James Renget, PNG’s millionaire businessman IN his well worn boxer shorts, he is a picture of humility. Indeed, for this man, life and his upbringing was humble. And that is where his heart is set, in humbleness although he is one of Bougainville and PNG’s richest man. James Renget, millionaire businessman, doesn’t see himself as rich and famous. He sees himself rather as someone who put his challenging upbringing as a bar to pass, overcome all the hurdles in life to build himself and his family a thriving cocoa and supermarket business. He did it with one thing in mind - that is the belief that he did not want to see his own children suffer the way he did as a child. Renget was born into a poor family, fourth in a family of six children. Orphaned early, Renget learned to survive in the homes of relatives and by his own wits. Today he is a millionaire. But yesterday, he reminds himself, “I was nothing”. That is why he keeps a humble regime. Operating in a very simple way, easy going, and a very church minded person, Renget guards his family with christianity, discipline and integrity. James Renget was born on September 30, 1939 into a family of six. He was the fourth born and lost his sixth born brother and most tragically his mother and father. Renget worked on coconut plantations to pay for his school fees, he went against all odds to complete his education and his first job got him a fortnightly salary of K10.50 in the 1960s. It was a princely sum. Nowadays, Renget’s company is into real estate, cocoa and operates a guesthouse under the Lumankoa Investment Ltd. With an annual turnover of over K4 million, a far cry from the measly first pay of K10.50. “Because of the death of my parents, I was brought up in several homes (relatives) for many years. Without a real parent, one could not expect first hand treatment. I have gone through this life myself,” Renget recalls. “I went to school when I was 14. I attended Hamaho central school in 1953 - 1956 and I completed standard two, together with others, I was selected to go to Skotolan Mission School as a boarder in 1957 until I completed standard seven in 1961. While at Skotolan, I was supported by my older brother, Daniel Kengai. Daniel got married a year before I came to school so I had someone to turn to as a mother.” In 1961, the church schools merged with the Papua New Guinea Government schools so in 1962, they started to pay school fees which were $6 or K12.00. Back then, the amount looked small but for a poor family, it was a huge ask, especially for orphaned families. “The mission had a coconut plantation, so those of us who entered standard seven had to cut copra from the plantation to pay for our school fees. I went to Solomon Islands together with school colleagues in 1962 to do my standards eight and nine and started looking for a job a year later, but did not succeed,” he recalled. “Instead I filled out a school leaver’s form for tertiary institution but in 1964, I found out that the application was not considered as it had gone missing.” But he never gave up - Renget took a job as a co-operative officer which then helped him to enroll in time for the start of the course. Six weeks later, Renget completed Stage 1 of the course and won a place to continue stages two and three in Port Moresby. Nine months later, he returned home and worked with the Bougainville Cooperative Societies Association (BCSA) as a junior staff. In 1965 he started working with BCSA and his wages were K10.50. In 1970 he resigned to take up a new job with the Sepik Producers Cooperative Association (SPCA) in Maprik, ESP and at the end of 1971 he returned to Bougainville to find himself a wife - now mother of his four children, Elizabeth Motsi Palin. “From then on, I had a new wife and I considered her my partner and mother to my children up to now,” Renget says smiling. The couple transferred to Rabaul in 1972 but Renget was posted back to Buka as the branch manager with the then Cooperative Wholesales Society Ltd (CWS). In 1980, he resigned to venture into private business and he took his family home to the village to manage the business group - Mangoana Enterprise Business Group - this business belonged to the community and at the same time Renget was involved in cocoa dealing. In 1983 he became the New Guinea cocoa agent in Buka and he officially registered his company, Lumankoa Trading Pty Ltd. “IPA had a policy that you had to have three people in order to register the company, so Renget included his wife Elizabeth and nephew Joel Hiriats,” he said. The three signed the application to register as the company. Renget manned the company himself and rented premises from other people to buy and store cocoa. “It was very hard for me because the space we rented was small during cocoa season and shipping services were not regular and the company was very much rundown as we operated on an adhoc basis until the crisis in 1989,” he recalls. “We closed down the cocoa agency operation and in 1991 re-opened the business against all odds as we started all over again. Still without capital and me coming back to town was really challenging.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 02:02:07 +0000
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