Nawaibuta Holdings leads by example in land development and investment

Nawaibuta Holdings Limited is encouraging other resource owners, to explore how they can become successful by developing their land in ways that benefit future generations.

While speaking to fijivillage News following the iTaukei Resource Owners Forum, Nawaibuta Holdings Treasurer and Secretary, Sanele Miller says there are a total of nine mataqali in the yavusa of Nawaibuta, which owns the land where Korovou Town is located.

Miller says the yavusa has both assets and investments and before the year 2000, the yavusa’s assets were mostly in farming, and the company operated as the Yavusa Nawaibuta Cooperative Society.

He says most of the elders who initiated the cooperative have since passed on, and when the next generation took over, they decided to convert the cooperative into a registered company.

He says that upon registering the company, some of the cooperative’s assets were transferred to the new entity, while others remained under the cooperative’s portfolio.

Miller also highlighted that one example is an investment of over half a million dollars, which is now under Fijian Holdings but remains registered under the cooperative’s name.

He says the company itself started with assets that were already under lease agreements.

Miller adds that the company purchased a 300-acre property where Korovou Town is now located and when the lease expired in 2009, they took over those leases, which have since remained the core assets of the company.

He says a few of the income-generating ventures currently operating under the company include a car park, the Korovou taxi base, a gas station, and various tenants who rent company-owned properties.

Miller has stressed the importance of iTaukei people supporting one another in generating income and building success within their communities.