THE 2024 National Small Medium Enterprise awards (NSME) by the Fiji Development Bank (FDB) solidified its commitment to Women Empowerment after naming Fiji’s pioneering goat milk skincare company ‘Mesovu Pte Ltd’ as Woman Entrepreneur of the Year and overall winner of 2024 NSME awards at the Grand Pacific Hotel last week.
Founded by 60-year-old Beatrice Nast, a visionary from Germany and now a proud Fijian, the company started 15 years ago when a friend offered her a bar of goat milk soap.
“I loved it, years later I came back to that idea and began looking for goat milk in Fiji,” Ms Nast explained in an introductive video at the awards.
What followed was a deep commitment to sustainable practices, female empowerment and the revival of traditional farming methods, where the birth of Mesovu Pte Ltd included the use of local coconut oil, honey and the main ingredient goat milk to make Mesovu’s signature product, goat milk soap.
“We’ve created an entirely new sector in agriculture according to the Ministry of Agriculture. This can impact the global market, and Fiji has barely even touched it,” she said.
Receiving the awards last week, operations manager at Mesovu Elizabeth Koini said she was humbled by the recognition from the FDB.
“From an idea in 2018 to making goat milk soap in Beatrice’s kitchen and now standing with seven varieties of goat milk soap and a factory in Nadi.
“Beatrice named it Mesovu because “Me” (pron: “meh”) means Goat and Sovu means “Soap” in Itaukei.
“We took goat milk from the cooking pots and turned it into luxury soaps,” Ms Koini said.
She said goat milk compared to other livestock contains a lactic acid which allows Mesovu to produce Fiji’s Ferrari of soaps.
Mesovu’s soap collection combines luxury, local and natural ingredients to produce their seven soap labels.
The original goat milk soap offering fragrance that is color free and gentle on skin, the green tea and lemongrass refreshing and aromatic, the rich sea mineral soap composed of hand-picked exfoliating oceanic minerals, the moon flower soap, which is a blend of floral vanilla and jasmine, Mesovu spearmint which is said to be invigorating and bright.
Not forgetting their sweet-scented honeycomb, antibacterial and hydrating on the skin effect. and the traditional kava brown sugar and fig soap – earthy, exfoliating and uniquely Fijian.
The products showcased by Mesovu Pte Ltd, s available in 50 to 100 grams, comes with a gracefully wrapped kraft paper packaging printed with green ink – Ms Nast’s vision for a ‘green earth’.
Speaking on behalf of Ms Nast, Ms Koini also acknowledged the FDB for providing a platform that promoted MSMEs like Mesovu.
“We started in Beatrice’s home and step by step, with help from supporters like FDB, we’ve built something real.
“We’re growing and now with a community of 15 MSME partners and more female goat farmers joining us,” she said.
Ms Koini further urged goat farmers and farmers generally around the country to venture into goat farming to supply them as there is a growing demand for Ms Nast’s signature soap in Fiji and abroad.
“We invite farmers to go into milk goat farming because it’s an industry that has a lot of potential and we need a lot of goat milk,” she said.
“Soap is just the beginning and so much more can be done with goat milk — for skin, for health, jobs and for the Fijian economy,” Ms Nast said in her video message.
The NSME awards last week spotlighted the extraordinary impact of SMEs across Fiji, with over a hundred applications received competing across nine categories offered by FDB.
Eight operators were awarded, with Mesovu claiming two of those accolades.
