Page 50 - Islands Business May-June 2022

SPBD

SPBD RELOCATES IN

THE SIGATOKA SALAD

BOWL

South Pacific Business Development’s newly relocated branch in Assistant Roko Tui of the Nadroga-Navosa province, Ilaitia Kurisaru
Sigatoka is now open to its members. told guests at the opening that he was sincerely grateful for SPBD’s
The office services SPBD members from throughout Nadroga- hard work in “trying to eradicate poverty by empowering women
Navosa and Serua. in rural areas with the opportunity to start, grow and maintain
“As our SPBD membership grows, this new premises will better cater sustainable, income generating micro-enterprises.”
for our members’ needs,” said SPBD Director, Lorraine Seeto at the “We all want a life that is problem free and stress free,” he said,
April 29 opening ceremony. continuing that in order to achieve such a life we need to manage our
She acknowledged the region’s contribution to Fiji’s economic and time, manage our resources, establish short- and long-term goals, and
national life. learn to say no sometimes.
“Apart from providing fresh fruits and vegetables due to its highly He shared that saying yes to traditional obligations most often
fertile vegetation, it’s also a bustling town and Sigatoka is the principal contributed to the decline of villagers’ [financial] well-being.
urban centre for the province of Nadroga-Navosa. The town is also “In a typical Fijian setting, we constantly have gatherings and
the principal centre for Fiji’s coastal tourism belt – the Coral Coast occasions by which we cannot say no to. This is however contributing
– which hosts many of Fiji’s leading hotels and resorts. Sigatoka is to the decline of our well-being. The culture of saying yes is always
also commonly dubbed the ‘Rugby Town’ due to the provincial rugby common in our everyday lives.
team’s influence on the Fiji national rugby scene. This is Iliesa Delana’s “What SPBD is doing is by far one of the amazing things ever,” he
hometown, Fiji’s and the South Pacific’s first gold medalist in the said. “SPBD is able to lift up the lives of each underprivileged women
Paralympic Games in 2012,” she said. to have better access to other resources which will have a positive
The new SPBD office has dedicated training facilities for its impact for themselves and their own families.
members. “We hope for more services to come in the future which will
“Previously, we had to hire space to conduct training. Now, we can improve the livelihoods of the so-called Nadroganians.”
cater for our office and training needs under one roof. We can meet all Seeto revealed the organisation is also looking at “launching
our members’ needs better and we encourage members to come and new products, launching a SPBD app, relaunching our Fiji Bloom
visit your Centre Managers here as well,” Seeto continued. programme, evaluating a sanitation project with our business partner,
The Sigatoka branch has four field officers, a Team Leader and fostering more partnerships, and serving our members better. This
three Centre Managers, and a support staff member, who look after 60 year, we intend to have the SPBD Businesswoman of the Year Awards
centres and more than 900 members, Seeto revealed. in the third quarter,” she told Centre Chiefs and guests in Sigatoka.

50 Islands Business, May-June 2022