By JAMES KILA
AN Indian man who has contributed immensely to the coffee industry in Papua New Guinea has returned home.
Pattada Madapa Nanaiah, aged 45, his wife Vandana and son Aswhin left the country after spending most of his working time in Goroka, Eastern Highlands province.
He has trained many young Papua New Guineans over the last 15 years to become good coffee factory managers.
He was serving as branch manager of the nationally-owned company Niugini Highlands Coffee, Tea and Spice prior to his departure.
During the farewell function, Coffee Industry Corporation board chairman Pugma Kopi, chief executive officer Ricky Mitio, and other directors including Department of Agriculture and Livestock Secretary Anton Benjamin thanked Mr Nanaiah for his valuable contribution to the coffee industry in PNG during his term as a director representing the Coffee Exporters Council of PNG.
Notably, he was the chairman of the Coffee Exporters Council from 2000 to 2002, and vocal in the affairs of the council on the CIC board.
During his time in Goroka as branch manager of Niugini Highlands Coffee, Tea and Spice, Mr Nanaiah was also captain of the Goroka Golf Club,
Mr Nanaiah, in his time in the country, had worked in one of the remote and difficult places in PNG.
When he arrived in PNG in 1992 he was formally employed by a nationally-owned company called Hauwi Anga Gumanga in remote Aseki in Morobe province.
He was employed as a general manager for the company, based in one of the remote parts of PNG, and was involved in operating trade stores, fuel stations, food bars and coffee-buying in Aseki and Menyamya areas.
Under his guidance, the company prospered, and provided goods and services to the grassroots people of the Anga region.
During the years that he worked there, he gained considerable and valuable experience by dealing with the subsistence farmers on a daily basis and was instrumental in ensuring the long-term viability of a local company, which only three short years earlier, was threatened with imminent closure.
While in Aseki, he worked closely with Yha Hauka Kopi Pty Ltd, a local company based at Aseki, by supplying them with parchment coffee.
An employment opportunity came his way in 1994 when Mr Nanaiah joined Niugini Coffee, Tea and Spice, the third largest buyer and exporter of PNG coffee.
He was employed as their resident branch manager in Goroka.
Mr Nanaiah’s job in Goroka involved the supervision of all company affairs in all the Highlands provinces.
Notably, he was also responsible for identifying nationally-owned and managed projects - which given proper guidance, finance and training - could become successful entities.
In addition to these tasks, he was responsible for sourcing the supply of good quality coffee from all over the Highlands.
Mr Nanaiah said training of local staff had always been one of his priorities.
Many local factory managers in Eastern Highlands expressed sadness at his departure.
A former export quality control manager with the CIC, David Rumbarumba, said Mr Nanaiah was a very understanding person who shared his knowledge well with the locals in terms of producing good quality coffee which is acceptable to world standard.
From April 2003, Mr Nanaiah was given responsibility of managing all aspects of the day- to-day operation of the company and report directly to the managing director.
The additional responsibilities included commodity trading, foreign exchange management and working closely with agents and government departments to ensure that company ran profitably and smoothly.
Mr Nanaiah completed Grade 12 at Rishi Valley high school in India.
The school was founded by J. Krishnamurthy, a world-renowned philosopher, whose approach to education was non-formal.
Between 1989 and 1983, he completed his Bachelor of Science from St Joseph’s College in Bangalore, India.
Interestingly, while he was at university in 1981, he was an active member of the National Cadet Corps and represented his state as the “Best Cadet” to India’s National Republic Day parade.
There, he was judged the “All India Best Cadet”, and was selected to represent India on a six-month International Youth exchange program in Canada.
Soon after graduation, he joined the Assam Company (India) Limited - a member of the National Inchcape Group of companies - as assistant manager for plantations in Assam State, in the north-east part of India.
He served with the company from July 1983 to May 1989 and worked on their various tea estates.
During the course of his employment, he was responsible for running fully-modernised tea and coffee factories as independent profit centres.
Under the umbrella of the factory came the management of power generating units, motor vehicle workshops, general stores, transport and fleet management.
He left the company and joined Bogijan Tea Estate as general manager.
The property belonged to a private tea company and a modern tea factory.
During his tenure as general manager, the estate achieved a record crop of 596,000 kilograms of black tea.
“This property was a ‘sick estate’ which, under my management, was well set on the road to recovery,” Mr Nanaiah said.
In October 1990, he moved to South India due to the deteriorating law and order situation in the Assam Valley, and took up employment with Chen Shak Trading, a coffee plantation company, as manager of their Hoomalia Estate until November 1991 when he secured employment in PNG.
 

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