Diet 'holding Islanders back'

Mike Pero

A successful businesswoman held up as a role model for Pacific Island people believes a high-carbohydrate diet and a heritage of warm tropical climates are obstacles to economic success.

Jane Davies, a director of hospitality and exporting companies, makes the claim in background material to a Pacific Prosperity conference aimed at helping to shift Pacific people's mindsets to see business and entrepreneurship as attainable and desirable career opportunities.

She was reported as saying that Pacific Islanders tended to be lethargic, with a relaxed attitude to life, due to the coupling of their starchy diets and the warm tropical temperatures of their home countries.

But she also praised Pacific Islanders as good listeners with a strong sense of unity that could create inclusive work environments.

Ohakune-based Jane Davies was not an official speaker at the three-day conference which ended in Auckland yesterday, and did not attend it.

The Herald could not reach her yesterday for further comment.

When the Herald asked one of the speakers, Mike Pero, whether he agreed with her views on diet, he did not see what it had to do with business.

However, Mr Pero, a part Cook-Islander who made millions out of mortgage broking, said that as a broad generalisation, Pacific people tended to be less materialistic than their European counterparts.

"They are more oriented towards family values and probably less inclined to want to lead in business ... [They] are less ambitious towards financial gain."

Mr Pero said it was perceived that success in business was at the expense of other people.

In the Islands, Pacific people tended to live in an unspoiled environment that was open and sharing, attributes not necessarily conducive to business, he said.

"They are unselfish people ... and there's a misperception that to do well in business you have trodden on a lot of people."

Another speaker, 'Uluomato'otua Saulaulu Aiono, said culture was the greatest obstacle to Pacific people getting ahead in business.

Samoa-born Mr Aiono, whose software company has branches in New Zealand and Australia, said it was rude, for example, in his culture to question people in authority.

"As a result Pacific people can tend to look complacent."

He said their cultural attitudes were rooted in Island life where they loved sharing and felt obliged to do so.

Mr Aiono said that caused problems when translated to New Zealand as incomes were distributed out of the household unit, which ended up in debt.

While younger generations would eventually bring about change, the obligation to give remained in conflict with the need to build a legacy for the future.

Mr Aiono said his father had recognised the problem and sheltered him from it.

"But he was regarded as a very stingy man, frugal when he was approached for contributions.

"He wanted to instead buy us books and invest in our education."