Early Career
Following his education at Suva Boys Grammar School, Qarase went on to graduate from New Zealand's University of Auckland with a degree in Commerce. He entered the banking profession and became managing director of the publicly owned Fiji Development Bank in 1983, a position he held for fifteen years. In 1998, he moved to the private sector and became head of the Fiji Merchant Bank. In 1999, Qarase received his first political office, when the Great Council of Chiefs nominated him to fill one of the 14 seats allocated to them in the 32-member Senate, where he soon gained a reputation as a vociferous opponent of Mahendra Chaudhry's government.
Read more about this topic: Laisenia Qarase
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or career:
“We do not preach great things but we live them.”
—Marcus Minucius Felix (late 2nd or early 3rd ce, Roman Christian apologist. Octavius, 38. 6, trans. by G.H. Rendell.
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)