Aneru weaves for a living
FOR Merita Aneru, 48, originally of Kiribati, owning her own business after being a stay-at-home parent was an uphill battle.
Ms Aneru owns Merita Enterprises, selling handmade bags and managing her business from the comfort of her home.
“Some of these bags I weave by hand while some I buy from secondhand shops and remake them,” she said.
Ms Aneru wasn’t doing much while living in Fiji for the past 25 years aside from helping friends sell their products.
She said from then she began to think about crafting and weaving.
“I went online and watched YouTube videos to have some sort of idea of what to do and how to do it,” Ms Aneru said.
“My husband also encouraged me to do this so I could be doing something rather than staying at home doing nothing.
“So now, whatever I want to learn, I go online and learn as much as I can.”
The creation of her business came about two years before COVID-19 hit and it has been growing slowly since.
She said another reason she started her business was that she saw that marketing was very profitable and that one could make money from it, especially in these tough times.
“There are challenges I face for instance sometimes the materials I need to make my bags are hard to get or expensive, like the voivoi (pandanus leaves). Or sometimes, I don’t have money to buy the materials or other times my customers are rude to me.
“I feel like I’ve grown a little bit, not a lot because I run my business from home and I don’t have a stall or anything like that.”
Ms Aneru usually advertises her products on Facebook or sells them at the annual ROC market. Other times, she joins expos like the Central Division Women’s Expo that happened last week.
Her advice is that it is never too late to start running your own business and that it is a good thing to have a source of income for yourself.
“It’s good having your own money.”