Fane’s venture thrives
FOR Fane Veiqaravi, starting her own little business has benefited her and brought about huge profits.
The 24-year-old said selling her own crafts allowed her to earn more than what she used to earn working as a cashier.
“Compared with working as a cashier, I actually earn more from what I earned in a week than as a cashier,” she said.
“What I used to earn in a week I earn in a day.”
The young entrepreneur comes all the way from Valelevu to sell her jewellery in Suva.
“I make clay earrings and I sell the smaller ones for $2 and the big ones for $8.”
Ms Veiqaravi said she taught herself how to make these clay earrings by watching videos on social media.
“I get the clay from the Dollar Thing shop and I make shapes out of it and then I bake it,” she said.
“After I bake it, I place the hooks on it and I sell it depending on the size and shapes.
Ms Veiqaravi was a student at the University of the South Pacific. The 24-year-old had to drop out because of financial constraints.
“I was studying at USP. I tried to further my studies, but then I couldn’t due to financial problems.
“So I stayed at home for a while after that and I had nothing else to do.
“Since I was good at art, I decided to go about on YouTube and make some crafts.”
Ms Veiqaravi said selling earrings was a good business for her, which she had been operating for three years.
The businesswoman sells most of her craft on her Facebook page called the Royal Tawake, where she also posts on the fabric printing aspect of her business.
She said occasions such as Fiji Day, Pinktober and Christmas were when she would attract a lot of customers.
“Mostly I sell $1 earrings and in a day I can earn $50 just from that.”
Ms Veiqaravi said that was enough to support her.
“Since we are going through a very hard time such as the pandemic, it’s time for us to at least come up with things that we know we are good at. “It can actually help you financially.” Ms Veiqaravi said the pandemic had not affected her or her business as most of her items were affordable and she would get the usual customers.
Ms Veiqaravi added she planned to expand her business to include fabric printing.
Since we are going through a very hard time such as the pandemic, it’s time for us to at least come up with things that we know we are good at. It can actually help you financially.
– Fane Veiqaravi