NEWS

 2020 Flea Market Fire Victims Receive E-Commerce, Digital Marketing Training

 The May 2020 fire affected more than 100 market vendors, the majority of them were women-run micro businesses and self-employed women.
30 Mar 2022 12:00
 2020 Flea Market Fire Victims Receive E-Commerce, Digital Marketing Training
Flea market vendors and trainers with the Assistant Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Veena Bhatnagar (seated third from left), at the E-Commerce and Digital Marketing training on March 29, 2022 in Suva. Photo: Sheenal Charan

Women market vendors who were affected by the May 22, 2020, fire at the Suva Flea Market will receive three days of training on e-commerce and digital marketing.

This training has been organised to strengthen the capacity of women entrepre­neurs to utilise Information and Communi­cations Technology (ICT) tools in support of their businesses.

Veena Bhatnagar, Assistant Minister for Women, Children, and Poverty Alleviation, said the fire affected more than 100 market vendors, the majority of them were women-run micro businesses and self-employed women.

“Having faced this disaster, most market vendors are left with no appropriate options for the recovery as they gradually come to grips with the tragedy that has befallen them, amplified by the impacts of the twin crisis of COVID-19 pandemic and Tropical Cyclone Harold,” she said.

Ms Bhatnagar said the training would in­crease understanding of the business envi­ronment that women entrepreneurs operate in, which could inform future actions by policymakers to create a more conductive and gender responsive business environ­ment.

She said the training would also equip par­ticipants with the knowledge and resources to offer this training to more women entre­preneurs in the future.

Market vendor

Wainisi Nai, a mother of seven and the family’s sole breadwinner, had lost every­thing in the fire.

The 46-year-old said since then she had been struggling to provide for her children.

“I had taken over my mum’s business in 1998 which was my only source of income,” she said.

“I was at home on the day the incident hap­pened, and I cannot explain my emotions in words after I had received the call about the fire incident. Everything that was destroyed was all I had which cost me around $4000.

“The new stock of second hand clothes and shoes were all destroyed, and I was left with nothing.”

Ms Nai currently lives with her de-facto partner, her two-year-old child and a daugh­ter who is in Year 7.

“I had a hard time providing for my other children who live in Tailevu with their fa­ther,” she said.

“I had to withdraw the little savings that I had to start all over again.

“Now I sell from home but the income I earn is only enough to buy necessary things. I am not able to save any money.”

The 46-year-old said the training was something new to her and she was excited to learn about e-commerce and digital mar­keting.



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