From a Bicycle to Fiji’s Leading Electrical Company
Mr Narayan proudly described his company’s stance not to lay off any worker during the COVID-19 pandemic as the company was listed as an essential service provider by the Ministry of Health.
From a small outfit and a bicycle as the mode of transport in the Coral Coast town of Sigatoka best describes as Sigatoka Electric’s humble beginnings.
For the company’s managing director, Vijay Narayan, the struggles over the past 53 years since its inception are now reaping the rewards.
Today Sigatoka Electric Limited is one of Fiji’s leading suppliers of electrical parts and equipment and also a major player as an electrical contractor.
The company has also ventured out into hiring heavy machinery which includes cherry pickers, hiab truck and all size of generators.
A visible delighted Mr Narayan ventured down memory lane reminiscing the early days of the company while rewarding his loyal staffs during the awards event last Sunday.
The event was held at Landers Resort at Vuda in Lautoka with some staffs being rewarded for their outstanding contribution to the company.
“This is 53 years now since the company begin,” Mr Narayan said.
“Actually it’s a family business as one of my elder brother, Gopal Krishna started this business in 1970s and I joined the company in 1977 in Sigatoka.
“We’re originally from Lautoka. My brother got the contracting license and after that Fiji Electricity Authority asked him to open a branch in Sigatoka.
“I joined in 1977 and after 10 years I became the managing director. Back then we had four to five staffs and by 1987 we had 25. Now we have a total of 120 staffs.
The company now have five branches – the three bigger branches are in Sigatoka, Nadi and along Grantham Road in Suva. There are two retail outlets one of which in Nakasi and the other in Rakiraki. Also, our head office is based in Sigatoka.
Mr Narayan said the company has future plans for more expansions by way of opening more branches, more likely to open in north either in Labasa or Savusavu and the other in Lautoka.
He said he joined the company straight after finishing high school which by then had already been established.
“My brother worked very hard to starting off with a bicycle and two staff after coming from Lautoka, where we are originally from, with $2 in his pocket, He actually hitched a truck ride from Lautoka and struggled to get established here.
“He knew people of Sigatoka as he used to camp here previously while he was an apprentice with Western Electric. Once completing his apprenticeship, he got his electrical license.
“We were able to manage all the resorts around the Coral Coast which included supplying electrical parts providing maintenance work.
“We started off as electrical contractor and maintenance but now we are involved with major projects and not just here in Fiji but around the Pacific Islands too. At the moment we are recognised as one of the biggest electrical contracting companies.”
The other company business is the hiring of plants and machinery including generators.
Mr Narayan proudly described his company’s stance not to lay off any worker during the COVID-19 pandemic as the company was listed as an essential service provider by the Ministry of Health.
This allowed the company to open the shops which included sales at the branch doors and online.
“We managed to keep staff working at least 24 to 32 hours a week and we topped them with funding from the company to make it 40 hours.
“We did not slack any staff or give them leave without pay. It’s a family business and we treat our staffs as family, so with an average of four family members per staff, we’re looking after 480 individuals.
“The staff are the asset of the company and if the staff perform well, the company goes, and this encourages customers to continue to seek our services.”
Mr Narayan said COVID-19 forced the company to suspend the staff awards for the past three years.
Mr Narayan’s wife Vijay Lakshmi is the human resource manager while his son Gailesh Narayan is the manager for the sigatoka Branch and also a Fleet manager.
Mr Narayan has one daughter, one son and five grandchildren