Return of the Wau girl

BY OSEAH PHILEMON in The National

 

SHE paid her own way to fly from Brisbane to Lae to observe the first-ever Women in Business Expo held in the Morobean capital last weekend.

And she was impressed.

Sulam Abdelsamie comes from Wau in the Morobe Province.

She is married to an Egyptian agriculturalist that used to work for the Department of Agriculture and Livestock in PNG many years ago.

They both now live in Brisbane where Sulam runs two family businesses: one farming cooking herbs and the other a boarding lodge in the heart of Brisbane.

The couple has lived in Australia for the past 30 years after leaving PNG.

Her first business was a piggery but that did not last.

When the hydroponic herb farm came up for sale they grabbed the opportunity and are now producing all kinds of herbs for cooking.

Their main clients are the Coles supermarket chain all around Brisbane and North Queensland as well as northern New South Wales.

It has been a business she has been working on for the last two years.

Sulam also moved into the accommodation business running a small boarding lodge for travellers who wish to stop over for a short time or weekends.

“With family business you have to commit yourself 100% to it,” she said.

Sulam decided to come to Lae for the expo after hearing about it.

She said she happy that she did.

“I am very impressed.

“Times are changing and there are many opportunities for women to get out there and get themselves involved in business,” she said.

Next year the women in business expo will be staged in Port Moresby and Sulam says she will come back.