Votausi Mackenzie-Reur
Chairlady – Regenerative Vanua
Managing Director – Lapita Café Limited and Lapita Lodge
Ms Votausi Mackenzie-Reur hold a Masters of Community Nutrition, Bachelor of Education and is the Managing Director of Lapita Café Limited, and Lapita Lodge. She is also one of the owners of two companies in Vanuatu, Fibreglass Vanuatu Ltd and Pacific Polytanks Limited.
Ms Mackenzie-Reur was the host in 2018 and 2019 for the Pacific Island Food Revolution, which aims at bringing pride for local cuisine. She is a business woman, a role model and a nutritional behaviour change specialist. Ms Mackenzier-Reur has over 30 years experience in empowering and inspiring Ni Vaunatu to make good food choices within their own communities, through traditional knowledge of local foods.
In 2021, Ms Mackenzie-Reur was appointed by the Vanuatu Government as the Food Tourism and Agritourism Initiative Programme Co-ordinator. The Food Tourism and Agritourism Initiative (Prodaktif Turism Blong Yumi Initiative) is part of the Vanuatu Sustainable Tourism Strategy (2021-2025) and was successfully developed and piloted in 2021. This is a new direction for the Government after over 40 years of tourism development in Vanuatu.
The PTBY programme won a Global Award as the “most transformational Government Sustainability Initiative” by the Island Innovation Jury in April 2022. The programme’s key objective is to assist the Department of Tourism to promote more local involvement in tourism, particularly in the rural areas of Vanuatu. The PTBY team was guided by the establishment of a National Agritourism Committee representing all key Government line agencies and supported by the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR)
In January 2024, her company Lapita café Ltd was awarded HACCP Certification on her production of Glutenfree Manioc Flour in Santo.
Ms. Mackenzie-Reur is the current Chairlady for Regenerative Vanua, a Board Member for the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu, and an IGCAT Ambassador (International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism) since 2024.
23 July 2024
