TOMASI RADAKUA - r Hobbies - Dwell on God’s word and spending time with my wife and children at home. r Ambition in life - To be the best I can, whether at home or at work r Inspiration - I am inspired by the challenges of taking this company from a loss making entity to a profitable one soon. r Most passionate about - Passionate about giving people a chance in life r Best advice ever received - IRemember who supported you along the way. For that I am thankful to my parents, family, work and spiritual mentors who supported me over the years. r Skills or qualities wish you had - To know carpentry, plumbing and auto mechanical skills given the hassles of finding the right specialist for day to day hiccups at home. r How to achieve work-life balance - Work hard and when you are not working focus on activities that you love the most. r Most valued possession - My Bible and my family r Person I would most like to meet Finally meet Our Saviour, the Good Lord Christ Jesus
Compiled by RACHNA LAL
Welcome to Hard Talk, where we pose questions to both top executives and budding entrepreneurs on some of the major issues involving business.
FHL Logistics Limited, a subsidiary of Fijian Holdings Group, recorded a loss of $2.5 million for the year ended June 30, 2012.
This was because of the challenging operations costs and continuous write-down of assets in its second year of operations.
But the company is now focused on reviewing its business model in order to achieve a solid foundation for growth.
The company is confident that given the new business model and revamped strategies it should be able to achieve profitability in the near future.
Since its inception in July 2010, FHL Logistics Limited is providing cartage services, freight forwarding & customs clearance services and waste management services.
The man accountable for right-sizing and growing the company at the moment is, Tomasi Radakua, who has been the general manager since September 2011.
Questions for Tomasi Radakua, general manager of FHL Logsitics:
1. I understand FHL Logistics has not been performing as per expectation upon establishment. What is being done to improve its performance?
FHL Logistics commenced in July 2010 with the main objective of supporting FHL Group wide logistics services. It started with a bang where we spread our operations all over Fiji within our first year of operations but the results were well below expectations.
To improve from our first year results, management with the support of the Board embarked on right sizing the company from our second year of operation to date with the following initiatives:
l Disposing old and unproductive fleets which naturally reduced fuel and repair and maintenance bills.
l Focused on supporting revenue earning units in Waste Disposal and Customs Clearance departments.
l Reducing operations at branch level
2. What is the reason the business is not doing well?
l Returns on the performance of key assets were well below expectations
l As with any startups, cash flow challenges inhibited our growth
l We had to deal with established competitors in a competitive cutthroat industry
l The company initially focused on a strategy of expansion rather than building a proper foundation for growth.
3. How would you describe the logistics industry in Fiji at present?
The industry is well established with groupings that try and out do the other.
The established players enjoy the big chunk of the cake and somehow dictate terms whilst developing companies like us have to work on our own strengths to grow our volumes.
We are fortunate that we are growing within the FHL Group established network.
4. What sort of challenges are you facing at present?
Our main challenge comes from within where we have to prove FHL Logistics’ continuity and existence to both the FHL Logistics and FHL board.
Somehow the team’s effort in reducing losses for the second year and a favorable forecast for this financial year was recognised by the board in a recent board meeting where they approved acquisition of four new trucks in the coming financial year.
This is a good indication of the board’s confidence in FHL Logistics’ growth going forward.
Other challenges include keeping a good team who share my vision of ‘being overcomers’ despite the situation that we are currently facing.
Not many people would want to be associated with FHL Logistics’ current operations but our team has really stuck together and overcoming challenges as we anticipate first year of profitability come June 2014.
5. When FHL Logistics started, there were plans for it to operate at an international level in the near future. How is this looking for the company?
There is a lot of work to be done to reach that level as a lot will depend on the ability of the company to operate internationally especially on meeting foreign forwarders requirements in terms of facilities, having sufficient funds and maintaining smooth relationships all the way.
Given the issues needed for a competitive presence internationally, we envisage working with international partners over the next 5 -10 years.
6. We understand the global logistics industry has been slow to adopt social media as a legitimate communications and marketing tool. Where does social media fit within FHL Logistics’ organisational structure?
We are exploring all options in terms of social media usage to maximize our service deliveries.
The introduction of our services beyond Fiji will undoubtedly justify use of these mediums but the traditional mode and Skype are serving our communication needs at present.
The use of other mediums will largely depend on the type of services offered as we will also have to keep tab on costs and usage to eliminate abuse.
7. How would increased marketing benefit the company?
We have not focused much on marketing as we are working with our Group companies which require regular meetings to fine tune our services.
Our primary objective is to provide logistics support to our Group companies.
The include Fiji Industries Limited, RB Patel, Standard Concrete Industries, Humes Industries, Fiji Television Limited, South Sea Cruises, Merchant Finance & Investment Limited.
Also associated companies in Golden Manufacturers, New World, etc.
Our current level of operation is barely catering for the Group’s demand but we are happy with our progress so far.
Once we develop additional logistics services such as International Freight Forwarding, Shipping Servicers, customs bonded warehouse, customs clearance services and a fully-integrated waste disposal services, increased marketing will further improve our market penetration in key segments.
8. Are there any expansion plans [including regional expansions] the company is looking at?
Our current strategy is to build a solid platform within the Group and build on it. We need to take stock of all logistics requirements within the Group as there are opportunities to grow within.
Externally, given the Pacific presence of our other subsidiaries in PNG, we will analyse the need to join the FHL Group’s expansion plans into this market.
Currently we are carting Fiji Industries and Standard Concrete Industries export containers to their Pacific Island markets and should they physically set up in these markets, there are opportunities for us to provide cartage and other logistics services in these markets.
9. Any other comments would be welcome?
It takes faith in God to elevate FHL Logistics from where we are now in order to ‘live among the FHL stars’ in years to come.
We are also working very hard to erase bad memories of the company to disappointed customers who tried our services in the past and many critics who had discounted our continuity as a player in the industry.
With the support of my FHLL Team, FHL Corporate Team and our Board of Directors, FHL Logistics is now moving in the right direction.