Dr Asaeli Tuibeqa is a UK-trained development economist with experience in Fiji’s development and commercial banking. His areas of expertise are in SME financing, entrepreneurial development and education, project monitoring and evaluation, strategic management, applied research, and policy analysis. He had a three-year stint in the Office of the Prime Minister (before the events of 2006).

He was in charge of monitoring the Qarase Government’s Affirmative Action Programme on Fijian Business Participation. He obtained his PhD in small business and entrepreneurship from Victoria University in Melbourne, where he researched the appropriateness of SME support services in Fiji.

He is an Associate Professor at the Fiji National University’s College of Business, Hospitality, and Tourism Studies, interested in entrepreneurial and community education, applied econometrics, development economics, small business start-ups, and applied research. Dr Tuibeqa was recently appointed Dean of the College of Business, overseeing strategic and annual operational activities of nearly 10,000 local and regional students and staff.