Qoro urges women to have personal plans - Fiji Times Online

Qoro urges women to have personal plans - Fiji Times Online:
Thursday, March 09, 2006
WHEN you think of cement production and quarries, the least you would expect is a woman heading the operations. But that is the case in Fiji and the South Pacific (excluding Australia and New Zealand) with the region's only cement factory - Basic Industries.
Sereana Qoro, is the first non-engineer to become the chief executive of the company. An accountant by profession, Mrs Qoro was the recipient of the 2005 Executive Woman of the Year Award. Yesterday, during the International Women's Day breakfast and launch of the Westpac Businesswoman of the Year awards, Mrs Qoro challenged younger women to have personal plans with targets.
The plan, she said, should have a target of where the young woman would like to be over a certain period.
Mrs Qoro said it was important that the woman be good at her job and focussed. But most important of all, she must ensure - if she was a married woman - that her family was not affected. 'Men love to be respected and if you respect them - it's practically done,' Mrs Qoro said.
The former Adi Cakobau School student, Mrs Qoro was the first woman to head the Housing Authority and has also worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Native Land Trust Board and Rewa Dairy.
She is also member of several boards including the Fiji Development Bank.