Moui Produce
After moving to Melton in 2010, Pearl Magatogia found she was unable to source taro locally, driving 1.5 hours to source a product that she felt was inferior quality.
And so the idea of importing taro from farmers in Niue for the Australian market was born. After researching and planning for five years, Moui Produce was launched in June 2020.
Pearl founded MOUI with one goal in mind: supporting the farmers of Niue.
With COVID in full swing, Pearl was unable to fly back to Niue to introduce herself and pitch to the farmers in person, and so she put out Facebook ads inviting the farmers to a zoom meeting.
However another challenge presented itself, with many farmers unable to get the internet access or make the meeting times.
Not to be deterred, Pearl set up a spot where farmers could participate, and chose a Sunday afternoon for the meeting - she knew that with church in the morning, Sundays are a day of rest for Niueans.
After a second meeting, word of mouth took over and 51 farmers initially expressed interest, with only 20 needed to fill the first container.
Eventually 41 farmers supplied product for the first container load. The other 10 were unsure if the business was real, as there was limited trust in a woman from Australia running the business.
With that now in the past, Pearl is grateful that farmers put their trust in her to get the business up and running: Moui’s first container shipment departed Niue in November 2020 and was fully sold before it landed.
Six months later, the management of farmers and buyers all takes place from Australia, with an agent in Niue and logistics support in Auckland, NZ. The product is sold by pre-order, and marketed to the Niue community in Australia.
Through Moui Produce, Pearl wants to raise the profile of taro and particularly Niue taro. The Niue product provides a different flavour and style to taro from other countries, as Pearl says, even her kids can tell the difference.
Pearl says she would love to introduce Polynesian flavours into the mainstream, ultimately getting into supermarket supply.
During COVID, Moui Produce became a key source of taro for Islanders in Australia. For older expats, who might not have been back to Niue for 30 years or more, the product provided a welcome taste of home and connection.
Pearl’s background is in the culinary arts / patisserie, and building Moui Produce has been a labour of love.
She and her partner have seven kids, aged from three to 16, and Pearl held onto her steady job while going through the start-up process. Her mornings were spent building her own business, before fulfilling work commitments from 1.30pm.
Pearl says that Niue being three hours ahead of Australia, tended to buy her some more hours in each day as well.
“But I always knew that Moui Produce was meant to happen,” she said.
“There’s a saying that when one door closes, another opens, but I often wondered how many doors I had to open to get to where I needed to be”.
Pearl opened the door of opportunity when she became a Season Three participant in Melton City Council’s Hot House Project. After completing a nine-week business mentoring program, she presented a winning business pitch through the program which saw her bring home the Grand Prize: a financial boost to help accelerate her business.
To learn more about Moui Produce and Taro head to their website or Facebook page.