Davina Hosking-Ashford
Rarotonga Business Hub,
Cook Islands
We’ve all been told to “work smart, not hard”. Yet Davina Hosking-Ashford of the Rarotonga Business hub can add to that: “Work smart and distant.” These are the central tenets of the success of her business model based in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.
The seed of a dream was planted in her mind when she was studying at Auckland University. Hosking-Ashford, who was 18 when she left Rarotonga in 2001, noticed many Pacific Island students were having a tough time adjusting to life in New Zealand. With her husband, Nick Ashford, she saw a way to help Cook Islands people gain accountancy degrees, without leaving home.
In 2019, she became the managing director of Socially Conscious Outsourcing in Rarotonga, which offers accounting services to businesses in New Zealand. The company employs young Cook Islands people in accounting roles, while fully funding their remote study at Massey University in New Zealand. This allows students to gain degrees in business, accounting or finance, without leaving their island home.
“The original dream came about when we were at university, my husband and I. We saw students come across to New Zealand and they struggled financially, emotionally, socially. So we tried to create an environment where they don’t have to leave home.”
With grants from various businesses and government agencies, the company is able to take on two new students a year. “The students come out with a degree from Massey University, an internationally recognised degree, as well as five to six years of accounting experience, all provided here in Cook Islands,” says Hosking-Ashford.
She spent 15 years in Aotearoa completing a Masters degree, then worked as a tutor at Auckland University, before becoming a social scientist with the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere Research (NIWA). “From there, I decided to be a flight attendant. So yes, I got to explore the world.” She married Nick and they had two daughters, but the dream of returning to the Cook Islands kept recurring. “I always wanted to come home. I promised I would.”
She knows many other young people in her island community have the same strong sense of connection to their families and homes but are also driven to access education and launch successful careers. So the idea of forming Socially Conscious Outsourcing was born. Yet trying to set up a company to help address the need for remote access to tertiary education in the Cook Islands was no easy feat. “When my husband and I would be out driving, we’d put our cell phone through the window to see if there was good reception,” she laughs. “In the end, we were very fortunate that my husband is very tech savvy. He brought a physical, small satellite from New Zealand. We drove around with that satellite as well, trying to find the best reception to set up an outsourcing company.”
In 2020, Hosking-Ashford launched the Cook Islands Business Hub in the same office space. For a small fee, the business hub offers people the use of computers with internet connections and a boardroom. The hub provides social contact between people working remotely, including the students, who sometimes find mentors among them. “So it is a dream that’s possible here in the Cook Islands. If you’re ever wanting to move home, it’s possible to work remotely.”
Living in Rarotonga means multitasking since resources are limited. This year, she has taken on a new role as executive officer to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration in the islands. She also has a voluntary role as president for Tennis Cook Islands. “That takes me overseas, it gets me out there and it gets the Cook Islands on the world map in tennis. I’m a board member on the Australian Tennis Federation. In my community, I come from the village of Taku Vaine. I’m also on the sports committee. So we’re trying to revive that in our island, as well as help out different parts of the village.”
Her advice to other women is to follow their passion and stick at it, even when the going gets tough. “Never give up. Give yourself credit. Give yourself a break. Things don’t always go in a straight line. They go over hills or mountains or through rivers.”
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