Value-adding Kabakoro
LAISANI Kabakoro strikes one for her infectious laughter and friendly nature. The grandmother was seen at the Women Entrepreneurs and Business Council (WEBC) market in Suva where she was selling a range of home-made products and traditional crafts.
The Vutia, Rewa, native retired in 2012 after a long career as a Tax Auditor at the Fiji Revenue & Customs Authority (FIRCA).
Since then, she has been looking at supplementing her income with her range of handicraft and food.
“Before I retired I bought a place at Pacific Harbour to plant flowers which is what I love to do. It’s a hobby of mine. I registered my flower business under the name Vision Green Nurseries.”
While she and her husband enjoy their retirement in Suva, they have an employee who looks after their farm at Pacific Harbour.
“I try to help the ladies from the village by buying their handicrafts and other products and I re-sell them,” she smiled.
Ever the entrepreneur, Mrs Kabakoro is always out to make a buck.
She buys home made brooms (sasa) and she plaits a pandanus mat around the handle of the broom stick to add value to the product.
“I love to plait mats so I plait it for broom handles and sell it for $10 and I encourage the people who come from overseas to buy it,” she winked.
Also on her table were jams made from wi given by her neighbours.
Apart from the flowers and pot plants she sold a unique pot plant made from towels.
“These are old towels, which you make a perfect square and mix it with cement and dry it for 24 hours and you put your flowers in it. I learnt it from church, my money face goes ‘oh this is something I can do’,” she laughed.
“People would call for the plants and I sell it to them. “My advice to young people out there is that jobs are hard to come by nowadays and young people can easily do something for themselves.
“Just look at the seeds of the fruit of mandarins, I planted the seeds onto a pot plant and it sprouted I sell the seedling for $3.
“Customers bought up to 10 plants ... now that’s easy money.”