A recently launched Pacific-focused market initiative in South Auckland boasts about 90 per cent Samoan stall ownership. 

This was confirmed by the Chairman of the Pacific Leadership Forum, Teleiai Edwin Puni in a response to Samoa Observer email queries, who said the initiative was an opportunity for income generation.

He pointed to strong engagement from the Samoan community, saying more than 600 people attended a public meeting organised by the Forum, with updates on the petition presented to Parliament last year that was seeking a pathway to New Zealand residency for overstayers. 

“[There are] more workshops each week with the Pasefika Friday Market, connecting communities to [COVID-19] assistance offered by service providers and government agencies,” said Teleiai. 

The Pasefika Friday Market is part of Project Recovery, a Pacific community-led initiative co-ordinated by ASA Foundation (a South Auckland charity) to contribute towards addressing some of the social and economic needs for Pacific communities in South Auckland; to recover, rebuild and regenerate from the impact of COVID-19.

He said that it was a “very successful” event, starting with 35 stalls and over 2,000 people coming through on the first day. 

“The market closed at 2pm instead of 4pm because most stalls sold out,” he said.

“Average of $500 - $1,000 [worth of] business was made by each stall holder, with some stall holders running out of products in 2 hours, especially food stalls.” 

The Samoa Hotel Association (S.H.A.) held a similar market two weeks ago at the Tourism grounds in Apia, and asked if that had inspired the Pasefika Friday Market in South Auckland, he said no.

“The Pasefika Friday Market is a response to the impact of [COVID-19]. This includes having government and service provider booths on site, making it easy for Pacific people to access information of what assistance is available to struggling families,” he said. 

“[It] includes a public meeting area where workshops are run to discuss issues affecting the social and economic situation of local communities.”

Teleiai added that the first consignment of koko Samoa from Fagaloa, Samatau and Saanapu is being airfreighted this Friday from Samoa, bound for the Pasefika Friday Market which will also include ava from Sataua, and Samoan fashion.