Resilience and expansion
Kava entrepreneur Naitavoli’s journey to success
WHILE Fiji’s kava industry continues to boom, fetching millions of dollars in exports, local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are also taking that extra step to cater for the high demands from the local market. In the past years, if one wanted to drink kava, they could either buy $5 sachets and mix at their homes or go down to the nearest kava market and drink there. But this scenario has changed considerably in the past two or three years.
Local entrepreneurs are now hiring business spaces in the city and town centres to open their kava bars and service the working class and those living within and near the urban centres. In Suva, for example, we have Mad House Babaceva Kava Dealer, which is operated by Kasanita Naitavoli of Vacalea Village, Nakasaleka, Kadavu.
A housewife, and mother to seven children, a dream of joining her siblings in the kava business started taking form when her husband left Fiji to work in New Zealand in 2015. With a purpose in mind, she would save whatever money her husband sends home, and within one year, in 2016, she opened her first kava kiosk in Valelevu, Nasinu and named it Babaceva Kava Dealer.
The kava business was another form of income for the family, an addition to the money their father would send from New Zealand. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic reached Fiji’s borders, and the first set of restrictive measures were imposed by government, Ms Naitavoli had to close shop. This did not deter the entrepreneurial-minded woman as she decided to start a screenprinting business while at home. After the lockdown restrictions eased, Ms Naitavoli reopened her kiosk, but hired help to look after the business while she and her family returned to Joma Village in Naceva, Kadavu where her husband was from.
She would travel back and forth between Suva and Kadavu where she would spend two weeks in Suva to see that the kava business was operating smoothly before returning to Kadavu to her family.
After a while, and with a good amount of savings, she finally decided it was time to return to Suva with her family as she was now able to rent a space in the town centre. But the kiosk business in Valelevu took a hit at the beginning of 2023 when the Fiji Roads Authority (FRA) asked them to stop operating from where they were doing business.
This turn in events made it even more clear to Ms Naitavoli that she needed to find and rent a spot in the city to ensure that the kava business that had been sustaining her and her family over the years would not close for good. Around mid-2023, she was introduced to the owners of Mad House BBQ and Grill who agreed to rent her a space where she could operate a kava bar.
After a while, however, she had to close shop again due to some unforeseen circumstances and returned home.
During this time, she said, the stars must have been just realigning themselves in her favour, as she received a call in November, telling her to come back to Mad House and reopen her kava bar business.
From then, the 42-year-old has not looked back. She and her husband, who has returned from New Zealand opened shop again on December 1, 2023.
“What I’ve noticed for us iTaukei’s is that discussions about renting in the city sometimes intimidate us and this could be a stumbling block to our growth. For me, personally, when I returned home after trying out how business was here in the city, I couldn’t sleep well,” Ms Naitavoli told The Fiji Times.
“I was hoping that I’d return someday because I’d experienced how great it was to operate a business in the city.
“Yes, the rent may look overwhelming, but the income is quite good once you establish a secure customer base.
“Now we’re thinking of expanding our business, and maybe return to Valelevu to open our second kava bar there.”
With a convenient location at 43 Gordon St, Suva, Ms Naitavoli’s kava bar attracts a variety of customers every evening until the early hours of the morning. This includes students, civil servants, executives, those from the private sector, night delivery drivers, and even bar attendants and bouncers after the clubs close at 1am.
On top of that, the venue could also be used to cater for kava barrels, and if you want to have some Korean BBQ to go with your kava, you could always order with Mad House BBQ and Grill.
I was hoping that I’d return someday because I’d experienced how great it was to operate a business in the city. Yes, the rent may look overwhelming, but the income is quite good once you establish a secure customer base. Now we’re thinking of expanding our business, and maybe return to Valelevu to open our second kava bar there.
– Kasanita Naitavoli