Struggles, Failure, Poverty Failed To Deter Padarath’s Fighting Spirit

The struggles Ashreet Padar­ath endured as a child in­spired him to keep pushing forward and never give up.

He was born in Tavua, and his family moved to Suva in 2000.

Mr Padarath is currently em­ployed by Bred Bank Fiji and was recently named the winner of the Innovative Banker Award.

His parents are both retired teach­ers who are now actively involved in community service.

From home, they run a free food distribution programme called ‘Food for Life.’ In the last 18 months, they’ve provided over 35,000 cooked dinners. The life sto­ry of Mr Padarath is one that some may relate to, but the decision to never give up in life is a lesson for all.

Growing up

“My schooling days provided some of the greatest experiences and lessons of life. I was not a top student. In fact, I have mostly been in the bottom 10 of the class,” Mr Padarath said.

“However, I have always been sur­rounded by great people in school and at home who continuously encouraged and motivated me to strive forward. I was not good in sports either and usually was the last one to be picked in the soccer team. Still, I played and tried. It was probably those early days of learning from failure.”

He said it was during his tertiary education that he learned about choices and sacrifices that led him to his graduation.

“My tertiary education was at the University of the South Pacific’s Laucala Campus. I was not a strong student in school. I scored four marks less than what was accept­able for an Undergraduate Degree Programme, thus in the first se­mester, I had to take a Foundation level course to meet the require­ments,” Mr Padarath said.

“This, in fact, was a blessing in disguise because it taught me some of the greatest lessons. Because of failure, I was afraid, and the only way out was to be successful. I got accepted in the degree programme and there was no looking back from then, I got accustomed to university expectations from the foundation course. I started enjoy­ing studies and the world started to make more sense to me.

“As a result, I was able to score good grades. I did double majors in Management and Public Admin­istration and in Information Sys­tems. I graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in 2010 with a GPA better than some of my friends who were in the Top 10 at school.

“My struggles are insignificant in the face of the sacrifices which have been made by my grandpar­ents, my parents, and my family to build my future – I will forever be indebted to them.”

In May, he is expected to graduate with a Master of Business Admin­istration degree from USP which is AMBA accredited and internation­ally recognised.

Ashreet Padarath.

Work experience

“I graduated in 2010. With a lot of pride because of my high GPA, I was sure to land a good job with­out breaking a sweat. But little did I know that getting a job was going to take all my self-esteem away,” he said.

“The Fiji National University (FNU) was formed at that time, and I managed to land a temporary job in the Human Resources Depart­ment for six months. I had devel­oped a keen interest in the field of marketing during university, thanks to Professor Gurmeet Sin­gh’s class. Therefore, I was seeking a role in this field. After FNU, I got unemployed, I still thought that this would be temporary, but I was wrong.

“At that time, I had an innate de­sire, dream, and passion to work for a company. I had been applying for all suitable vacancies and got shortlisted for multiple interviews. In my opinion, I did well and the same was the feedback from inter­viewees.

“Yet, I never got an offer, even for the most entry level position. Fail­ing at 11 interviews at my dream company took all my pride away. I felt there was not going to be a way out.”

Poverty is what drove Mr Padar­ath to succeed, and he has never looked back ever since.

“The year was 2011, nine months had passed with unemployment, I was helping my father build our make-shift home in Nadera. We lived in this house without elec­tricity for a long time,” Mr Padar­ath said.

“Tap water only came after 8pm, otherwise, we managed with water stored in tanks. If I had to attend a job interview, my mum would request the neighbour for electric­ity to iron my clothes. And then to come home being unsuccessful, it was devastating.

“One day I got a call from the Con­sumer Council where I had applied for an internship. Minister Premi­la Kumar was then the CEO of the Council, she was very impressed with my presentation and offered the internship. But she very polite­ly told, the job was mine but it did not have any remuneration (pay) due to budget constraints.

“I gladly accepted the offer, thanked her with all my heart and told her that I was all about the exposure. After three months at the Council, I got a job at FMF as an Internal Auditor. The job was way out of my field, but it was a job with a salary and my family need­ed the money.”

It was in 2019 when an opportu­nity at BRED Bank opened and he has been there ever since.

“I am thankful to be given this work environment, culture and support from my colleagues. This is the backbone which keeps me steady and contributes to the suc­cess and growth of my employer and at the same time improves the livelihood of the customers we are here to serve,” he said.

“It is challenging and rewarding at the same time. Without chal­lenge, there will be boredom. With boredom, there is no progress.

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