IN partnership with the Pacific Islands Trade & Invest, the Fiji Export Council has nominated four of their members, Lami Kava, Living Springs, Aswhy Enterprise and Bilo Sinai to attend the largest Pasifika Festival of its kind in Auckland.
The Path to Market trade mission is a bid to build export capabilities and knowledge for Small Medium Enterprises (SME) to understand the New Zealand market.
The trade mission will explore some of the market opportunities in New Zealand with an opportunity to provide feedback on some of the market challenges pertaining to Fiji exports and how we can help address some of these existing challenges.
Fiji Export Council CEO, Jone Cavubati said the objective of this visit was to familiarise the four exporters with the New Zealand market, network throughout the South Pacific region thus enhancing their trading capabilities.
“The 2017 Pasifika Festival is an excellent opportunity for our exporters to gauge, promote and market their products to the New Zealand buyers and also the Pacific,” said Mr Cavubati.
“This could result in both short term gains and the prospect of building long-term financial benefits for their businesses.
“We have always stressed to our members that they need to explore these foreign markets to understand what they need and want for us to meet their expectations” he said.
Rasalato Yanuyanurua CEO of Aswhy Enterprise said he was grateful that his company was nominated to attend the Pasifika Festival in Auckland.
He said: “It is vital to know the market your potential customer operates in and ensure that everything you do is wrapped in that understanding.
“That will require a strong investment in tailoring your product to suit the market and a campaign to promote it appropriately. Being nominated to attend is a bonus for our company.”
Living Springs managing director Indra Deo stated while it’s important to be strong in our local market, just because a product or service works in Fiji, does not mean it will be a success in New Zealand.
“Failure to understand a potential market and its customers is one of the biggest dangers for local exporters and this is why it being part of this trade mission would be beneficial to my company,” he said.
The PITI have been instrumental in supporting the FEC develop their member exporters through the ‘Path to Market’ program that has been ongoing for the past three years.”
“Our exporters have undergone a two-day seminar in Suva and Nadi preparing them to showcase their products at the Pasifika Festival 2017,” said Mr Cavubati.
Mr Cavubati said one of the major issues they had seen was that Fijian products had appeal but had been unable to reach their full potentials because of lack of exposure.
The ‘Path to Market’ program facilitated by the PT&I have taken steps to bridge this gap in export enhancements and promotions.
The Fiji Export Council CEO encourages all exporters to contact us on membership and to ensure they participate and benefit from future trade missions and workshops organised by the council.
