The Fijian Holdings Limited Group officially opened the celebrations for its 20th anniversary today with it’s first even ‘Open Day’ to the public that was held at the Suva Civic Centre in Suva. The Open Day officially begins the four-day celebrations to commemorate the corporate milestone achieved by the largest indigenously owned investment company in Fiji. In opening the celebrations, FHL’s long serving Chairman, Mr Lyle Cupit stated that the day was an important one in FHL’s corporate history as ‘it marked the beginning of the first ever combined series of events that all the companies will hold as a Group, under the Fijian Holdings investment umbrella in its 20 years of operations’.

The Chairman said that the Group had chosen to open the celebrations with an Open Day to allow the public a first hand opportunity to gain a more thorough understanding of what the FHL Group is all about, since most of the general public have not always had a very clear understanding of what FHL truly represents. Established in 1984 from a vision of the Great Council of Chiefs to establish Fijian Holdings Limited with the sole purpose of accelerating Fijians’ participation in business, FHL is essentially an investment company whose shareholders are indigenous Fijians. Over the years, FHL has grown its operations to include some large names in Fiji’s economy, which now form part of the FHL Group. In his opening address, Mr Cupit stated that whilst the formula for FHL’s success may be simple, ‘it has taken the FHL Group 20 years to put the formula into practice in order for FHL to grow to what it is today’.

The Open Day features all the subsidiaries that form part of the FHL Group and the products and services that they offer. These subsidiaries are Merchant Finance and Investment Limited, Blue Lagoon Cruises Holdings Limited, the Basic Industries Group, Fiji Industries Limited, Fijian Holdings Unit Trust, FHL Securities Limited, Fijian Property Trust Limited, Hinterland (Fiji) Limited and Communications Pacific Limited. There is also a careers booth that lets the public know about the employment opportunities that exist within the FHL Group. This is especially targeted at tertiary and secondary school students who will be coming into the workforce and what the expectations are from an employer’s perspective. 
Combined, the FHL Group has over 500 employees and more than 2,500 shareholders, with their subsidiaries having more than 3,000 clients in their respective businesses.

In his closing remarks, Mr Cupit reiterated that theme for the four-day long celebrations of ‘Success Through Teamwork’ is to ‘celebrate and acknowledge the people who have contributed to Fijian Holdings Group’s success, in the past, the present and the future’. The anniversary celebrations will end on Sunday 5th December 2004 with a Thanksgiving service at the Wesley Church in Butt Street, Suva.