One of Papua New Guinea’s best known and most successful businessmen, Larry has aptly been described as ‘the last ancient man and the first modern man’ among his people in the Hides area, Hela Province.  Larry’s lifetime of achievements is built on his skills as a community organiser and his unique ability to move between the ‘haus man’ and the boardroom, seamlessly blending the lore and traditional knowledge of his ancestors with astute business acumen and corporate governance leadership.  

Larry is a proud and humble initiated Huli man, growing up in the small hamlet of Karai, wearing traditional clothing and walking two hours to school and back each day. Beginning his career as a school teacher, Larry came to prominence as a community spokesman, negotiating on behalf of his fellow Landowners with some of the world’s most powerful companies when oil was discovered on their ancestral lands. 

In mid-2009, he gathered landowner groups from across the PNGLNG project area to establish Trans Wonderland Ltd (TWL). TWL is made up of over 10,000 shareholders consisting of clans and Incorporated Landowner Groups from across four provinces (Hela, Southern Highlands, Western and Gulf). 

Larry says: “At TWL, we believe the principles of good corporate governance are fundamental to creating a strong and sustainable economy for future generations. Accountability, fairness, transparency and responsibility are the framework for leadership and decision making. They are encoded in our DNA through our constitution.” 

While TWL is widely considered a benchmark in PNG and has gone from strength to strength in recent years, Larry is at heart, still a community organiser who remains focused on the future prosperity of all Papua New Guineans. “Our vision has always been to build a company that lasts beyond the life of oil and gas. Expanding the middle class, educating children, building homes and creating generational wealth, that’s what gives me the greatest pleasure.” 

“You only have to look at business trends around the world. These blue and green economies have to be part of Papua New Guinea developing in the right way. This is the future, and I’m proud to be part of Niu Nature. We have to get this right, its too important for our people to mess this up or get it wrong.”