Quite a handful but so far so good

Ricky juggles legal studies, public service job and consultancy business
By JAMIE HARO
WORKING for a public sector department while pursuing studies as a law student and operating a consultancy business at a young age is not an easy task.
But for a young man from Abau it is all about commitment.
Ricky Fred Makavo, 23, from Abau in Central has been juggling three objectives at once since end of last year.
As a fourth year law student at the University of Papua New Guinea, Ricky works as a researcher with the Office of the State Solicitor under the Department of Justice and Attorney-General while trying to pursue his studies to become a lawyer one day.
“I started working in November 2021 with the Office of the State Solicitor under DJAG during my semester break, since then I have been working and schooling at the same time.
“Such working environment also requires a lot of time and effort, it is really challenging but for me it keeps me focused and on track to pursue my goals,”
Ricky’s education journey began in Kwikila in Central where he was able to attend his first school completing basic elementary from preparatory to grade two.
He said since his father is a teacher, he and his family had to move from Kwikila to Wapenamanda in Enga where he did grades two (again) through to seven at the Wapenamanda International Christian School.
“We then had to move from Enga to Western where I was able to complete my eighth grade at the Awaba Primary School in the Middle Fly District. I was then accepted to commence high school (ninth grade) at the Kiunga Secondary School by 2013,” Ricky said
He said by 2014, his family had to move back to Kwikila where he completed his tenth grade at the Kwikila Secondary School and was then accepted to complete grades 11 and 12 at the Sogeri National High School (2015-16).
After completing grade 12, Ricky was unfortunate when he learnt of the news that he did not make it into any university, by the following year (2017) he stayed at home, did odd jobs to help him earn some pocket money.
“For the first six months of 2017, I just stayed at home until I felt bored so I started applying out to do odd jobs, surprisingly I was employed as a part timer at a restaurant at Vision City, while working I reapplied at the end of 2017 to study, later received news that I was accepted to study at Law at UPNG the following year,” he said.
Since he started studying at the university, Ricky always had a way of trying to create something by thinking out of the box. The highlights of his studies included bringing local youths from his village back in Abau to participate in the Hevea Cup in 2019, a rugby tournament used to advocate on gender equality and the recent establishment of the Central Development Forum used to bring Central MPs together to discuss matters of the province and has been an active member of the UPNG Central Students Union.
By year end of 2021, he was fortunate to be employed with the Office of the State Solicitor, the same period where he was able to register his consultancy, known as RFM Consultancy.
“It has been a challenge for me but I see it as a good excuse to participate more in work and studies than have more time for social activities as a young individual.”
“I used to help as a research officer, this means when the team wants to prepare legal advices and opinions, I do the research stuff by checking through the laws and put two and two together to help out. I also started my consultancy while juggling work and school at the same time,” he said.
Ricky said RFM Consultancy has been formally registered with the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) and Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) and has already received clients.
“So the consultancy focuses mainly on providing services on planning and policy implantation, of which one of the main jobs we received was assisting a client that consulted to have his political party registered by drafting his policies for the political party before the National General Election began earlier this year.”
“We also work around ward development plans and I believe that in order for development to take place, proper planning mechanisms and models in must be put in place, we have to capture the interest of the people in the wards up by aligning plans and policies with our national policies including Vision 2050,” he added.
As part of his plan to assist implement that, he has started working to draft ward development plans and a ward development committee for his own village in Abau.
With all that is happening with work, his business and studies, he believes that the most important goal at the moment is to ensure he is eligible to graduate law school and make into the Legal Training Institute where more challenges await.
His overall ambition is to ensure he gets admitted to the bar and continues to work in the public sector to help people in communities.