LocationsFrom Sewing Skills to Business Confidence: Loviness Builds New Opportunities in Gizo
September 7, 2026
Loviness Sifoni at work in her sewing business in Gizo, Solomon Island.
For 63-year-old Loviness Sifoni, sewing has long been part of her life. She had the skills to make and tailor garments, built through years of practical experience and training. What she did not have was the confidence to see herself as a businesswoman.
“I knew I could sew, but I did not know how to confidently present myself as a businesswoman,” she says.
A mother of four, grandmother and retired public servant who served for 19 years, Loviness was more comfortable behind her sewing machine, waiting for customers to come to her.
That began to change when she took part in leadership, business management and market vendor development training through the Markets for Change (M4C) Project.
Finding Her Confidence
The training helped Loviness look beyond the technical side of sewing and think differently about running a business — from communicating with customers and promoting her products to managing money and planning for the future.
It also connected her with other women vendors, giving them opportunities to exchange experiences, learn from one another and build networks.
Today, Loviness operates LS Pattern Drafting & Sewing in Gizo and is becoming more confident in promoting her products and services, both in person and online.
She says the training has also changed how she approaches her finances. She is more conscious about planning, saving and managing her resources, while considering how she can invest in growing her business.
But Loviness does not want what she has learned to benefit only herself.
“I believe that knowledge should not stay with one person. When we learn something useful, we should be able to share it with others.”
She hopes to continue developing her pattern-drafting and sewing skills and eventually share that knowledge with other women who want to earn an income from their own abilities.
A selection of garments made by Loviness through her Gizo-based sewing business.
Creating Opportunities for Other Women
For Loviness, becoming more economically empowered is not simply about earning money. It is also about having the confidence to speak for herself, make decisions and pursue opportunities.
Her experience reflects the broader purpose of M4C: supporting women market vendors to strengthen their skills, confidence, networks and ability to participate in local economies.
This also complements Solomon Islands’ national priorities for women’s economic empowerment, including enterprise development, financial inclusion and skills development.
Loviness now plans to grow her sewing and tailoring business, reach more customers and make greater use of digital platforms to promote her work. She also wants to help other women who have practical skills but may not yet have the confidence or business knowledge to turn those skills into an income.
“If I have skills and knowledge that can help another woman, I am willing to share them.”
For Loviness, the change is perhaps best captured in her own words:
“I feel that I have been given a green light to move forward.”
That green light has given Loviness a renewed sense of what is possible — not only for her own business, but for the women she hopes to support along the way.
About Markets for Change
Markets for Change (M4C) is a regional initiative supporting the economic security and working conditions of women market vendors in Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The initiative works to strengthen market infrastructure, vendor capacity and gender equality to support safer, more inclusive and sustainable marketplaces.
The Markets for Change project is implemented by UN Women in partnership with UNDP, with support from the Government of Australia.
For more information, please contact:
Jilgina Kimisi, Project Associate, Markets for Change Project, Solomon Islands: jilgina.kimisi@undp.org
Vilisi Veibataki, Markets for Change Project Manager, UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji: vilisi.veibataki@undp.org | +679 322 7701
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