News Release

Elder Pearson to Tongan Students: ‘Make Big Plans For Your Life’

Four young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Tonga's Liahona High School have just completed a whirlwind visit to New Zealand. While in New Zealand they met with Church, business and community leaders.

The students took part in this year's 'Youth in Business Challenge,' starting a small enterprise making, marketing and selling pastries. Vika Unga (Finance Manager), 'Atu Tafuna (Marketing Manager), Eleni Lui (Operation Manager) and Abraham Fifita (Information Technology and Designs Manager) surveyed their prospective target market, and then decided to dive into the food industry.
Their goal, they say, "was to provide delicious yet affordable pastry snacks for average people." Their main pastry product was the funnel cake, with opportunities of expanding to other tasty delicacies, hence the company name, 'Tasty Pastry.'

For six months these four students spent their Saturdays at the Tofoa or Tuimatamoana flea markets advertising and selling their products. After re-evaluating the market, they introduced the 'Indian fried-bread taco,' which proved to be an instant success with adults. The quality provided plus their promise of affordability paid off in the end by awarding them with loyal customers who kept coming back for more.

"It wasn't easy," says Faylani. All four students agreed that sacrifices had to be made for the business to succeed, but not at the expense of academic, family and church commitments.

Despite the many challenges this foursome faced, countless lessons were learned from these obstacles. Juggling school work and running a business at the same time was no easy task. There were a lot of sacrifices which involved late nights at school prepping for different orders. Each student came away a different person, according to one of their teachers.

The Youth in Business Challenge was sponsored by the Tonga Chamber of Commerce which hosts an annual competition among schools throughout the country, and as this year's winners, these students were awarded a trip to New Zealand to share their experiences and learn from others. They met with similar youth enterprise teams from Aorere College, Westlake Boys High School and Westlake Girls High School to discuss their experiences and exchange ideas.

They also met with representatives of Spacifik magazine, Tonga New Zealand Business Council (New Zealand Chamber of Commerce), Mollies, Hubbard's, Auckland University – School of Business, B.R. & Associates Ltd. (Chartered Accountants), Affirming Works, and Pacific Business Trust.

The youth also had the opportunity to meet with Elder Kevin W. Pearson, a General Authority for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a member of the Pacific Area Presidency.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has strong emphases on education and assisting youth to develop attitudes, knowledge and skills that will help them become happy and successful adults and citizens .

Liahona High School is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 

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