IT was a dream he had since he was a boy.
The dream was to revive a bus company which had ceased operations years before his birth.
His grandparents – Adriu Silimaibau and Adi Meri Babiau — operated a bus company known as “Ou Mai Vano” in the Rakiraki and Nadi areas in 1936.
The name of the company means “Come We Go” in the Ra dialect.
But well before Jalepesi Silimaibau was born, his grandparents’ bus company ceased operations.
However, he grew up hearing stories about his grandparents and their bus company from his father Osea Bakadroti.
He heard stories of how they started the company and how things were back then — eight decades ago.
It lingered in his mind and he vowed that one day he would revive the bus company his grandparents had started.
On Friday, I was lucky to meet Mr Silimaibau and find out more about his life.
He owns Sunset Express and took time out off his busy schedule when I met him at his office in Walu Bay, Suva.
Mr Silimaibau said there were many challenges in his life while growing up.
He was nine years old when his mother, Alumita Tupou passed away, something that shattered his life.
He was only in Year Seven, then Class Seven at Nanuku Sangam School in Nanukuloa, Rakiraki, when he was asked by his father to leave school.
Being the fourth eldest in a family of seven children, Mr Silimaibau said he felt that he was needed by his father.
“That is why I left school because I felt that it was necessary for me to help my dad earn extra cash and also to support my three other siblings who were still in school at that time.
“I did a couple of jobs straight after leaving school and I first started off by collecting empty bottles from the streets to sell,” Mr Silimaibau said.
He then described of how he moved from selling bottles to becoming a lorry boy and on Fridays he would go out to the sea to dive for seafood delicacies to sell in the market.
Mr Silimaibau said he moved from one casual job to another and this went on for about 10 years.
He even went to the extent of travelling to Lautoka to cut and plant sugar cane.
While in Lautoka, he told himself that the only way he could achieve his dream of reviving the family business again was for him to go back to his village in Nanukuloa and use the land.
Etablishment of Sunset Express
Mr Silimaibau said his father passed away a few years later and soon after he married.
After getting married, he learnt mechanical work from a few businesses that he drove for.
He said he then joined the Barclay Brothers, who assisted in the building of Monasavu Dam.
He was appointed the camp clerk and this work involved looking after the welfare of the team in camp. He was later promoted to paymaster.
After spending a few years there, Mr Silimaibau left and then later was a driver of the Vatukoula and Sunbeam Express Buses from 1980 to 1982.
He said after driving for few other businesses, he shared his business plan with his wife and then they decided to move to the village and pursue his dream.
Mr Silimaibau used his eight acre land in the village to plant sugar cane.
“We planted sugar cane for about 11 years,” Mr Silimaibau said.
He said in the 11th year into their sugarcane planting business, his wife told him that they had a total savings of $5000 in their bank account.
“We started the business using that money.” Year 1994 was earmarked for the Silimaibau family as they also managed to attain their business licence.
“The first bus company established by my grandparents was named Ou Mai Vano in 1936 and we changed the name to Sunset when the company started in 1994.”
Mr Silimaibau started his business with seven cars and two vans in 1993 and it provided transportation services in the Suva and Lautoka corridor.
“I was finally given my bus business licence in 1995 and it expanded from two to three buses over the course of all these years.”
He said he had to spend a whole lot of his time just thinking of the type of buses that he should bring as he had other bus competitors.
“I came up with a strategy and that is that my bus should stand out from the rest of the express buses that had been running.
“So I told myself I will purchase a bus which is similar to the ones overseas, so I first purchased two air con buses and the buses are locally made.”
Mr Silimaibau said the number of buses multiplied by two every year and then from year 2013, the company started importing buses from Indonesia and China.
Way forward for the company
“Nothing is impossible and the only hard thing here is that we need to work and we cannot achieve huge things in life if we do not work, even if we go to church, pray to God and even we go fasting.
“God only wants three things from us and that is for us to be wise, to have money and we need to continue with the work that he has called us on this earth for.
“This is the whole reason I started off this business,”Mr Silimaibau said.
Mr Silimaibau said he planned to keep advancing the look of his buses in the years to come in order to provide better and reliable services to all the Fijian people.
“We now have 24 buses and we plan to bring four more new buses and our buses now not only have air con but also have television and it offers free internet connection.
“It is important for our young people to ensure that they make use of the given time and also to work because nothing in life comes easy, it takes hard work,” he said.
