Nofotane women entrepreneurs supported by the Samoa Victim Support Group (SVSG) are championing women’s economic empowerment together with their families.

Tausala Misiotele, 37, is a mother of four children who is now a proud breadwinner in her family. She dropped off her latest Nofotane-branded creations for sale at the Nofotane shop located within the SVSG main office in Apia. The shop is a market space available to more than 100 Nofotane star earners to sell their products.

According to a media release issued by the SVSG, Tausala spoke of her life and that of her family and how it had changed since becoming an entrepreneur who makes crafted, handwoven and handmade products.

After years of unemployment, she attended a livelihood skills training program coordinated by SVSG in 2018 for unemployed nofotane women, where she learnt the skills of creating foam flower products. With the income she earned from selling these products, her confidence grew together with her willingness to create different products from the same colourful foam materials.

Today Tausala is a successful producer of foam flower products, printed fabric, earrings created from plastic bottles and many others. The ripple effect of her economic empowerment is a source of encouragement to her husband, who is now assisting with the production process of making creative products. 

Her story is one of the many stories of Nofotane women who took control of their lives, increased their income, and improved the standard of living of their families, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tausala and her family are planning to extend their home to include a workshop in response to the increasing number of orders for her products.

During the visit, the SVSG staff enthusiastically modelled Tausala’s latest Nofotane-branded creations. SVSG joined women like Tausala in championing women’s economic empowerment. This is SVSG’s preventative approach to addressing violence.

SVSG would not have been able to economically empower Nofotane women like Tausala without funding support from the UN Women Fund for Gender Equality for the Nofotane Project (2016-2018), and the European Union for the Sustainable Income Generation & Self Employment of Nofotane Women Project (2020-2022). 

The SVSG President Siliniu Lina Chang spoke of the positive effects of the many Nofotane women who passed through the SVSG  and are now providing for their families. 

“Over the last seven years, we’ve witnessed the transformation of many Nofotane women; from having the lowest status in the traditional Samoan hierarchy, to Nofotane, the brand, that is now attracting overseas markets,” said Siliniu.

“SVSG efforts to economically empower Nofotane women will continue for years to come. We will soon establish an elite group of 100 Nofotane Star Earners, and deliver business training for them accordingly, to sustain their economic empowerment."