CEOs at conference
WITH TOPEX scheduled to be held next month, the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF) will introduce the speakers for the conference this month.
This week FCEF is introducing two more speakers – Investment Fiji chief executive officer Craig Strong and Energy Fiji Ltd chief executive officer Hasmukh Patel.
Born and raised in Suva, Mr Strong was educated at Kings College Auckland and Massey University in Palmerston North in New Zealand, graduating with a Bachelor of Business Studies.
He also has a proven background in marketing and management roles in New Zealand with James Hardie Pipelines, Humes Pipeline Systems and Mico Plumbing & Pipelines.
Under his leadership, Investment Fiji held a Strategic Planning Workshop which is the first step on the organisation’s transformational journey into becoming a trade and investment promotion agency.
According to FCEF over the coming months as Investment Fiji transitions into Investment & Trade Promotion Agency so will their mandate.
Mr Patel has a First Class Bachelor of Technology degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, India and a Graduate Certificate in Management from Monash in Australia.
He is a chartered electrical engineer and a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, UK and Australia to name a few.
According to Mr Patel spirituality in the corporate sector is a topic which is very close to his heart as the business that he is responsible for is the electricity sector in Fiji.
“Many a times, people say that I do not have any competitors in my business and they suggest that EFL should have competitors.
“Let me assure you that I do have two big competitors in my business, which are the amount of rainfall that we receive in our hydro dams and secondly the price of diesel fuel.
“Now these two factors have a great impact on the financial and overall success of EFL which in turn spins the entire Fijian economy.
“So when you have two uncontrollable factors, then how do you manage them?
“There is only one way. And that is ‘I have to depend on the ‘Top Man’, whom all intelligent people refer to as ‘God’ for assistance and guidance.”