GREETINGS from the Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation (FCEF).
FCEF is organising the Top Executive Conference, that is popularly known as TOPEX, scheduled for May 28 and 29, 2021 at the Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa on Denarau Island.
The theme for this year’s TOPEX is, “Resilient Businesses Ready for Tomorrow, 2030 #TOPEX Speaks.”
The word resilient businesses talks about businesses that are able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.
The Prime Minister has mentioned in the past that Fijians are resilient people, always able to recover quickly after a natural disaster.
The pandemic is a new beast and needs no introduction.
It has destroyed a lot of businesses the world over and opportunities that most businesses have taken for granted, because this pandemic was never thought of, neither was any business continuity plan written up to prepare one’s business for this pandemic.
I stand to be corrected, but, never in our wildest dreams have we ever experienced the devastation that this pandemic has wrought in the world, with borders being forced to close and no travels allowed.
The borders closing has brought upon economic devastation upon the world and Fiji has not escaped this devastation.
It is with this in mind that FCEF has organised the 2021 TOPEX to allow speakers to speak about the devastation that this pandemic has brought about to their businesses, what actions, if any, was taken to try and keep the respective businesses afloat, and what are some of the learnings that can be learnt that participants can take away from this conference.
At this stage, we are at the final stages of receiving confirmation from our chief guest and the speakers who have accepted our invitation to participate at this conference.
The chief guest will set the stage with his keynote address on the theme and share his views on the theme. Thereafter, we intend to start off with two speakers, who will speak on the subject, “Moving into the 2030 Global Economic Outlook.”
This will involve a local and global update on the economic outlook. Once the domestic and global economic outlook have been shared, the next session will cover, “Invest in Fiji, the Road ahead and Growth for many.”
Some points that will be covered include:
- How to make Fiji the investment powerhouse, development plans until 2030
- insights on Fiji’s development strategy
- Transform Fiji’s economy, implement policies that facilitate the growth of the private sector which contribute the most to job creation
- Continuously pursue export-led growth based on natural resources or other manufacturing products and how can Fiji join global value chains and take advantage of the digital technology revolution?
- The hub connecting the Pacific.
A topic on leadership towards 2030 will see a couple of speakers speak on gender diversity and a new topic called Neuro-Semantics.
This topic is very new to Fiji and will be delivered by an expert in this field. Neuro-semantics is about one’s personal development for greater meaningfulness, success, and contribution in life.
In neuro-semantics the focus is on the processes that will reliably unleash one’s highest and best potentials.
This is accomplished by enabling one to create the most enhancing and robust meanings that will then enable one to implement one’s best values into the actions that make up one’s performances.
As neuro-semantics has spread around the world, it is now in over 40 countries inspiring people with a vision about modelling excellence to unleashing human potentials.
Interestingly, one of the topics that will be delivered at the conference is, “There is no such thing as business ethics.”
This is a very interesting topic in that it appears to be a contradiction.
Just as interesting will be the speakers, who will deliver on this topic.
Like there is TEDx Talk, there is “TOPEX Talk” during the conference, where the speakers will speak on some very important
topics that relate to individual beliefs and spiritualism that has a corresponding relationship with work.
Corporate health and wellbeing will be covered in which we will try and include creating corporate cultures that inspire health and wellbeing as a lifestyle, from recruitment to retirement.
This is another important topic to look out for, given the recent incidents of workers at different levels of the organisation passing away for certain reasons that are usually tied to their lifestyle and the lack of work life balance.
Bringing up the end will be a topic on Future of Work and Resilient Tourism, sailing into 2030.
Like the other topics, these are two very important topics that need a lot of attention from every organisation, given the current circumstances, the obstacles that organisations face every day and what does the future of work look like, especially, in the tourism sector.
This year’s TOPEX is proving to be a “must attend” conference, given the topics that will be covered and the speakers who
have agreed to speak, because this pandemic has left a lot of destruction in its wake, and will continue to do so if there is
no corrective action plan.
If there is no Talanoa, to acknowledge the situation, talk about the possible solutions and learn from some best practices,
we will continue to wallow in the destruction brought about by this pandemic.
Albert Einstein quoted, “Insanity, is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result.”
It is time that everyone rally together to share their experiences and learnings, which this conference will provide for all the Participants.
We at FCEF, look forward to welcoming and engaging with the Participants who will attend the TOPEX.
- Kameli Batiweti is the CEO for the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of this newspaper
