Fiji Women’s Expo makes grand return

Fiji’s National Women’s Expo made its grand return yesterday with hundreds of women showcasing their talents at the Vodafone Arena in Suva.

“As the nation returned to normalcy post-pandemic, we had to make sure that we bring the National Women’s Expo back at this big scale, just as our women deserve,” said Minister for Women, Lynda Tabuya, opening the event with her Permanent Secretary, Eseta Nadakuitavuki and Sulueti Rabuka, the Prime Minister’s wife.

This year’s expo theme is ‘DigitaALL: Innovation & Technology for Gender Equality’.

The first expo was in 2014, and Minister Tabuya said the Ministry for Women has progressively improved it since then.

“The National Women’s Expo is a great example of an innovative intervention in terms of the economic empowerment of rural Fijian women artisans – now being the signature event and one of the key platforms for women’s economic empowerment in Fiji,” she said.

“Fiji has set its trade icon in various marketing platforms with our global partners, with the main goal of promoting Fijian-Made Products,” she added.

The three-day event showcases the contributions of 360 women from around the country who are actively engaged in the world of arts and crafts, food making, gardening and the like.

Seniua Vakananumi and Senimili Ratimi operate a small family-owned business making unique contemporary fans and home décor items. They travelled all the way from Tavua to be part of the annual event.

“We’ve been in business for four years. As a family, we make fans and wall boards, which can be customised to display bible verses or your family name. We also include mirrors on our wall boards,” said Seniua.

Their products, she says, are suitable for all occasions. “In a day, I can make 4-5 of our products. It’s quite easy to do,” she said.

“Our price range is from $15 to $30, depending on the size,” she added.

The 40-year-old businesswoman said their products have been bought by customers locally in Denarau as well visitors from America, Australia and New Zealand. “They are mostly our relatives,” she said.

“We usually get orders through phone calls or social media. My uncle helps out a lot with our family business by getting the materials and also posting pictures of our products online,” she added.

The duo are stationed amongst other businesswomen in the Western Division section

The expo concludes tomorrow, Thursday 23rd November.