City firm extends goodwill

The National Weekender

By MICHAEL BOEO
The various Chinese communities in Papua New Guinea are involved in all kinds of businesses in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, mining and the wholesale/retail business.
Chinese businesses have been an integral part of PNG from the 1900s to present.
“We create employment for the PNG people, we pay our taxes and at the same time we add value to Papua New Guinea as a country,” said Zovin Yan, CEO of Eliseo Group, one of the largest growing wholesale/retail business in Port Moresby.
The Eliseo Group with five outlets in Port Moresby has been a major part of the PNG business community for more than two decades.
“As a business, it’s not all about making money. We are aware of our community responsibilities and so we have assisted and we will continue to help where we can,” Zovin said.
Last Christmas, Eliseo Wholesale & Retail Limited donated K150,000 to a number of NCD churches including the Christian Apostolic Fellowship, Cornerstone Assembly of God (AOG) and the Catholic’s St Mary’s Cathedral in downtown Port Moresby.

Gordons Cornerstone AOG church Pastor Jethro Tara expressed his gratitude to Eliseo for blessing them with the Christmas gift.
“I believe God will continue to expand your boundaries and you will continue to prosper in your business and lives,” said Pastor Jethro told Zovin upon receiving K50,000 worth of shopping vouchers.
The parish priest of St Mary’s Cathedral, Fr Rodrigo Campilan said since last year, they have been doing little fundraising to refurbished the church and the K20,000 cheque donation would be a really big help to the church.
“It also helped us in our small Christmas gathering for the church members,” Fr Campilan said.
Christian Apostolic Fellowship church (CAF) national president, Ps Mathew Tapus was speechless and grateful for the kind gesture shown by Eliseo with the donation of K50,000 worth of vouchers.
Ps Tapus thanked Eliseo Ltd for the donation during Christmas season saying it was unbelievable and God would continue to bless the business. He said the food voucher was shared among the congregation members on the Sunday before Christmas and others were distributed to pastors of the 16 churches in the NCD and Central.
“It is good to see that a company is putting some of their profits back into the hands of their customers and we pray that many more will follow suit. This is one of a kind, and many families will remember this gesture for a very long time,” PsTapus said.
Zovin said Eliseo Ltd would continue to support churches and communities with cash and kind every year going into the future as long as they were operating here in the country.
“Even though we make money, Eliseo has respect for the communities as our families come from Christian backgrounds,” said Zovin whose family have been devout Catholics for over two centuries.
He said as Christians they were aware that spiritual wellbeing of the people is very important which was why Eliseo decided to assist the three churches with something for the Christmas.
Managing Jacky Chow said, “We regard ourselves as Papua New Guineans and we will play our part in the development of this country. Foreign investment is very important for PNG and Eliseo as a successful business operating in PNG is encouraging direct foreign investment. This year Eliseo Ltd will go into a partnership with a big company from China to build a new big shopping mall here in Port Moresby.”
He said this project would employ many Papua New Guineans during the construction phase and also employ many when it opens for business. He said the shopping mall would be good for the city.
Chow said further, the company intended to support the growth of small local business beginning with the city of Port Moresby as part of Eliseo’s community responsibility.
“In the near future, Eliseo is planning to set up another business that could help support Papua New Guineans start-up and manage their own businesses. We are looking and lending between K3,000 to K5,000 to Papua New Guineans to help them start up their own business and we intend to train, guide and mold them to manage and run their businesses successfully.
“Eliseo recognises the importance of teaming up with other businesses and we are interested in partnering with forward thinking firms in order to enhance the value to our customers,” Chow said.

  • Michael Boeo is attached to the Public Events office of the National Capital District Commission.