A look at the Kiwi family who run a coconut-oil business in Vanuatu.

New Zealanders who go to Vanuatu are usually there for a holiday. But a Marlborough family, the Bushells (above), love it so much they have set up a coconut business, as Country Calendar reveals. Sarah Nealon reports.

Marlborough couple Jono Bushell and his wife Claire established a business in Vanuatu when they saw an opportunity which could help the local community.

The couple, who run a vineyard contracting business, employ seasonal workers from the Pacific Islands including Vanuatu.

At a Wellington conference, Jono heard about how coconut oil was being produced in Honiara in the Solomon Islands using local labour.

After visiting Honiara and looking at how coconut oil was being made there, Jono decided this could also be done on Vanuatu’s Tanna Island.

“I’d been going over to Vanuatu and out to Tanna Island quite regularly to do recruitment and really just fell in love with the place because it was so remote and so undeveloped,” says Jono.

The Bushells set up Tanna Farms, an organisation which extracts organically grown coconut oil and makes products like coconut oil, lip balm and soap.

“I could just see there was a good opportunity there to develop a

business that would generate work for our staff and their communities,” says Jono.

Two years ago Cyclone Pam destroyed the company’s factory and coconut mill.

“It was pretty devastating after all the work we’d put in to get it up and running,” says Jono. “My New Zealand business partner was like, ‘Well we’re just going to have to rebuild it aren’t we?’

“We’d made the decision to rebuild and it was a hard choice because how do you walk away on people who, you know ... we’ve had an affect on their lives so dramatically in such a short space of time?”

Jono and Claire, who have three school-aged children, rebuilt their factory and the family did two six-month stints there.

“It’s a great experience but it’s still hard work,” says Jono.

“Everyone thinks we go over and we lie by the poolside drinking pina coladas all day. But the reality of going to a place like Vanuatu for a holiday and going there to work is quite different. It’s really busy.”