Couple Invests in Seafood, Handicraft
“We found a local business partner who could work with us to meet all requirements. It has now been two years and we are going strong,” she said.
Tuesday 16 July 2024 | 13:55
The love of the Fijian people has drawn Waisea Tokikiviro and his wife Dijana Green-Tokikiviro to set up a business in Nadi.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, their families in Fiji lost their jobs. They wanted to assist and asked them to start producing handicraft and send them to Australia for them to sell.
When the Australian government opened the doors to import yaqona into Australia, the couple started ventured into the business.
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“This enabled us to keep our family members to continue to work while we helped them provide,” said Ms Green–Tokikiviro, the founder and CEO of Elevating Food Safety Pty Limited.
As the business continued to grow and did well, Mr Tikikiviro decided to import seafood from Fiji and sell them in Australia.
“We found a local business partner who could work with us to meet all requirements. It has now been two years and we are going strong,” she said.
“As part of business growth, we set up a vertical integration which meant we need to set up our seafood processing plant in Fiji to supply fresh quality products locally and internationally.”
Ms Green-Tokikiviro said this business model allowed the villages to harvest seafood and supply to Pacifika Delicacies, a seafood shop and processing factory at Martintar, Nadi, on August 1.
“Our new business in Fiji, which is a vertical integration business sourcing seafood locally and sending them to Australia,” she said.
“We will also sell the seafood to locals in Fiji. This is our support and devotion to the local community, family, and friends in Fiji bringing this first-ever and exciting new concept to Fiji.”
The start-up in investment was F$250,000 and ongoing investment of F$200,000 per year. The business will have three fulltime employees and four part-timers.
Its head office is in Sydney, Australia.
“We can run the business from afar having the shop based in Fiji.”
Meanwhile, Ms Green-Tokikiviro did some work seven years ago when she represented the Parramatta Eels in Fiji and worked with her husband, who was the Nadi Eels Rugby League Club president.
Feedback: waisean@fijisun.com.fj
