Local masseuse builds strong customer base in Santo
August 5, 2025 9:35 pm | Posted in Business News | Share now TwitterFacebook
By Mavuku Tokona.
This is the story of Elizabeth Bori, a woman who battled through personal loss, a Category 5 cyclone, COVID-19 and unemployment, and rose above it with a flourishing business to her name.
Santo-based masseuse Elizabeth Bori started working just over 10 years ago after her husband died of liver cancer. Since the passing of the sole breadwinner of the family, Mrs. Bori had no other choice but to find work to financially support herself and her five children.
While she didn’t know it then, this was the beginning of a new path for her professionally. Despite the passing of her late husband being around the same time as Tropical Cyclone (TC) Pam, Bori had no other choice but to travel to Port Vila in search of better opportunities for her family.
‘Bultaiana Massage’, meaning “Yumi kam tugeta blo yumi mekem wan!”, is the name of a modest massage parlour behind Bred Bank in Santo, and your masseuse is Bori, now 50 years old, with a younger apprentice who started this journey into entrepreneurship three years ago.
The North Pentecost businesswoman learnt how to commercialise this skill in Port Vila during her job search post-TC Pam. She first started working for the late Marc Neil-Jones at the Secret Garden. After three years, she moved on to what would become the building blocks of her own business.
Cue Nakatumble Resort, off Devils Point and a bit further down the dirt road. Bori found herself working for an expatriate who also paid for her massage courses so that she could provide the service to her guests.
Bori recalls the generosity of her employer and remains grateful to have learnt a new skill which she honed over the years.
After just over a year with Nakatumble, COVID-19 struck, and she was left unemployed yet again.
Three more years of personal struggle, Bori proved to herself that her story wasn’t over yet by opening her massage parlour in Santo, and since then, she’s been busy with customers who have grown fond of her hands.
So busy that even during this interview, she had a customer on the bed listening to our conversation on loudspeaker. She laughed as she said it and went back to it, both the massage and the interview.
Bori’s customer base ranges from pregnant mums to the average back rub or full-body service. Both locals and expats have walked through her doors, and since she started advertising on Facebook with her short videos, tourists on cruise ships have made a pit stop as well.
According to Bori, she has received a number of invitations from potential customers who want her to open a shop in Port Vila. The only thing in her way is finding a decent room to rent, but right now, the Pentecost businesswoman is happy with her hole-in-the-wall operation tucked away in Santo.
Will she open a branch in Vila anytime soon?
Well, she’s hopped across the pond 10 years ago, picked up a profession, travelled back to Santo and started a business. Doing that in reverse doesn’t sound like that much of a feat for Bori. Only time will tell.
