Mereamo Lalakobatiki.

Struggles will be a thing of the past for small business owner Mereamo Lalakobatiki.

Lalakobatiki is the first prize winner for the Fiji Bloom Business Accelerator Program, an initiative under South Pacific Business Development in assisting rural women in their micro-businesses.

Lalakobatiki says introducing innovative ideas to expand her business was one of the key contributions to her success.

“I live near the seashore and our main sources of income is just fishing, seafood, lobsters, octopus, fresh fish, seaweeds and from that time I started planning to sell seafood packs and also fresh fish.”

The sixty-year-old says the global pandemic has affected her sales and she had to look at alternatives to cushion the impacts.

“The pace has been going low especially when we do selling in the market we hardly see people come and buy from morning till midday at about 4 o’clock we will come.”

The Verata, Ucunivanua native was among the 19 women who were awarded.