Suva, June 22 – The Ministry of Youth and Sports’ inaugural National Youth Entrepreneurs Awards held on Wednesday evening was a success.
Minister for Youth and Sports Hon. Laisenia Tuitubou was chief guest at the awards and said that “the Ministry is planning to have this as an annual event.”
"The Awards recognise youths who have pursued their entrepreneurial dreams and become successful,” said Hon. Tuitubou. “The Ministry wishes to reward their achievements and hopefully help them progress to the next level.”
“The Awards night is also to celebrate their successes and reward those who have achieved their dreams and hopefully through their stories, to inspire more young Fijians to pursue entrepreneurship,” said the Youth Minister.
Three special and main awards were awarded to winners on Wednesday night and they were:
Main Awards
• Rajnel Prasad – Best Male Entrepreneur Award
• Eseta Farming Limited – Best Youth Group Entrepreneur Award
• Nirupa Devi Varma – Best Female Entrepreneur Award
Special Awards
• Sunia Tubuna – Youth Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award
• Olson Fonmanu - Youth Retailer of the Year Award
• Sherin Ali – Youth Starter of the Year Award
The winners of the Main category were awarded $10,000 and according to Minister Tuitubou, “the Ministry envisages that it will boost their small businesses and take them to the next exciting level.”
Nirupa Devi Verma of Lautoka said; “I am grateful to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for recognising my business and efforts.”
“This award will definitely help by more machines to boost my production and possible employ more women,” said the owner of Lautoka-based Neha’s Tailoring.
Eseta Mauvu was also delighted and contributed the win to her three other partners.
“I attributed this win to my partners and we are just working hard to influence more youth to venture into farming and utilise the resources,” said the single mum who is originally from Matuku in Lau.
“I encourage youths to continue to work hard and strive for bigger and better things, because hard work will definitely pay dividend,” said Eseta.
Vice President of the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation Ms Eseta Nadakuitavuki said at the awards; “What an incredible night it was and event, recognizing the youths of our nation, their contributions and achievement in stepping into a career that requires character, ingenuity, integrity and amongst other things a daring attitude.”
“On behalf of FCEF and its Young Entrepreneurs Council I stand here today and congratulate you winners of the first ever National Youth Entrepreneurship Awards,” said Ms Nadakuitavuki.
Minister Tuitubou also highlighted the need for stronger partnership and said; “I would like to thank our panel of judges from organisations including FDB, RBF, Investment Fiji, NCSMED and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism. They all promote entrepreneurship and we look forward to working with you as we continue to develop these Awards.”
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