Michael Valente swung wide the door to new opportunities in paradise when he moved country to start a new chapter in his construction career with Higgins, Fiji.

That was back in 2020 when he joined the Fletcher Family from his home country of South Africa, where had had owned a civil engineering company for 19 years, and was later a senior project manager specialising in all aspects of pipeline and road construction.

The opportunity with Higgins as the Suva Manager represented an exciting opportunity for a lifestyle change for his family.  The opportunity to step into a bigger role saw the family relocate to Nadi when he became the Fiji Fletcher Higgins Country Manager in 2023.

Based in the head office in Lomolomo, Nadi, Michael oversees just under 700 staff, making Fletcher the biggest construction company in Fiji with a busy pipeline of work that has quickly ramped up post-Covid.

Michael is responsible for maintaining client relationships, sourcing new work as well as optimisation of existing projects.  Some of these include refurbishment of the Westin Hotel, four zones of roading maintenance contracts, completion of the Kings Road Upgrade, construction of nine critical bridges and work on the Nadi International Airport runway.

He visits Fletcher Construction’s head office in Auckland, New Zealand several times a year for senior leadership meetings and enjoys the close connection with the team there. “There’s no challenge too big that we can’t find a solution to, whether it’s health and safety or technology; we can draw on a wealth of knowledge and the company’s deep history and experience,” he says.

“Fletcher is a good employer and a caring company that looks after its employees.”

Michael promotes a strong safety culture, and has particularly enjoyed being part of the progress Higgins has made on the workplace health and safety journey over the last few years. “Our health and safety standards really set us apart here in the Pacific and I strongly believe in the philosophy of getting our people home safely every day. It’s rewarding to see the results we have made in standardising safety standards across the business and seeing the results of the way we care for our people.”

Although he’s no longer in his home country, Michael says he loves being part of the Fletcher family in the Pacific.

Fletcher’s graduate programmes and training and development support makes it an attractive employer in the Pacific, but has its downsides when staff rise through the ranks and get job opportunities in New Zealand and Australia.

“But on the other hand, it demonstrates the strong opportunities we offer and that once you spend meaningful time working with us, there are opportunities for career progression across the Pacific.”