Lighting up the sky

The National Weekender

By MARY ANNE POKAWIN
FIREWORKS are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display (also called Fireworks show), a display of the effects produced by firework devices. Fireworks take many forms to produce the four primary effects; noise, light, smoke and floating materials. They may be designed to burn with colored flames and sparks including red, orange, yellow, green blue, purple and silver. Displays are common throughout the world and are the focal point of many cultural and religious celebrations. Fireworks were invented in medieval China in the 7th Century to scare away evil spirits, a natural application of gunpowder and were later introduced as festival highlights by the Italians.
I attended an eight-day pre workshop – Certificate IV in Entrepreneurship and Venture Creation hosted by Australia Awards at the Lae International Hotel starting on Nov 30 and there I met many interesting people. One of them was Konio Reid, a determined and highly driven female entrepreneur from Central. She owns a fireworks business which involves a combination of the explosives business and the entertainment business.
Reid registered Sky Lite Productions in 2015 and operates from Lae and Port Moresby. Sky Lite Productions is fully complaint and able to cater for all events big or small, corporate or private anywhere in PNG provided sufficient time is given for logistical grants for shows staged out of the national capital. Her decision to also set up base in Lae is to enable her to deploy quickly throughout the islands and highlands for shows. For Reid, her work is multi-faceted and includes sales and marketing as well as planning, setting up and managing the displays. Her job is to entertain and make people happy. It is hard work and not glamorous, she said.
Today’s business climate is slowly transitioning from being male-dominated to embracing equality but women still face an uphill struggle in terms of proving themselves in industries that are disproportionately male controlled. As a fierce competitor in her area of business, Reid understands these difficulties but rather than be discouraged, capitalizes on the disparity to not only succeed, but to gain recognition as a serious player in the industry.
Her experiences motivate her to be firm as a mentor for her daughters, as well as other women and aspiring female entrepreneurs based on the concept that anything desired, can be achieved as taught to her by her parents.
So, when you next see sparklers brightening up the night sky in artful form, the person behind all the mesmerizing pyrotechnic could be none other than Konio Reid herself.

  • Maryanne Pokawin is a freelance correspondent.