Flower business blooming

 From what has now become Family Tree Funeral and Beauty Shop, Patrycja Savinio Failou started at from the humble beginning of selling a cup of water 10 toea for on the streets of Maprik in East Sepik.

From Angoram, Failou used to  in Maprik when her husband was working with the district administration. 

She decided to take advantage of the “vanilla boom” in that area of East Sepik from the years 2002 and started off with selling of water on the street.

“When realising the necessity of that small business idea and given money that I was making from water, I decided to venture into something else and try something new,” she said.

“I thought to myself that with the period of the vanilla boom, maybe I should start selling vanilla 

ice cream so the locals within the area would have a sense of what their cash crop have been made into.

“That was September 16, 2002, there was vanilla boom in the district that time.

“From savings I made from selling the ice-cream, I built a permanent house back at home in 2002 and 2003. 

“Since there was a lot of money within the economy of Maprik district, K3.2 million was invested by the district government for the 

establishment of a National Development Bank branch there,” she said. 

Failou said during that same period was her first time to apply for a loan. 

Her application for loan of K10,000 was approved and she built a cocoa fermentary at home in Angoram.

“But since there were too many dry cocoa to buy, I decided to purchase a truck through encouragement from prominent people whom I’ve met along the journey of my business,” she said. 

“Those include PNG Women in Business executive director Janet Sape, then NDB managing director and now Trade Commerce and Industry Minister Richard Maru and former NDB WIB desk manager Janet Kaule.

“It had cost me about K90,000 for the truck and I had to have an equity of about K30,000. 

“I purchased the truck in 2010 to assist in transporting dry cocoa beans from Angoram to Wewak.”

Failou and family left Maprik and moved to Wewak in 2012.

“From there I didn’t want my small business to die out and the idea that came about to set up this Family Tree Funeral and Beauty Shop was actually a vision that I had,” she said.

“I saw in the vision that I had a material in my hands and was doing table drape which turned out that inside was a pillow and several other pillows were lined up inside a coffin. 

“I thought to myself that it was something strange.”

The mother of four added that from there she established the business idea as she wanted to do something that was not popular.

Family Tree Funeral and Beauty Shop based in Wewak is engaged in doing coffin decorations, wreaths, wedding and other public events decorations, fresh flower arrangements and meeting place decorations.