Our People: Karina Makori

Paradise Foods Limited (PFL) has always taken pride in valuing people as our greatest asset. As an equal employer of choice, regardless of gender, race or ethnicity, we pride ourselves in feeding the nation of Papua New Guinea. Our People are at the heart of our business.

Meet Karina Makori, General Manager Queen Emma Chocolate business unit here at Paradise Foods Limited. 

Karina joined the company though the PFL Graduate Trainee Program in 2003 after completing her undergraduate Commerce Degree at Lae UNITECH. Over the years, as part the company’s commitment towards employee’s development she and four other colleagues from her cohort were then sponsored to do a Master’s in Business Administration with Southern Cross University, Sydney, which she completed in 2015.

Karina was not a stranger to the company though. She is a second generation employee, with her father Thomas Rowaro working with the company for 25years as the Depot Manager in Rabaul, East New Britain. She remembers fondly when on school holidays working odd jobs at Paradise bakery. “We lived right next to the bakery. Those days were carefree, and after school we would hang around the fence and the bakers would come and give us pies and pastries” said Karina.  It was never her plan to work for the same company as her father but fate had its own plans. Or more like the Managing Director, David Peate had his own plans.

So in 2003, Karina moved from Rabaul to Lae where she began her career as the Graduate Trainee-Work Group Trainer with Arnott’s Biscuits PNG Ltd as the company was then known.

Her role involved educating employees on a new workgroup structure that was being implemented at the time in the two biscuit factories. It was an important task as many staff were very anxious about the changes and so it was necessary to explain and reassure them that this was a positive change. During this time, she found her true passion in working with people and in 2004 she was moved to the role of Human Resource Officer for the Lae site. In 2008 Karina was promoted to the position of Human Resource Manger based in Port Moresby. She found this to be a very rewarding role, taking care of the welfare of almost 850 employees across the company at that time. In mid-2016 she accepted the challenge of managing the company’s first ever agri business – Queen Emma Chocolate.

Throughout her tenure with the company, Karina says she has been fortunate to have worked with some great people, with heaps of experience who have guided and mentored her and shared experiences which have been invaluable to helping her understand the business and importantly the people that she manages on a daily basis.

The biggest challenge she has faced is finding the balance between work and personal life (she’s abit of a workaholic) but over time she has found stability with the help and support of her family.

Karina’s word of encouragement to young men and women is to not be afraid to get your hands dirty, you have to lead from the front and be prepared to come out of your comfort zone.

“You won’t grow if you do not try new things and there is no shame in asking for help when you don’t know things”, Karina Makori.