When people trickle in through the doors of My FNPF Plaza in Suva, it is either for shopping, relaxation or to grab a bite to eat.
Along the way, one can see a line of stalls, usually filled with perfumes, jewellery and other assorted knick knacks that may look simple but have taken hours to craft.
Manning one of the tables is Mereoni Naikanitoba. She wears a beautiful buiniga, along with matching earrings and necklaces and greets her prospective customers with a soft bula.
Time has aged her gracefully, and her love for crafting jewellery has only strengthened with each passing day. She learnt from her dear mother.
Originally from Rukua, Beqa, with maternal links to Naduri, Macuata, Mereoni says like most young girls her age, she was a bit hesitant to learn the skills at first.
“After my dad passed away, this was a source of income for her,” she says.
“Now, I’m doing pearls but she used a lot of things around her, especially shells and some beads from trees and every time I saw her, she was making jewellery and selling it for so cheap.
“She was well known for making broches that went well with the earrings and that’s how I started. Actually, she asked me but most of the time, I gave excuses. However, after seeing other ladies doing it, that was really encouraging for me to do something after I retired.”
Jewellery making remains her hobby-turned-occupation, yet her first calling was being a teacher, similar to her late father.
Even while teaching, she did not lose her entrepreneurial spirit and made earrings to sell to her fellow teachers for $1 or $2.
Later on, she sold her wares at the ROC Market and slowly branched out to make bracelets and necklaces.
“I tried to put things together to make matching necklaces, bracelets and earrings to suit the function for the day.
“I taught primary school for more than 20 years. I spent more than 10 years in Nauru, and I came back to Fiji, just four to five years before I retired.
“I’ve learnt not only from my mother, I’ve also learnt from my father. He was also a schoolteacher, so during his spare time he taught us how to grow our own vegetables.
“In those days, my sister and I we used to have a plot each and he taught us to grow our own vegetables and we sold those to the village. We always looked forward to this.”
Learning such essential skills from both her parents has only strengthened her resolve to succeed, and now, loves what she does. The mother of three says she also gets help to sell her products via her daughter, who stays in Nauru.
“My two girls, they help me a lot in selling my products and my eldest daughter, she makes purses and bags out of beads.”
While passing down her skills to her children is admirable, Mereoni also has a word of advice to give to other ladies who wish to have their own business.
“We have our own talents. I make jewellery and we have other ladies who are good in cooking and baking pastries.
“At first I had a fear, for the bills and rent, but I had faith. I always prayed that He would provide people to buy my products and for that I’m thankful.”
