Entrepreneur shares COIVD-19 experiences
“OPPORTUNITIES do not happen – you have to create them.”
This is one of the learnings that social impact entrepreneur and owner of House of Mausio Michael Mausio and his team took away from the pandemic.
Mr Mausio shared the experiences and challenges his team went through during COVID-19 and how it strengthened them further.
The young entrepreneur was part of a panel of speakers who talked about their businesses during and after COVID-19.
He manages WABS Pacific Engineering, Pacific Voyagers (travel agency), Pacific Island (Fiji) and High Garden – a commercial farm that was established as he diversified at the onset of COVID-19.
“For us the pandemic came as a blessing in disguise,” he said.
Mr Mausio said during COVID they specialised in repatriation flights during the past two years doing private charters for people, especially Fijian nationals stuck in Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Nauru.
With the onslaught of the pandemic, Mr Mausio said he noticed the market was missing something – there were no PPE gear providers and there were not enough face masks.
“We were the first ones to come up with the fabric for face masks.”
Although his team received heavy criticism for doing what they had started, but they continued with their plan.
The release of face mask and PPE gear guidelines by the WHO helped propel the business further.
“We took full advantage of the demand from people for face masks and that is when we moved from making wedding gowns, suits and dresses to sewing face masks.”
When supply chains slowed down and virtually came to a halt, Mr Mausio said they walked in to fill the gap and supply organisations and companies with face masks and PPE gear.
He said they were approached by businesses and organisations to supply them with PPE gear with whatever materials they had.
“Our team had to expand our scope of production from making bula shirts and dresses to making PPE gear and face masks.”
It was challenging for the company to move from line of production to a different one altogether, but the team was able to use their skills in expanding the products.
“It was challenging for us to move from one area of production to a fairly new area, but we learnt as we went along. If the pandemic taught us anything, it was the important of diversification. As an SME that’s the only way we were able to survive,” he said.
While the team transferred people from one place to another in Fiji and across the Pacific, they also transferred PPE gear to their customers wherever they were (including other Pacific Islands).
This helped them expand their products all over the Pacific which also worked in their favour when they secured distribution to PNG, Tonga, Samoa and the rest of the Pacific.
With the launch of its product development project the company is working with communities to develop sustainable fashion products.
Mr Mausio said the Business Link Pacific and Australian funded Market Development Facility had been very supportive of the business.
“We have grown from strength to strength at the House of Mausio and our team. From making PPE gear during the pandemic to moving back to specialising and becoming more environmental conscious company in the process.”