Managing generational change is a big challenge for any business. Kevin McQuillan speaks with 26-year-old Max Puritau, who has taken over his parents’ business, Paradise Spices, and is seeing exports soaring.

Max Puritau (far right) and his father Mickey (centre) welcome former Australian High Commissioner Ian Kemish, Australian Opposition Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, Julie Bishop and Australian Federal MP Jane Prentice to Paradise Spices.

Paradise Spices has been a leading processor and exporter of spices and vanilla products, coffee and cocoa since 1998.

About 60% of its products are sold offshore, according to 26-year old Max Puritau, who bought out 50% of the company from his father, Mickey, in 2012. The company remains a family affair: his mother, Alu Puritau, still retains a 50% shareholding, while Max’s fiancée, Steffi Temelloso, is both operations manager and sales and marketing manager.

Max tells Business Advantage PNG he is taking a new approach to the company.

‘The basic idea of the whole business now is to try and create new products using PNG-grown crops and keep the consistencies flowing.’

‘Currently, we are buying and selling vanilla beans, bird’s eye [or Thai] chilli, galip nuts, white pepper, cardamom, turmeric, nutmeg, cocoa nibs, ginger, cinnamon, and virgin coconut oil.

‘We also have a new range of purified water in 500ml bottles and the vanilla extract.’

Vanilla base

The humble vanilla bean is the basis of the company’s income, now sitting between US$500,000 and US$700,000 per annum.

‘Vanilla bean has been our main export product until now,’ says Max. ‘In the next six months, you’ll find vanilla extracts, one of our new products, becoming the top product.’

Vanilla extract is a formulated product made by macerating and percolating vanilla beans in a solution of ethyl alcohol and water.

But accessing the vanilla bean is costly and can be problematic. Paradise Spices sources its beans from about 7,000 growers in 12 PNG provinces, but the beans have to be airfreighted into its processing factory in Port Moresby.

‘Bougainville and Rigo produce some of the finest vanilla beans,’ says Max.

‘Farmers are keen to know what is happening in the outside world, in terms of market updates, and how they fit into the exporting side of the business.’

‘The good thing about Bougainvilleans is that they are technical people and when it comes to the critical stage of curing vanilla beans, they really know how to cure vanilla beans.

‘Buyers want consistency,’ he says, ‘and Bougainvilleans provide that consistency. We just have to work with them (farmers).’

International buyers

In early May, a group of buyers flew in from New Zealand and were so impressed with Paradise’s vanilla products, they placed an order for 100 kilograms of beans and 1,000 litres of extract per month for a supermarket chain—an order Max says he will find ‘tough to handle’.

‘It’s not easy just to call a farmer and ask him for 100 kilos and get it the following week. You have to source out vanilla from many different areas.’

Max says he’ll have to travel to as many as 10 villages to get that amount of bean.

A vanilla bean farmer tests his product. Source: Paradise Spices

To help farmers with the initial cost of freight, Paradise Spices give suppliers a rebate for the first consignment.

‘So with the first load of beans, we pay for the freight and the beans. Once that payment comes through, we tell them they will have to pay for the next consignment.’

Supporting growers

Max also wants to develop the relationship between Paradise Spices and its growers. His father, Mickey, raised the initial capital for the company by running training courses on how to grow vanilla beans. It’s a tradition Max regards as critical for future business.

‘Farmers are keen to know what is happening in the outside world, in terms of market updates, and how they fit into the exporting side of the business.’

Paradise Spices is currently running a one-year program to develop agriculture and income sustainability in Central Province’s Rigo District. It has trained 25 extension officers in 20 different villages with the goal of supplying CPL Group’s Stop N Shop supermarkets with fresh produce.

‘It’s the supply chain that we want to make them aware of: how it forms, how the process works and how we play our role. And to make them aware that their incomes will only increase if the product becomes valuable to the buyers,’ says Puritau.

Industry backing

Max agrees with the Institute of National Affairs’ Paul Barker, who has called on the national government to boost its support for agriculture and to improve infrastructure, particularly roads. But he is full of praise for the PNG Spice Board and its CEO Michael Waisimei and the support it gives in promoting Paradise’s products. He also says the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry has supported the business strongly.

It is this vital combination of industry support and support for growers that will underpin Puritau’s future success.

Kevin McQuillan is Editor at Business Advantage PNG.