Manu is not afraid.

The successful businesswoman who beat the odds following a surgery to remove a brain tumour, is expanding her commercial empire.

Born Manuha’apai Jioji Qaqaturaga, she is the creative brains behind Jioji Productions, a marketing and advertising house she founded in 2011.

With her serial entrepreneurial husband, Ratu Ananaisa, the couple have expanded the business and diversified operations to include subsidiaries that engage in screen printing and developing signages.

Manu, as she prefers to be called, studied landscape architecture in Melbourne.

“It’s creative designs,” she said.

Her husband, an accountant by profession, left his job at a well regarded accounting firm to join ranks with his wife.

Jioji Production started as a digital producer for lifetime events.

The Loa Street based business in Tamavua, Suva, has since grown to a respected marketing and advertising house in 2014.

Jioji Production’s became a household name after the company digitally documented what may have been Fiji’s first livestream coverage of a sea burial.

“I don’t think there has been a sea burial covered livestream, or viewed by what was our highest number of viewers yet, as that of Captain Johnathan Smith,” Manu said.

The occasion gathered three thousand global viewers during its peak viewing, Manu said.

What is one place in Fiji you would take visitors to, and why?

Rukua, Beqa.

It’s where I hail from.

It is the village where my parents met, and where they took our only child to trace her bloodlines seven generations back.

What is your favourite spot for a coffee/pie?

Mad Hatter for their cinnamon buns, and their Savusavu Bliss pie.

The café is small, quiet and tucked away at Knollys Street.

Moments is great for their all-day breakfast.

My dad blessed the Café and gave the name Moments to signify the different moments in our lives, where you need to look back only to reflect on the good times, the not so good times, and find your way through them.

Tell us about your favourite backyard spot, and why it matters to you.

Our home backyard balcony is called Positive Lounge, which can sit about 30 people.

It serves as a place for family gatherings, Bible studying, and a refuge for those that seek comfort.

It’s also a place of splice for those who are grieving.

What’s one place in Fiji that is on your bucket list?

Kabara.

My mom is from there.

I’ve heard so much about the white sands, their crafting skills, and especially their sweet singing voices.

Feedback: frederica.elbourne@fijisun.com.fj