Tuna Likiliki
Chief executive
Tonga
Training Tongan women for the captain’s chair, Tuna Likiliki is making waves as a woman at the helm of a Tongan shipping company. Shipping is a male-dominated field in the Pacific Islands, as it is in many parts of the world, but the company Likiliki runs has a history of strong female leadership. Tōfā Ramsay Shipping was run by Likiliki’s mother and grandmother before her.
“Women have been leading since my grandmother. Everybody knows my grandfather, he was a politician and the face of the company but it was my grandmother who did all the groundwork and made sure that there was something to pass on to the next generation,” Likiliki says.
As chief executive of Tōfā Ramsay, Likiliki has been determined to open the door to more young women in senior positions at sea. “The successes that I’m most proud of since I took the helm are we have about four girls qualified as captains, class five, and we had put them through our scholarship processes.
“One of them was for the first time ever, just over a month ago, the second mate in one of our ships. And all the other girls are in training just like the boys. I’m hoping that all of them could step up and we could have them run one of the ships, as all the officers would be the girls,” Likiliki says.
Separate women’s quarters have been built on one of their ships to make it safer and more comfortable for the young women to work and stay onboard. “As a woman, you understand the challenges that their families might be expecting to experience, considering the girls go for days on the ships. So our company invested in making the crew accommodation to have a separate one for the girls, so that their families can trust us for them to go on. And it’s really great.”
It has been a challenge trying to get equal educational opportunities within shipping for women, Likiliki says. “At the moment, there’s still a big disconnect there that we’re trying to bridge, so that we can showcase the different careers that women could have here.”
Tōfā Ramsay Shipping has two vessels and offers ferry and freight services to all the outer islands of Tonga. “Our regular schedules are once a week on each vessel to Ha‘apai and Vava’u and then we go also to the island of ’Eua,” Likiliki says.
Having grown up as the third generation of a family running a shipping business, Likiliki says the sea is in her veins. “Ever since I can remember, home has always been kind of like the wharf. As soon as I could add, I was selling the tickets. I was counting the cargo with my grandma, doing the banking.”
After studying at university, Likiliki assumed she would be offered a job with the family business. Instead, her parents encouraged her to gain skills in other industries first. After a couple of years at Shoreline Group, she worked her way up to become the head of retail banking at ANZ in Tonga. Her interest in travel then led her to become chief financial officer at Kingdom Travel Centre in Tonga. Seven years ago, Likiliki’s parents wanted to step back from the shipping company, so she started working full-time as CEO of the family business.
With five brothers, Likiliki feels “lucky” to have been chosen for the role.
While most chief executives have layers of staff to do the dirty jobs, Likiliki says she’s more hands-on. “Here, the CEO will clean even the bathrooms of the ships, because that’s the differentiating point, that our ships are clean and smell nice, hence the customers come. So we have to set the example, picking up the rubbish, because the standard you walk over is the standard you set, that’s what my mother always says.”
Likiliki says helping to make a difference to the lives of people living in the outlying islands of Tonga makes her work feel worthwhile. “We’ve invested in vessels that make it easier for our people in Ha‘apai and Vava’u, especially those that don’t have a wharf, to get stuff onto their homes and to develop their houses. Making their life easier has been a great inspiration.”
Competition within the industry adds to the challenges Likiliki faces, but her passion for the business runs deep. “We find it fun. I have five brothers, four children. And my daily inspiration is to ensure that I am able to pass on to the fourth and fifth generation something that can be lasting,” she says.
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