Businessman Ripon Kumar came to Fiji from Bangladesh in 2010 to work for a local company.
After completing his stint with the firm, he decided to remain in Fiji and started his own real estate business in 2018.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit our shores, he moved to agriculture.
He bought a 15-acre property next to a service station at Koronivia Rd and established a farm with five fish ponds, goats, a piggery and a duck house.
“I want to give the Fijian people access to fresh food during this pandemic period, so when I harvest from my farm, I sell fresh vegetables at very reasonable prices,” the 42-year-old said.
“In April this year, I opened a shop called Farm Fresh Supermarket. I called it that because everything in the shop is fresh for my customers.
“I sell fresh duck and goat meat too. It is cleaned and cut to meet my customers’ requirements.
“The price of the goat and duck meat depends on the weight.”
Mr Kumar said he plans to set up an internet cafe for school kids inside the supermarket.
“At the moment I have a supermarket, bread shop, and liquor department and I plan, before the end of December this year to open a wine and dine area, a home and living department and also a wholesale department.”
He said the reason he built his shop near his Koronivia farm was to provide easy access to goods and services to the people of Koronivia and surrounding areas.
“I set the business up here so people don’t have to go to Nausori or Nakasi.”
Mr Kumar said before the Sawani containment border was established, people from Naitasiri, Tailevu and even Rewa used to travel to his shop to buy bread.
When the lockdown happened, he said they began to take bread to the border to give the Naitasiri people access to their products.
He said he enjoyed living and working in Fiji because of the friendliness of the people, especially the people living at Koronivia Rd.
“I really like staying in Fiji because I was brought up in a village like the ones here and the atmosphere is the same. Everyone mingles together and live happily.”
Mr Kumar said his staff were mostly iTaukei and he employed a few Bangladeshi nationals who were professionals in preparing goats and ducks for his supermarket.
He said his planned wine and dine restaurant would be a farm-to-plate business that would serve vegetables, fish, duck and goats directly from his farm.
Mr Kumar said he also had plans to establish a potato business at the back of his supermarket and later do exports from there.
He also plans to set up a hair salon so that people don’t have to spend money travelling to Nausori or Nakasi for a haircut.
“One of my friends asked me why I opened the shop when the bottom flat of the building was incomplete.
“I told him I want to serve the people in these hard times and I have expansion plans which will be done in stages.
“During the lockdown period, I went with my staff and delivered groceries to families in need because my focus can’t only be on making money, I have to think about the welfare of the people too.”
Mr Kumar said one way he placed the welfare of his customers ahead of profit was by keeping the cost of goods sold at his supermarket as reasonable as possible.
“For example, I sell bread for 70c a loaf. People appreciate little things like this.”
He said his expansion plans included having a whole range of services under one roof.
He said once this was done, his next project was to open a service station just beside his shop.
“I hope that soon Government will uplift the border because most of my customers are from Sawani and Korovou in Tailevu.”
