Economic Opportunities for Women in the Pacific - Case - IFC

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“We at South Sea Orchids (SSO) have a
vision that Fiji can develop a world class
floriculture industry that could make a
significant contribution to the livelihoods of
our people,” is how Aileen Burgess begins
her manual ‘Floriculture in Fiji as a Small
and Micro Business’. Aileen has empowered
many women in Fiji, and other Pacific Island
countries, to begin their own floriculture
business.
Aileen Burness, who describes herself as a ‘polynesian
cocktail’, established South Sea Orchids in 1996 in Fiji’s
tourism capital of Nadi with her horticulturalist husband
Donald. South Sea Orchids is a business that is founded
upon assisting village women to earn an income through
floriculture.
Accessing finance is the biggest challenge the newly
trained women face in trying to start their own small
business. Aileen admits “As women in business we do face
challenges. Many island people think women should be
at home looking after the kids. Sometimes when I go to
meetings or to the bank, men will look at me and if they do
not say it directly they sometimes infer that I really shouldn’t
be there. They say to me, ‘Where’s the boss?’ And I say,
‘He’s sleeping, so you’ll have to deal with me... ’ ” It’s with
this gusto that Aileen has been able to support 270 women
across Fiji to become floriculturalists and to support them in
accessing finance to start their business.
Starting Out When starting out, Aileen’s husband Don, a
trained horticulturalist, set up an orchid business in Suva,
Fiji’s capital, and leased pot plants. In 1983, Don was asked
by Raymond Burr to rejuvenate ‘The Garden of the Sleeping
Giant’. Located about half an hour from Nadi, The Garden
of Sleeping Giant is a beautiful orchid range started in
1977 by the late Raymond Burr, star of the movies Perry
Mason and Ironside. The gardens showcase more than two
thousand different kinds of orchids, covering 20 hectares.
A Blossoming
Business
Aileen Burness
Business Name: South Sea Orchids
Country: Fiji
Aileen and Don seized the opportunity and moved ‘west’
from Suva to Nadi to manage the Garden of the Sleeping
Giant, only to experience four hurricanes from 1984–1985.
“When we came to the west we faced more discrimination.
For a long time I was supervising the building of our house,
up at 5am and last to bed. There would be workers on the
site and they would say to her, ‘We need the okay from the
boss’.” Aileen would then say, “I am the boss”. They would
then say, “No – not you, we mean the big boss...”
Debra, Aileen’s daughter, adds “ Sometimes, with the men,
they want to get rid of her (Aileen), and she won’t go away
until she gets what she wants. People do tend to just brush
women off.”
When there were hurricanes in 1984–85, Aileen says she
was driving a truck and buying supplies for the Sleeping
Giant. “But most of the people thought I was crazy. They
hadn’t seen it [a woman driving a truck] before. Most of
them are used to it now, and I can laugh about it.”
It was a tough beginning, but Aileen and Don grew to love
their life in Nadi. When there was a coup in 1987, they
sold their home in Suva and bought Raymond Burr’s home.
They then went into growing orchids full-time, and offered
tourists tours of the gardens.