Bonnie Naua, owner of Saroni Tailoring Services, has always felt a deep connection to clothing, which began when she earned runner-up in the 1992 Miss Papua New Guinea pageant at the age of 19.
As a member of the Koke Gubarei Idibana 1 Clan, known for canoe building and clay pottery, Naua incorporates traditional patterns into her designs to keep her cultural heritage alive. Papua New Guinea, the world’s third-largest island nation, is home to over 1,000 different culture groups and 839 known languages.
Naua honed her skills at the PNG Garment and Textile Training Center in Port Moresby, after receiving a sewing machine as a gift.
She is an alumna of the U.S. Department of State’s Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE), which has provided over 25,000 women in 100 countries with the knowledge, networks, and access they need to start or expand successful businesses.
AWE includes the Thunderbird School of Global Management’s online DreamBuilder course, which teaches participants to focus their business idea and plan strategically.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced Naua to close her shop, but she continues to work from home where she invests the money she saves in training programs that teach women from rural areas to make clothing from scratch.
She is also passionate about sharing the knowledge she learned through AWE to help other women start their own businesses and become financially independent.
As a believer in "making something out of nothing," Naua hopes to expand Saroni Tailoring beyond Papua New Guinea and showcase her traditional designs to the world.
Recently, Naua attended the first regional AWE Summit in Malaysia in March, where she shared her designs with nearly 200 AWE alumnae and business experts from 10 countries around Asia and the Pacific. The summit provided access to U.S. experts in business technology and networking opportunities with other women entrepreneurs from across the region.
Bonnie, who turns 50 years old this year, believes it is time to showcase her designs to the world.