co-operatives businesses, this ensures that a consistent supply is provided in a sustainable manner to Rise Beyond the Reef to meet its product demands. We hope to also establish more co-operatives to fit into your supply chain.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today we are not only here to handover the items that were acquired through the grant programme but we are also here to launch your retail outlet here in Sabeto. You are strategically located between the famous mud pools and the sleeping giant that attracts a lot of tourists.

I see that you have on-boarded other local enterprises such as Marama Niu at your retail store as well. This is a wonderful gesture indeed.

Starting your journey as an online business to now having your own retail shop that will carry our beautiful traditional products. This will not just appeal to the tourist but to our locals as well.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In closing, I would like to inform MSMEs around Fiji that our grant programmes such as the IHRDP, National Export Strategy, Young Entrepreneurship Scheme, Trade Enhancement Programme and Northern Development Programme are still open. They close next week on 6 October 2023.

The Ministry of Trade, Co-operative and Small and Medium Enterprises and Communications is always here to support you further.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

With those words, it gives me great pleasure to officially hand over the project to Living Wealth and to announce your first physical retail outlet as open.

Vinaka vakalevu.