New speakers for TOPEX
AS the TOPEX conference draws closer, the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF) has introduced two more speakers to the line-up.
BSP Life managing director Michael Nacola and Asco Motors CEO Craig Sims will be at the conference and will talk about how they managed their businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic and what their plans were for the future.
According to the FCEF, Mr Nacola will also speak on corporate health and wellbeing for 2030, living the full life.
“As we know from the past 12 to 14 months since COVID hit Fiji, it’s basically caused a lot of instability within the country, within the economy, within our work places and corporate health and wellbeing has come to the floor as one of the very important areas that we need to think about in terms of looking after our people, that they are able to adjust through the challenges we are facing,” he said.
Mr Nacola has about 15 years of executive experience with large corporate entities in Fiji with international reach.
The FCEF stated he had specific experience in distribution, marketing, strategy, human resources and business transformation.
It was stated Mr Nacola attained his Bachelor of Management Studies and Masters in Management Studies from the University of Waikato in New Zealand and completed a Diploma in Airline Management with IATA in Switzerland and attended executive management programs at Insead in France and Singapore. He is said to be serving on the boards of BSP Life, BSP Health, BSP Finance, Suva Private Hospital Pte Ltd, Future Farms Pte Ltd, Oceania Hospitals Pte Ltd, Richmond Pte Ltd and RB Patel Group Ltd.
However, he had previously served on the boards of Tourism Fiji and the South Pacific Tourism Organisation.
The next speaker, Mr Sims, said he would provide an overview of 2019 and how they were tracking what happened with COVID and what the impacts were as well as the lessons they learnt.
He said he would also touch on what they would be doing moving forward as a business in 2021, how they could work together and what they needed to keep investing and growing in Fiji.
Mr Sims grew up in Brisbane and completed his Bachelor of Commerce/Economics at the University of Queensland before moving to Canberra to work at the Auditor-General’s Office according to FCEF.
It was stated he then moved to Perth to work as a chartered accountant before moving back to Brisbane in 2008 where he commenced work with Toyota Tsusho South Pacific Holdings — the holding company for Toyota in the South Pacific.
From 2008 to 2014, Mr Sims was the internal audit manager for the group and travelled extensively to visit the operations of the seven countries under TTSPH (Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga).
FCEF stated while in Brisbane, he had completed his CPA, CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) and MBA at the University of Queensland.
In 2015 he received an opportunity to lead a newly-formed branch of TTSPH in Fiji and moved across in May, 2015.
FCEF stated in 2016, Mr Sims was appointed as CEO/director of Toyota Tsusho (South Sea) Ltd maintaining responsibility for the Fiji, Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga operations.