Female Owned and Operated Real Estate Agency in Fiji Reboots Finance System with Support from BLP

Speaking from the bustling town of Lami in Suva, Fiji, Veronica Thoms talks to us about being a female entrepreneur, how she got started with her real estate company and why she reached out to BLP for business advisory support.

Veronica Thoms (centre) and her team from Spark PTE LImited Real estate

After several years working in the real estate industry, export and investment property, Veronica decided to open and run the type of real estate company she always wanted to do business with.

Established in 2017, Spark PTE Limited is an entirely female owned and operated real estate company – a unique point of difference not only in Fiji but in most parts of the world.

We are a small team of three women who have a good natural understanding of our clients’ needs.

We know what our clients are talking about when it comes to choosing to invest in the right properties,” says Veronica.

While having a unique point of difference has led the company to be Suva’s number one real estate website, Veronica admits there were many surprises along the way when it came to starting her own business.

After hiring two other female agents to help ease the demand for her services, Veronica found she became buried in manual paperwork which took hours if not days to complete.

After finding myself buried under legal paperwork and financial spreadsheets I started to look for accounting software that could make the work easier and increase my productivity,” says Veronica.

After weeks of research, Veronica met with a business advisor from BLP who assisted her with an application for a 50% subsidy package and the installation of Xero.

I cherish being at the forefront of my business and having time to work on different income generation projects.

Getting Xero up and running has allowed me to be far more efficient with my time – things that took me almost three to four hours can now be done in less than 30 minutes with just a click of a button,” says Veronica

While the Covid-19 crisis has severely affected the business with income sitting at 20% of what it was for the same period last year, Veronica is determined to bounce back better.

Fiji is different to do business in because of the connections that we build with people here.

In times like this, there is a unique bond and a desire to help everyone through the tough times,” she says.

Wrapping up our conversation we ask Veronica what advice she would give to others starting up their own business.

It is important to ask questions and seek help which will benefit your business in the long run.

Getting professionals to diagnose your businesses will streamline your services, and save you time,” she says.

BLP’s core team is based in Auckland and supported by in-country partners in Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Tonga and the Cook Islands. In Fiji, BLP works in partnership with Fiji Commerce and Employer’s Federation.

*Disclaimer: The interview for this article took place before Tropical Cyclone Yasa hit Fiji last week. While PTE Spark Limited remains operational as of 21.12.2020, the impact of Cyclone Yasa on Fiji has been devastating and the full impact of Cyclone Yasa on Fiji’s business is yet to be measured.