Sirias turns hobby into business

By SHIRLEY MAULUDU - The National

IN what started as a hobby during her time as a student at Divine Word University (DWU) in Madang is now a business idea that Jane Sirias has pursued.

About 10 years ago, Sirias developed a hobby of shopping at Kalibobo second-hand clothing in Madang with her friends.
They would shop for outfits for events or nice t-shirts and pairs of jeans for casual wear.
The mother of three is now the proud owner of MeniKala Clothing, registered with Investment Promotion Authority and operating out of Madang.

MeniKala Clothing second-hand in Wewak, East Sepik in 2016.

“I saw the turnover of the stock at second-hand clothing in Madang was very good and thought to myself, why not try it out. That was where the idea of starting and owning a small business began,” she recalled.
“MeniKala Clothing started in August 2016 with the retailing of second-hand clothing and is trading as PNG MeniKala Crafts on Facebook.”
Sirias graduated with a bachelor’s degree in information systems from DWU and has been employed full-time with the DWU ICT Services as an IT support analyst for 10 years.
“I am married with three children, age two, four and six,” she said.
“We reside in Madang and basically do our business online via social media (Facebook page).
From East Sepik, Sirias, 32, said the business name “MeniKala” was derived from her home village Meni in Wewak. ‘Kala’ was added to relate to the different clothing colours.
“We ordered our first A grade clothing bales from Mausgras Pacific Trading Ltd in New South Wales, Australia. We managed to clear our (clothing) bales at Lae port and the shipment went straight to Wewak for sales,” she said.
“We successfully made two shipments and the sales went well until we encountered the challenge of the decreasing kina value in 2017.
“The shipping cost was a real challenge as we were unable to restock.
“The devaluation of currency did not stop our dream of owning a small business as we looked into other marketing opportunities in PNG.
“After a bit of research on what was trending on the market especially in clothing, and art and craft, we found out that a lot of Papua New Guineans today wanted to have a little bit of their tradition incorporated with fashion.
“The market niche for us is to do with art and craft. That is something Papua New Guineans today blend well, with different fashion styles.”
Sirias further noted that in June 2018, the Facebook page, PNG MeniKala Crafts was launched to sell PNG themed items ranging from necklaces, bilums, earrings, blouses, purses and fabrics. “With the aid of technology, we managed to sell our products right across PNG. We took the risk to give it a go and to our surprise, we were able to secure a good number of customers with their requests and orders.
“We have orders every day. We are currently operating from home. Our demand is always high and we try to keep up with our supplies too.

Happy customer Yvonne Karo at Tianjin Eye, Tianjin, China with her purchase of Madang bilum from MeniKala.

“We were privileged to partner with Maku Gifts (another local business operating out of Kokopo, East New Britain) to resell the original ‘wheel tabu’ and ‘crocodile print’ fabrics right across the country. We have customers also from mining towns like Porgera, Tabubil and Lihir with few of our items sold to our customers in Fiji, China and Australia as well.”
Sirias was recently part of a 32-member group of women from throughout the country that graduated after 14 weeks of undergoing the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) online business course. The AWE is a pilot programme in PNG which is also run in East Asia and Pacific region. AWE participants used DreamBuilder, an online course on women’s entrepreneurship developed through a partnership between Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management and global copper mining company Freeport-McMoRan.
“I have gained the skill set knowledge of creating a business plan including outlining business objectives, refining a prototype, sale and marketing, developing partnerships, securing funding and managing resources,” she said.
“After completing this course, I am now tidying up my financial records which is very important when you want to seek loans or apply for grants and other financial help to keep your business going.
“I am privileged to be part of this pilot project and I humbly thanked the US government for the opportunity given to the Women Entrepreneurs of PNG.”
“It is an ongoing project so I would like to encourage all women who engaged with SME in the country to apply when the applications are open.”
The local business woman further noted that with the aid of the affordable smart phones and data rates and right success habits, business was at her fingertips. “One can have a full-time job and at the same time juggle your business at the comfort of your home.”
Sirias said her faith also played a part in her success by keeping her grounded.
“Last but not the least, always make time to thank our Creator because this is where our wisdom and knowledge comes from. This is where our strength comes from when we are tired in this journey of life. Do your best in whatever you do in life and God will do the rest.”

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/sirias-turns-hobby-into-business/

Succes is in being gritty

By SYLVESTER WEMURU The National

ANDREW Ume Moki likes to share his story with all school leavers and others who sit back and think that there is no hope in life.
He says God has blessed him so he wants to share his story with everyone who may be in the same boat he was once in.
After completing grade10 at Rosary High School in Chimbu in 1992, Andrew was not accepted for grade 11.
In a family of eight he was the fourth with four other brothers and three sisters.
Andrew believes education does not stop. He had to find some way to achieve his dream to be an accountant.
Today, he has achieved that dream.
On several occasions, he used to sit at Ganigle near the main Highlands Highway and count the vehicles travelling up and down.
“I was really wondering what made these people own and drive flashy cars while I sat on the roadside watching them. Then I came up with questions like, do they have red blood and I have green blood? Did God create them special?”
With these questions he realised that all humans were created equally and God loved us all but because of our laziness we are made to believe that God is unfair. He also realised that the only hope left for him was education.
Then in 1994, he asked his big brother John Nuku who was the provincial member for Kup that time to enroll him in any school to continue his education.
With the strong ambition that he had for education, his brothers assisted him to Madang Technical College towards the end of 1993.
He recalls that it was early February 1994 that he jumped on a PMV and I travelled to Madang with his father Joe Kui Tumun.
“I got registered and was shown a dormitory and a bed to sleep on. After a tiring trip down to Madang, I quietly slept on the bed but that was the most comfortable bed I ever slept on in my life. I was snoring under the electric fan till day break.
“The next morning I registered with the carpentry department. I was given two sets of overalls and a pair of safety boots.
Andrew enjoyed everything that the school offered but his priority was to focus on his studies both academic and practical because carpentry was a trade course.
“I can recall a funny thing we did while in school and that is, one hot day we were on the roof of a building putting up the roofing iron when we saw some young school of nursing girls marching to town. To get their attention we had to punch nails in like beating the drums in a music concert.
“It so happened that one Southern Highlands girl caught my eyes. I fell in love instantly from the roof top. A few days later we became friends and it was really a good feeling for me to have a girlfriend who was a student at the nursing school after being in the village and being ignored by school girls from my neighboring tribes.”
Andrew said life was good with the girlfriend at the first months and while the year was coming to the end the girl started to lose interest in him and one thing she told him was that she did not like dirty technical men but wanted to marry a doctor or an accountant.

First job
In 1995 he went to Lae looking for job and ended up being a cargo carrier with Associated Distributors Niugini in their warehouse.
That was his first job and his pay for hard physical work he did under the hot sun and was paid K4.40 daily.
Andrew said he had no family so the K4.40 he earned he used K1 for bus fare and K3 was his daily spending money for survival. He said he also liked that job because he took it as part of training. Therefore, money was not a real issue for him because he was eating the most expensive food in the warehouse every day.
“That job kept me busy all of 1995 and I went back to the village during Christmas. Christmas was always a good time back in Kup where all the school students and educated elites of Kup used to come back to spend their holidays. That holiday, I met up with my cousin brother James Bire who is currently the Deputy Commissioner of Customs with the Internal Revenue Commission ((IRC).
“At that time he told me and my cousin brother Kapua Bire about matriculation courses offered at UPNG. We were excited, sold our pigs and went with him to Port Moresbt after his school holiday. From there, I did my matriculation studies in 1996. Life was really hard there but I had some kind-hearted Kups like, James Bire, Gabriel Kini, Louie Kumba, Joe Par Pakne, late Pais Kambu, Brian Boma, Steven Kale, Robert Taie, James Taie, John Muka, Peter Waine, Awi Arnold and Joeseph Sil who wholeheartedly assisted me in one way or the other to complete my matriculation studies in 1997.
After completing matriculation studies, I went back to the village and later came to Lae to enquire at Unitech for a space.”
The 1998 academic year had already started and students were into the second week of lectures while I kept on enquiring for at the school. For four consecutive days I had to stand at the Unitech Department of Business Studies office early in the morning before the department head went in and continued to stand there until he closed his office and came out.
“The department head got tired of seeing me standing there for the past four days and on the fifth day he gave me an opportunity to speak to him. I knew that, that was my opportunity to say anything to be given a chance to study so I said my heart out.
“The head of department that time was Gomie Gipe. He heard me quietly and agreed to give me a chance but strongly warned me not to muck around. I thanked God for the opportunity and walked over to the admin building with a note from the head of department, collected my registration form, but then I realised that I had no money for registration.
“After that I thought I must see the Vice Chancellor so I walked straight into his office. But then the secretary couldn’t let me through and while standing there the VC came out. I called him asking; Sir, can I have a chat at your office for less than five minutes?

Registered to study
“He looked at me and said, ‘Son no problem, please come in’.
I was sitting with the VC of University of Technology in his office and that was the guy who had the power to let me study or not, so I said everything I had in my heart to him within less than five minutes as promised.
“He was convinced with what I told him and instructed the registrar to get me registered and attend classes and later settle my outstanding fees.”
Moki started class at Unitech in 1998 after being registered that day but still had problems with accommodation because he was registered as a day student. Andrew was offered a space by one of his brothers who was also a student. The feeling of being a university student was great and before long the first semester ended.
He said he still needed the money to settle his outstanding fees, so he had to go back home, and did some illegal things to find money to pay for his school fee.
With all the struggles he got his Diploma in Accounting in 2000. With diploma on my hand, he looked everywhere in Lae for job opportunities and ended up with Nestle PNG Limited as a casual staff.
“I was employed as a casual filing clerk and the company used to pay me K185 cheque every fortnight. While filling all the invoices, payment vouches, financial reports etc, I used to go through the documents and saw how work was done and got myself familiarised. I did not think about anything such as good pay, the office was airconditioned and working environment was good.
“I used to make sure that I was the first person standing at the office door every morning and last person to leave the office.”
Andrew was not expecting this but within one year he was promoted three times. From casual employee to company management accountant, then to fixed asset cccount and finally to the position of supervisor Supply Chain department.

Marriage and prison
While working for Nestle, he met a young girl from Chimbu who was also a grade 12 dropout, and married her.
But then he realised that she had potential to go further her education so he supported her and she went to University of Technology in 2001 and four years later she graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Agriculture Science.
“I have been on the job for six years with Nestle PNG and lost my job after my wife got me in jail for going around with another woman. I spent three months at Buimo jail. My body was turned into a ripe banana!
“Then with the help of big brothers like David Pakne, Hubert Pegu and Joe Kewa, I sneaked through the judiciary system and got my freedom in 2007.
“After coming out from prison in 2007, I applied for the position of Inventory Manager Northern region advertised by Goodman Fielder Ltd. Four candidates where shortlisted, among them three with degree qualifications and I was the only one with diploma. I got the job. But then the nervous thing with the job was that I was a manager with diploma who had other staff with degree.”
That didn’t stop Andrew when he got promoted to be the national inventory control manager Asia-Pacific Goodman Fielder International after two years of working there.
He then applied to do his third year at Unitech and got accepted in 2012. He did his third and fourth years while still working for Goodman Fielder. He was on government scholarship as well as company scholarship with full pay.
In 2012, his wife was also accepted to do her Master’s Degree at University of Technology as well, so they both studied there in year 2012 and 2013. After completing his studies in 2013, he was terminated from his job. But that did not bother him because he was going to graduate in March 2014.
After being out of job for a month, he found a new job.

Accounting degree
“I went and graduated, got my degree in Accounting not just as another student but as a company executive in March 2014 with my wife also graduating with her Master’s Degree in Agricultural Science.
He is currently the administration manager, Finance at PNG Forest Products in Lae.
“Thank you to God who has blessed us and brought us this far. Thank you to all the people who have helped us back then and I believe God does bless people who help other people,” Moki says.
“To all school leavers and people with no hope in life, I believe you will be motivated after reading this article.”

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/succes-is-in-being-gritty/

Persistence pays off for teacher

By JOYCE INGIPA - The National

THERE is no such thing as luck, chance or secret route to achieving what we want in life. Hard work is the recipe for success. If we want to achieve something in both secular and religious worlds we must work hard for it.

Kenny Pawa Ambiasi, a mathematics teacher at Port Moresby National High School wrote his first book titled Understanding Success: A Teacher’s Perspective and published it in April this year. The book was published with the help of Simbu Writers Association and printed by Amazon Books in United States of America.

The 34-year-old father of three from Pundia Village of Imbonggu, Southern Highlands wrote the book to help school administrators and education authorities solve teacher discipline problems which are affecting the performance of schools and the education system in PNG. He had decided to make the book motivational so that teachers can have visions, set goals and work hard to achieve desired results.

Ambiasi completed his primary schooling at the North Mendi Primary School in 2001 and moved on to Mogol Secondary School where he completed grade 12 in 2005 but was devastated when he did not receive any offer after that.

“In 2006 I realised that I had to get a tertiary qualification so I went to Port Moresby and upgraded my marks through distance learning at the Gerehu study centre to make it right for myself.”

After upgrading his marks for a year Ambiasi applied to do the Bachelor of Education course at the University of Goroka and was accepted to commence studies in 2007. He completed his studies in 2010 and has been teaching in a number of schools ever since.

Ambiasi strongly believes that in order to achieve quality education, there has to be quality teachers in place.

“If we don’t have quality teachers we will not have quality education and so we will have lots of anti-social problems in our society.”

Writing a book was no easy task for Ambiasi because English was not his specialised area nor his first language.

“Writing this book was not easy. As a mathematics teacher and someone who knew little of the mechanics of English language and process of publishing a book I felt like climbing a steep mountain. It took me lots of time to construct a sentence and many times I stayed all night till day break.

“And after I completed the manuscript I sought help from many people which included journalists and English experts to edit my work. However, all of them gave me negative response after seeing and going through my work. Their only reason was, my English was poor.”

Ambiasi turned a deaf ear to all the negative criticism and never gave up on his dream to publish his book; he decided to push on and work harder.

In his persistent hunt of English experts Ambiasi caught up with Patrick Niato Tom, a journalist working with Post Courier. Patrick helped Ambiasi in his primary stage of the book.

Sir Paulias Matane and Port Moresby National High School principal David Diowai encouraged Ambiasi to never give up.

Ambiasi’s mind was fixed with what Sir Paulias told him, “If you want to write a book, leave the English language mechanics to the editor but put your idea on paper.”

David Diowai, a veteran in the teaching profession boosted Ambiasi’s morale by agreeing to write the foreword of the book as he always stressed to young people to read and write a lot.

“When I worked hard with a positive mind I saw that my English was improving and I was amazed. Eventually, Francis Nii, the chief editor and writer in Simbu Writers Association accepted my manuscript and published it.

“What I can say now is that, success comes only through hard work, nothing else.”

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/persistence-pays-off-for-teacher/

Local entrepreneur commits to fight corporate greed

Posted on The National

CORPORATE greed is a disease that plagues Papua New Guineans, according to local entrepreneur Des Yaninen.
In an attempt to address this, Yaninen, who has been vocal on the promotion and growth of local small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country, donated K20,000 towards the establishment of PNG Consumer Advocacy Network (PNGCAN) (@pngconsumeradvocacynetwork) next year.
“The funding will go toward setting up an online portal for customer complaints (www.pngcan.com), hire a team of three staff to manage the initiative, provide internet access, set up an office space to operate out of and meet other operational expenses,” he said.
“I pledge a further K50,000 every year to fund the operation of this initiative for the next two years until it is able to sustain itself.
“The online portal is now live.
“Since we have almost a million citizens on Facebook, this service will collect customer complaints from Facebook and report them to the ICCC (Independent Consumer and Competition Commission) on behalf of the consumer.
“If several consumers share the same complaint, we will partner with a law firm to take class action on behalf of the consumers against the offending businesses.”
Yaninen said, furthermore, a scorecard would be kept of the most loved and most hated businesses in PNG.
“The more a business offends consumers, the higher their ‘hate’ score will be,” he said.
“Based on this, consumers will discourage other consumers from ever using the services of that company.

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/local-entrepreneur-commits-to-fight-corporate-greed/

Christmas message from Hela Provincial Administrator to Hela

By William Bando-Hela Provincial Administor

Today 19th December I stood on behalf of our people and our Hela Provincial Government at Homa Field and said sorry and thank Papua New Guinea that came to shoulder our pain and wipe our tears for a week. We have been mocked and tortured for the doings of a few but surely the week long crusade here at Homa Rugby Field has been a blessing to many. May I wish all you Heavenly Angels from the 21 provinces and our big brothers ((Engans) from CAF Ministry a safe journey back to your respective provinces.

I also took the occasion to Forgive those that pulled the trigger and those that induced you to do what you did on me last september at the Tokia Bridge. I am sending a message that pig and money cannot buy life and we must never resort to compensation as a remedy. Hela must learn to say sorry and forgive in a true hearty way and I have started and done just that.

If I as your Provincial Administor do not embrace forgiveness, Hela will not know forgiveness and therefore I have forgiven those that do what they love doing. The killers and gun totters must be told point blank by us elites if we care about our place and people. I applozise to my relatives in Tani Pureni, Maria, Pori, Fugwa, Koroba and Tari if I had acted out of your wishes for compensation for their wrongs. Forgiveness was never in my mind but came naturally when on stage for the presentations

May you all find peace in these difficult times and it is my desire that all educated elites of Hela must start educating their immediate siblings and the very clan we come from to take back Hela. If we do not get the family unit which is the foundation of our existance stabled, the experiences of today is only a begginning of a time bomb and therefore all of us have a responsibility to our province through the discipline of our own individual family units.

To those wanting to succeed me as the Provincial Administor, I will give you time shortly so may I ask you to allow me to finish my term and then shall your turn come. We don't have many to choose from so therefore respect "mas stap"

Merry christmas to you all lovely God Never forgotten people of Hela and from me and my boys we wish you all a very peacefulful and a prosperpus 2020 for Hela and its people.

Cabinet approves K300mil for hospitals

By PETER WARI - The National

THREE new hospitals to cost K300 million each will be built in Hela, Southern Highlands and West New Britain, Health Minister Jelta Wong says.
He said Cabinet had approved the projects.
Other provinces will be looking into later.
Wong accompanied Prime Minister James Marape and others to open projects in Tari, Hela, yesterday.
He said, although Hela was known for law and order issues, the unity of partners such as the Oil Search Foundation, Santos, the Tari-Pori development authority, Hela government and the Australian government through the incentive fund had seen new projects realised to benefit patients and health workers.
“The improvement and construction of infrastructures are taking place because of like-minded and God-fearing people working together to serve the people,” he said.
“The opening of the 28-room nursing quarters, mess hall for patients, X-ray and pathology unit and four houses for doctors are the beginning of many things to come.”
Wong commended the provincial health authority headed by chief executive Dr James Kintwa “for the wise and prudent management to put up such infrastructures”.
Oil Search Ltd chief executive officers and Hela health authority chairman Peter Botten said the support from partners such as Australia had improved health services in the province.
The PNG Incentive Funds gave K10 million for the development at the hospital.

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PM opens nurses’ quarters, hospital kitchen during visit

PRIME Minister James Marape visited his Tari-Pori electorate in Hela yesterday to open several projects at the provincial hospital in Tari.
They were funded by the PNG Incentive Fund for K10 million through the PNG-Australia partnership programme.
Marape thanked the PNG Incentive Fund for the construction of a nurses’ quarters, plus the hospital kitchen and messing facilities.
The other projects was the hospital’s X-ray and pathology laboratories.
Marape said the partnership between the government of Australia, Oil Search Foundation and Oil Search “is a testament to the commitment to serving the people of Tari-Pori and the country as a whole”.
He said it would boost the morale of the hospital staff.
Marape said he wanted nurses and doctors to attend training sessions too.
He said the Government planned to bring better health services to the rural areas.

Hela health authority chief executive Dr James Kintwa (from left), Marape, Hela Governor Philip Undialu, Davis, Oil Search Ltd chief executive Peter Botten, Oil Search Foundation chief executive Stephanie Campbell and Wong opening the 28-room nurses’ quarters. – Nationalpics by PETER WARI

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/cabinet-approves-k300mil-for-hospitals/

Tour operator reopens lodge after earthquake, civil unrest

Posted on The National

THE Ambua Lodge in Tari, Hela, has reopened for business, according to Trans Niugini Tours.
General manager Andrew Neufeld said the lodge was closed following the earthquake last year and unrest in the area.
“Ambua Lodge is one of Papua New Guinea’s most unique and famous locations and is a favourite amongst cultural and birding enthusiasts from around the globe,” Neufeld said.
“In August 2018, Trans Niugini Tours made the difficult decision to close the lodge indefinitely, after the area suffered from a substantial earthquake followed by a period of civil unrest.
“During the closure, we closely monitored the local security situation, repaired earthquake damage and made improvements and renovations.
“One of the first things returning guests may notice is the new floor with in-floor heating in the main lodge,” he said.
Neufeld said a four-month soft reopening of Ambua Lodge had gone well.
“The local community supports the reopening and they are very excited to warmly welcome back our guests.”
When asked how much was invested in the renovations and improvements, Neufeld said: “The cost of renovations is a bit tricky to pin down but it was probably K75,000.” to K100,000. The main thing is, it is looking good and open for all to come have a comfortable, safe and relaxing stay.”

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/tour-operator-reopens-lodge-after-earthquake-civil-unrest/