Smell of cookies, Christmas cakes, a variety of food and music filled the air on December 1, 2022, during the awesome Fiji Market Day organised by Women Entrepreneurs Business Council (WEBC) in collaboration with the US Embassy of Fiji.
The market day held at the Fiji Development Bank car park was a hit, with more than 40 market vendors turning up with a variety of products to showcase and sell.
The AWEsome Market Day is part of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) which is a seven months program. After completion of every program, a market day is organised for women to showcase what they have learned throughout the program.
The vendors are from Labasa, Nadi, Nasinu and Suva and sell their hand-crafted products such as handmade pot plants, Christmas decorations, jewel-lery, organic soap products, organic body butter and balms, hand-sewn clothes, handmade comforter sets, a variety of baked goodies and various types of food.
Sharing their stories, the ven-dors expressed their gratitudefor the skills they have learned over the seven months as it al-lowed them to earn money.
Two of the many vendors who now own the business – Growzilicious – and sell plants and mini cactus plants with handmade pots, shared their joy of being at the market day with their own products.
“We make these pot plants our-selves. It is really enjoyable and we are happy that people admire our products and buy them from us,” said the two women.
“We look forward to a fruitful market day and more opportunities to showcase our skills and products in the future,” they added.
Vendor Nishart Nazeen, who owns Aroma Fiji, also shared her experiences of doing what she is an expert at now. Ms Nazeen’s stall at the market was a popular one as she sold her handmade aromatic candles in a variety of fragrances.
“I have a variety of fragrant candles and they sell fast. These products are handmade and are safe for your home. I am happy that people buy these products and give very positive feedback to me,” she said.
Women Entrepreneurs and Business Council co-ordinator Fiona Uagunu said after the suc-cessful program, the council has set another proposal for a 2023 program and if approved it will enable WEBC to run another co-hort which aims to recruit more participants.
“When we increase our pro-gram cohort, we will have more vendors in the next market day we plan for and that is our main focus for now,” she said.
The Academy for Women
Entrepreneurs program had seven groups altogether and had two classes per month for seven months.
Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation continues to support Women Entrepreneurs and Business Council (WEBC) in their effort to achieve effective busiuness leadership towards holistic development of women entrepreneurs in Fiji and looks forward to another successful program in 2023.