Maleka Garden Dried Fruits Product Now On the Market
Finding a healthy snack for children can be quite difficult especially for working parents.
This was the experience faced by Yu Nagasaki who was a former school teacher for seven years, before resigning to look after her son and starting a small business. “I got pregnant and decided to resign, because all my family is in Japan and had no one to look after my son,” Mrs Nagasaki said. “While at home with son, I always tried my best to give him healthy food.
“However, it was difficult to find a healthy snack for small children in Fiji.”
She said that was the birth of her idea to start her own business, and make use of the local fruits to produce 100 per cent natural dehydrated fruits.
Mrs Nagasaki, who is now the director of her business Maleka Garden Pte Ltd, started the busi
ness in 2017.
Her main focus was producing 100 per cent natural dried fruits, and employing mothers.
Mrs Nagasaki has lived in Fiji for 12 years.
She wanted to encourage an environment where mothers feel comfortable to bring their small children to work, as they experienced the struggle to find a babysitter.
“I started employing mothers with small children, and we worked together to look after our children, while producing dried fruits.” she said.
The business started producing dried pineapples in 2017, after a number of experiments, before supplying them to main stores in Fiji such as;
■Prouds Fiji,
■Tappoos and
■Jack’s of Fiji.
Based out of Nadi, the company has six ranges of dried products such as;
■pi■eapp●e,
■ma■go,
■guava with Fijian honey,
■●emo■,
■papaya with passion fruit,
■ba■a■a with cacao,
■coco■ut and mango with passion fruit.
“We do not have our own farm, so we buy locally grown fruits from local markets and farmers. “Regarding our packages, and an oxygen absorber which is in each package, we purchase them from Japan.
“Since all our products do not contain any sugar or preservatives, we need to have a highquality package that can keep our products fresh and have a long shelf life,” she said.
Mrs Nagasaki initially invested $ 20,000 into the start of the business targeting the tourism market, however, with COVID-19, demand has slowed down.
The company products are also supplied to a few resorts and restaurants in Nadi, and the business also receives orders from:
■Japa■,
■Austra●ia and
■New Zealand through its online store.