Businessman Daksesh Patel has been reappointed as Director and Chairman of the Fiji National Provident Fund Board effective from 1 January, 2024.
Patel’s appointment as FNPF Board Director by the Minister for Finance is in accordance with Section 7(1) of the FNPF Act, with his reappointment as Chairman of the Board pursuant to Section 8(1) of the Act.
He has extensive leadership and entrepreneurial experience in the Australian steel industry within the Australia region and was the InfraBuild CEO from October 2019 to July 2021, helming the business during a time of transitional change.
As chief executive, he led transformative activities to arrest the business’s performance trajectory, setting the foundation for optimization and establishing a platform for future growth.
He has held senior leadership roles in privately-held businesses operating throughout the Oceania region and is a member of Vinod Patel Group, one of Fiji’s largest privately owned enterprises.
Throughout his career, he has continued to make a meaningful contribution to Fiji.
Patel is also a Director of InfraBuild (Australia), Energy Fiji Limited, ATH Limited, Vodafone Fiji, Vodafone PNG and Fiji Airways Limited.
During his tenure as Board Chairman, the Fund treaded carefully during the COVID-19 pandemic, collaborating with Government to ensure adverse effects to its members’ livelihoods were mitigated.
Despite these challenges, the Fund yielded high investment returns, which allowed the Board to declare an impressive 7 per cent interest rate to members for the 2023 financial year, the highest credit interest rate declared by the Fund in 24 years.
Also during his term as Chairman, the Fund recorded a positive growth in its diversified investment portfolio, with assets totaling $9.5 billion and has paid out $2 billion in interest to members’ FNPF accounts in the last 6 years.
He joins Mukhtar Ali, Adish Naidu, Attar Singh, Joe Taoi and Shiri Gounder on the Board and will serve for a period of 4 years following this reappointment.
