The Prime Minister Hon. Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama last week, commissioned the Community Social Enterprise Bakery in Cautata, Tailevu.
While officiating at the commissioning of the bakery, the Prime Minister said that the bakery was already uplifting the quality of life in the community and hopes it would be an inspiration to the students in obtaining knowledge on business matters.
“I also have the pleasure of commissioning the Cautata Bakery today, a business that is already uplifting the quality of life in your community. I hope that this will serve as an inspiration for the children of your school in how to put your best foot forward, offering lessons in life and business alike,” said the Hon. Prime Minister.
The Cautata village bakery was funded by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MITT) through the Integrated Human Resources Development Programme (IHRDP), under the umbrella of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Fiji. The value of assistance given was $84,000, whilst the community contributed $20,000 in cash, together with land and labour.
The Permanent Secretary for Industry, Trade and Tourism Shaheen Ali said it was encouraging to see the spirit of togetherness and commitment through such projects and could only ask the community to continue the good work.
“This is an example of the Fijian Government’s continued investment, complemented by the support of the private sector and members of the community. I would like to remind members of the Cautata community, that this bakery is their source of income and they will need to take full ownership of their new capital to ensure continued support of livelihood,” he said.
The project was fully implemented in January, but started operations in September of this year. In terms of capacity building, IHRDP conducted trainings such as ‘Start Your Business’ in March.
For such projects, the Ministry partners with the private sector to provide specialised trainings. In this case, FMF Foods Ltd conducted basic bread baking and pastry training in May and a refresher bread baking and quality training in October this year.
Within the first week of operation, the bakery generated a total income of more than $2,300 and made a profit of more than $1,000.
Currently, the bakery employs 8 people and has directly impacted the lives of 50 other villagers and with the supply of fresh bread and other pastries, villagers of Cautata, Waicoka and Vatoa benefit greatly from this project.
Commissioner Central’s Office, Ministry of Health, Nausori, Provincial Council Tailevu and FMF Foods Ltd are key stakeholders that contributed towards this project.