coaches and mentors

When you become a member of our Greenhouse Coworking Community,  you will have access to coaches and mentors with expertise that will help you and your business thrive. We are grateful for all the support of our amazing coaches and mentors who are passionate about empowering others by being part of our community!

Ram Bajekal

A professional with 35 years experience in the corporate sector - 20 years at the highest level of CEO / Managing Director (15 years heading FMCG businesses).

The last 12 of those years have been in the Pacific Region, based in Fiji and transacting business with all Pacific Island Countries. Had the fortune of working in FMCG (Biscuits, Noodles, Snacks, Flour, Rice, Peas), Manufacturing, Retail, Plantations and Nutraceuticals industries and for a brief period of three years in the Development sector. He has a track record of high performance with significant results that has enabled rapid career growth. His forté has been effective strategising, timely execution and incisive reviews bound in strategic leadership, resulting in significant value creation. He acquired a reputation of building strong Product, Corporate and Employer brands in all the businesses he has led. Under his leadership the FMF Brand has now become a household name not just in Fiji but across Pacific Islands. Ram is a Fulbright scholar in Management Studies from Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA - only the third Indian to receive the prestigious Fulbright-CII Fellowship for Leadership in Management. He is also a qualified Chartered Accountant and Intermediate Company Secretary. He has lived and worked in four different countries, in multiple cultures. Travelled and transacted business in over 20 countries and is able to converse in up to 8 languages.

Steve Cordeiro

Steve has worked in the field of enterprise development in Australia, Asia & the Pacific

Originally from Singapore, Steve operates a manufacturing and marketing business in Sydney, Australia as well as a consulting business that is focused on helping small business operators realise their dreams. He has been involved in the Fiji Enterprise Engine Program since its inception. Having worked in Fiji and other Pacific Island Countries as well as other developing economies for over 30 years, he is fully aware of the issues and challenges small entrepreneurs face, especially during turbulent times like now. He is currently working with a number of businesses to help them face the challenges that COVID 19 has brought and to plan for the future. His particular interests are in entrepreneurship, strategy, innovation and creativity.

Seruwaia Mario

A Global Expert in embedding HR shared services or HR delivery model that will improve business performance.

With significant end to end HR Operations experience, Seruwaia combines business savvy expertise and a passion for people empowerment, good governance and supporting women to full fill their potential in the corporate world. As a leader, she believes strongly in collaboration and equal opportunities for all. She is not afraid to express divergent views, when necessary to drive positive change. In the future, Seruwaia is keen to contribute to business success by taking on a leadership role which leverage off my prior experience and skill set.

Ana Laqeretabua

Principal Consultant at SALT Incorporated Limited, a Communications and Development Consultancy based in Nasinu, Suva.

Ana is a John Maxwell Certified Speaker, Coach, Trainer and facilitator licensed to teach, facilitate and coach using the John Maxwell material. Ana’s passion is to nurture, encourage and grow people and to coach them to develop into the fullness of their potential.

Maria Ronna Luna Pastorizo-Sekiguchi

An Advocate for positive change, life by design, and doing business adhering to the principles of the triple bottom line - people, planet, and profit.

Maria Ronna Luna Pastorizo-Sekiguchi is passionate about entrepreneurship, design thinking, and empowering women and children through education. Ronna is the Founder of The Greenhouse Studio, a multidisciplinary creative design and communications studio based in Fiji that was born in 2014 with the philosophy that finding creative solutions can inspire real change in the world. The same conviction has led Greenhouse together with partners like the Market Development Facility (MDF), to launch Greenhouse Coworking (GCo) in 2021 - it is Fiji’s first private-sector-owned full-service virtual and in-person coworking community where they envision people from around the Pacific to converge and collaborate to solve the region's biggest challenges. With a degree and background in Organisational Communications, for the past 20 years Ronna has worked in the areas of Integrated Marketing Communications, Graphic Design, Web Design, User Experience, PR, and Brand Development in various sectors in Asia and the Pacific. She won the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the 2018 Fiji Development Bank National SME Awards. Her winning COP23 logo design was featured globally for the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2017 through to 2018. In the same year, Ronna won the Graduate Women International (GWI) Centenary Logo Contest and it was featured at GWI’s 33rd Triennial Conference in Geneva, Switzerland in July 2019. Ronna was a Global Green Growth Institute - Pacific Greenpreneurship Program Mentor, Vital Voices

Noellie Garand

20+ years of project administration experience in Fiji and Asia with proven coordination and cross-cultural skills

20+ years of project administration experience in Fiji and Asia with proven coordination and cross-cultural skills: ability to connect and organize; key qualifications include project management, marketing, procurement, sales, event planning, training coordination, human resources, financial management, policy development, and health & safety; initiative and strong business skills: understanding of business process and business planning. Noellie is also the Managing Director at SOLEYA. SOLEYA has been established in 2021, to focus on supplying outsourced expertise in social enterprise solutions and business development in the context of small medium women entrepreneurs in Fiji. They are planning to be a Responsible and Sustainable Social Enterprise Consultancy. They have over 30 years of project management experience operating throughout Europe, North Asia, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, including nine years in Fiji. Noellie works hand in hand with SME owners to achieve alignment, clarity, and success with their strategic and marketing plans in achieving their goals. SOLEYA will seek to extend the conventional bottom line by adding a second bottom line to measure its for-profit performance in terms of positive social impact.

Lawyers: Munro Leys

Richard Naidu

A Lawyer with degrees in Commerce and Law from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and was admitted to the bars of New Zealand in 1989 and Fiji in 1995.

Richard has degrees in Commerce and Law from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and was admitted to the bars of New Zealand in 1989 and Fiji in 1995. A former journalist in Fiji and New Zealand, he worked in major law firms in New Zealand between 1989 and 1995 before returning to Fiji. Richard now leads the firm’s Commercial Group, advising clients in Fiji and abroad in all major Fiji business sectors, including tourism, energy, finance, media, transport, real property, mining and manufacturing. His areas of practice include competition, finance, foreign investment, media, real property and taxation law. He is also a mediator accredited by the Australian Centre for Dispute Assessment & Resolution. Richard is an occasional presenter and commentator on legal, media and other public issues in Fiji. He advises a range of NGOs, including the Fiji Red Cross Society and the Fiji National Olympic Committee and holds offices in the Fiji Law Society, the South Pacific Lawyers Association and the International Bar Association. Richard is also the Honorary Consul in Fiji for Belgium.

Nishrat Bano

An associate at Munro Leys with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Economics from the University of the South Pacific.

Nishrat has a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Economics from the University of the South Pacific. While at USP she worked as a legal assistant at a private law firm in Suva. She subsequently completed her Professional Diploma in Legal Practice and was admitted to the Fiji Bar in 2018 during which time she joined Munro Leys. At Munro Leys, Nishrat works in the Trade Marks and Patents and Commercial groups. In the Commercial group, her areas of practice include: property, banking and finance, foreign investment, company law, mining, mergers and acquisitions, commercial transactions, estate administration and general commercial. Nishrat serves on the Women Entrepreneurs Business Council (Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation). She is also a member of the Fiji Law Society, Graduate Women Fiji and the Intellectual Property Society of Australia & New Zealand. Nishrat’s hobbies include camping (although she has only been once), Boxfit and like most millennials, deciding which tv show to binge watch next. Nishrat aspires to go on more adventures and to one day beat her boss’s running time.

Mental Health and Counselling: Pasifika Wellbeing Hub

Soro Ramacake

PhD Candidate (Western Sydney Uni), MSW Applied (Massey Uni), PGDip in Supervision (Massey Uni), Dip Counselling (Career Force, NZ), B.Theo (Auckland Uni), Cert. in Business (TWOA, NZ) Member Social Work Registration Board, NZ Member Australian Association of Counsellors

Soro is i-Taukei from Vanua Levu. He has experience is in adult tertiary teaching, community work/development, working with indigenous peoples, child protection, youth justice, a social worker in school, clinical supervision and practice support focusing on wellbeing, developing practice tools, and consultant cultural report writer (for court), clinical supervisor, social work assessor, social worker complaints assessor, and practice quality assurance work. He has publications, and conference presentations. Soro loves to network, grow people's knowledge, shine in their practice and realise their full potential.

Gaylene Osborne

PhD Candidate (Western Sydney Uni), MSW Applied (Massey Uni), PGDip in Supervision (Massey Uni), Dip Counselling (Career Force, NZ), B.Theo (Auckland Uni), Cert. in Business (TWOA, NZ) Member Social Work Registration Board, NZ Member Australian Association of Counsellors

Gaylene is a kailoma of Lauan heritage. As an experienced psychologist, educator and mental skills coach, she is passionate about helping people, as they work towards becoming the best version of themselves. She has a person-centred, empathic, eclectic approach to her psychosocial support work. She has extensive experience teaching Psychology at USP. As a mental skills coach, she has worked with various sports and national federations in Fiji, providing mental skills training for teams and individual athletes. Gaylene has a wide-ranging experience in providing psychosocial support, critical incidence debriefing, raising mental health awareness and developing mental health resources, research, online teaching, performance psychology, athlete personal development and career transition education. She has published, presented and undertaken consultancies in Fiji and abroad.

Ofakilomaloma (aka Ofa) Swann

PPhD Candidate (Psych), MA (Psych), PGdip (Psych), BA (Psych), Cert Couns & Guidance (USP), PGDip HR in Business (CQU), Supervision (Human Synergistics, Australia) Member Fiji Psychological Society Student Member American Psychology Association.

Ofa is of Lauan Heritage, and her totems are the Dog and the Eagle. She practices as a Community health psychologist focused on social archetypes, leadership development, cultural awareness, team effectiveness, facilitation, counselling, mentoring and strategic implementation across the Pacific. She has been a consultant on various patient/client care, wellness plans and psychological health. She is an author, researcher and developer of the dissertation thesis on “Exploring the Ideal Partner Concepts: Attraction, Partner Selection, converging on the Dark Core of personality in a Fiji Population”. A former faculty member of the School of Social Sciences of the University of the South Pacific, Ofa has published, and has presented at local and regional conferences. Ofa’s hobbies include reading, walking our dogs, regular exercise, and learning something new daily.

Tax: KPMG

Meliki Tuinamuana

Partner – Tax, Transactions & Accounting

Meliki joined KPMG in August 2020 and was admitted to the partnership effective 1 July 2022. Prior to joining KPMG, Meliki held various roles in the Chartered Accounting and Commercial sectors in Fiji. Meliki’s experience as a Chartered Accountant has seen her assist clients in a number of areas, including tax compliance and advisory services, accounting and statutory services, payroll, recruitment, foreign investor set-up and related services. Meliki has also held senior management roles in high value and multinational entities in the tourism & resort management, manufacturing and export industries. Meliki is a Chartered Accountant in Fiji and a member of the Fiji Institute of Accountants (FIA). She has served on a number of business and civil society boards as well as various committees of the FIA. She is a current board member of Save the Children, Fiji. Meliki holds a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from the University of the South Pacific and a Masters of Commerce from the University of New South Wales.

Tax: LL&V Tax Consultants

Alipate Ledua

Masters of Forensic Accounting, University of Wollongong, Australia. Masters of Commerce – University of the South Pacific (USP). Post Graduate Diploma Management & Public Administration (USP). Bachelor of Arts Degree – USP 1990 Diploma in Business Studies – Fiji Institute of Technology

Arieta Laisani

Masters in Business & Commerce (majoring in Taxation Policy and Management) –Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. Bachelor of Arts Degree (Majoring in Accounting & Financial Management & Management – University of the South Pacific (USP)

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IT: Shayal Singh

Shayal Singh

Business Analyst at ITGalax

Shayal is a Business and Data Analyst for ITGalax and holds a degree. ITGalax is a software company that provides custom app development, digital solutions, migration support & maintenance, and software development training.

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