Eveni Carruthers

Eveni Carruthers, the trading name of I.H.Carruthers Ltd with at least 91 years in business in Samoa, has stood the test of time as a family company with the current management team led by a fourth generation of since the founder. Irving " Eveni" Carruthers of Vailima first established I.H.Carruthers Ltd in Samoa as a cocoa and copra merchant in 1929. Irving Carruthers was the son of Richard Irving Hetherington Carruthers, a Scotsman from Melbourne who first came to Samoa as a lawyer for Robert Louis Stevenson in the 1890s. The I.H.Carruthers trading empire was set up by integrating a network of trading stations throughout Samoa which were serviced by inter-island schooners.

During the 1950s and up to the early 1970s I.H Carruthers had practically a trading station in every village in Upolu, Manono and Savaii when the company was one of the main merchants trading in cocoa and copra for export. Maintaining a close connection of the company to the village communities and supporting their social and cultural activities is rooted in the long association of the company with village communities since the 1950s.