Govt grant to help enterpreneur expand
IN recognition of the strength of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector as the key to economic diversification and growth, the Government remains committed to giving a leg-up to budding entrepreneurs.
As such, the National Export Strategy under the Minister for Trade, Cooperatives, Small and Medium Enterprises and Communications, recently awarded the director of Qito Sportswear, Asaeli Lemaki, with a $100,000 grant to expand his venture.
“I am 44-years-old and my business mostly does sublimation printing for sportswear, bula shirts, jerseys, tees, vests, shorts and bula wears,” Mr Lemaki highlighted. “I started the business online in 2018 and officially launched it in October, 2022 and we operate from Walu Bay.”
“I was encouraged to apply for this grant as the machines I currently have can’t cater for the orders we receive,” Mr Lemaki relayed. He said that there was a good demand in the local market and he also exports to three Pacific Island countries - Vanuatu, Nauru and the Solomon Islands while he recently has started exporting to Samoa as well.
There are a total of 15 employees in the company and out of which five are adults while the rest are teenagers. “We have demands from schools, the Republic of Fiji Navy and the National Fire Authority of Fiji amongst other institutions,” he said.
“In the sublimation process, you have to print papers from a printer which is then baked together with a polyester material onto an oven where the ink transfers from the paper to the fabric. Then we take the material and cut it followed by sewing – it is all done in our factory,” Mr Lemaki said while explaining the process.
“The machines that we have cannot meet the demand of the market as most of the time we have to employ staff to work overtime which incurs more expenses especially since the process of the machines is slow,” he added.
Mr Lemaki said that he needs extra machines to make the process faster whereby he will be able to cater to the demand and meet the timeframe of the customers and also set a standard for their services. “I want to thank the Government for trusting me and assisting my business so that we can produce more and employ more people which will generate money to put food on their table,” he said.
“Working at a Government factory doing the sublimation process for 25-years paved the way for me, particularly as back in my village in Lau, our forefathers were very talented and did wood carving and other designs so I used that creativity to run my business.”
“I don’t have any qualification yet I have this factory just through my experience and my future plan is to not only do printing but for my factory to be one of the leading companies in Fiji,” he shared.
“The only advice I would impart to the younger generation is not to be a copycat but just work on your talent with passion and it will take you far enough to even be an employer,” Mr Lemaki added.