Page 20 - IB July 2021

Pacific Makete

SUGARBEE FIJI derstand that these are trying times, communication is quite
lacking. Larger companies are harder to get responses from,
as it seems to be that small companies aren’t worth the time
By Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls
or sale.”
She also says she has to remember to make time to rest;
Funmike Lilo’s motivation was simple when she launched this has to be scheduled.
SugarBee in September 2019 with a line of sugar scrubs – get Funmike Lilo, like many young womenpreneurs, is step-
to know the needs and wants of your customers, look at the ping up and showing what small business is about. Along with
international skin care trends and provide a natural Fiji-made her younger sister Georgia, who supports her by answering
option. messages, confirming orders and supporting their social media
Almost two years later, she prides herself on providing cos- promotion, they’re busy SugarBees!
metic and at-home spa-care products made with natural plant
and food-based ingredients. Visit pacificmakete.com.fj for more stories from Fiji’s
“All of our products are 100% cruelty free and personally micro and small micro-enterprises.
tested to ensure quality,” Lilo says.
Lilo previously worked in Fiji’s tourism industry. Today, editor@islandsbusiness.com
retailing purely from online platforms under the SugarBee
moniker, Lilo is busy sourcing ingredients such as saijan or
moringa from local farmers for her soaps, as well as tend-
ing to the range of botanicals in her garden and coordinating
the importation of ingredients not available in-country or too
expensive to buy in bulk in Fiji.
SugarBee’s products include soap bars (turmeric, charcoal
and oat, poppy and paprika) and “dessert soaps” (seriously
some look like cupcakes), body scrubs, lip and body balms,
and hair products – especially created for the “Fiji Maji”.
Lilo organises packaging from a local pharmaceutical com-
pany but found she had to import glass bottles after not being
able to find something that fit her brand here in Fiji.
She has found doing business is not easy, particularly for
small entrepreneurs: “Our delivery services aren’t really
targeted towards small businesses, and even though we un-

New Caledonia

INDEPENDENCE LEADER TAKES TOP JOB IN NEW CALEDONIA

Continued from page 15 election as President, Mapou reaffirmed this concern: “This
announced the poll would be held on 12 December 2021. He date is not good at all. I don’t know what we’re rushing into.”
made clear that the decision to proceed this year was taken From Tahiti, Oscar Temaru of the pro-independence Tavini
by the French government: “I would like to point out that this Huiraatira party welcomed Mapou’s election, saying “he’s a
date is not the subject of a consensus….It’s not an agreement. very intelligent guy and I wish him all the best.”
It’s an initiative that we are taking within the strict frame- Reflecting on his own election as a pro-independence
work of the powers of the French State.” President of French Polynesia in 2004, Temaru recalled how
With the second referendum held just nine months ago, France reacted to his victory: then Overseas Minister Brigitte
calling another vote in December has angered independence Girardin delayed the transfer of hundreds of millions of euros
leaders, who had proposed that the third poll take place in from Paris to Papeete, after threatening to “turn off the taps”
September or October next year. Anti-independence leaders of state funding. With just five months until the next vote
pushed for the earlier date, believing they can stall the mo- in New Caledonia, Temaru worries that the French State will
mentum towards independence highlighted by the increasing play hardball again: “It will be a very tough time from now
‘Yes’ vote in the November 2018 and October 2020 polls. The until the day of the next referendum. They have to be very,
debate over timing is also driven by domestic French politics: very, very careful.”
Emmanuel Macron will face off against the extreme right’s President Mapou says he is up to the challenge: “I know
Marine Le Pen in next April’s French presidential election. a lot of people think we will have a hard time, but the key
Louis Mapou and other UNI representatives boycotted the word in our commitment will be to work for the house of New
Paris roundtable. At the time, he said that the rushed time- Caledonia.”
table imposed by the French state is promoting deep anger
among grassroots independence supporters. Soon after his nicmac3056@gmail.com

20 Islands Business, July 2021