Pacific Women Makete connects artisans with new opportunities

Pacific women are turning ideas, skills and traditional craft into new business opportunities at the M4C Fiji Pacific Women Makete 2026 at the Civic Centre in Suva yesterday.

The event brought together women from Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, with speakers highlighting the power of regional exchanges, entrepreneurship and women’s economic empowerment.

UN Women representative Alison Davidian said exchanges between Pacific market vendors had already produced new products and business opportunities.

She cited Solomon Islands vendor Catherine, who developed a successful pair of earrings after combining Samoan shells with traditional shell beads from Malaita province following an exchange in Samoa.

Another vendor, from Labasa Market, returned from Samoa with new stencil-design techniques and later shared the skills with other women vendors.

Ms Davidian said the exchanges demonstrated how one connection could spark an idea that travel across communities.

Australian High Commissioner Peter Roberts said markets were more than places to buy and sell goods, describing them as centres of community, leadership and opportunity.

Canadian High Commission representative David Fournier said women’s economic empowerment was also an economic issue, citing World Bank research that suggested addressing gender inequality could significantly increase economic output across the Pacific.

Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Sashi Kiran said women vendors were entrepreneurs, innovators and economic leaders whose work support families and local economies.

She urged artisans to develop authentic, high-quality Pacific products for the tourism market and encouraged vendors to form cooperatives to reach larger markets.

The event supported by Australia and Canada through the Markets for Change programme, was officially opened by Ms Kiran.

Filomena Taina, 53 from Waisa Kubulau in Bua, said she was grateful for the opportunity to be selected from the Ovalau Market to take part in the programme and showcase her creative handicraft skills.

She said one of the challenges she faced in Ovalau was the small population, which affected her daily sales.

“Since there are not many people on the island, my daily sales are not what I would expect. But this programme has helped me a lot because it has brought me to Suva, where my sales just increased,” she said.