Developing the skills to chase dreams

Monte Cecilia’s F.A.I.T.H. Money Programme is about more than teaching budgeting skills, it’s about giving participants the ability and confidence to chase their life goals.

Mativa Siomuomua, who graduated from a recent F.A.I.T.H. class, is now taking her goal of starting her own sewing business and turning it into a reality.

Coming to New Zealand in 2006, Mativa and her family only moved up from Wellington to Auckland recently to care for her sick mother. However, despite her husband working the high price of living pushed Mativa and her family into staying with her daughter and her husband’s family.

“We just didn’t have enough to survive, but God helped me and my family find Monte Cecilia,” Mativa says.

Coming to Monte Cecilia, they were soon breathing a sigh of relief at having their own space again, and as Mativa expanded her financial knowledge through Monte’s F.A.I.T.H. Money Programme she began thinking about her future. 

She had always been interested in sewing, taking a level 3 sewing course with the NZ School of Art and Fashion in Manukau in 2019 and 2020. She identified these skills as a way to support her family, and she has since gotten in touch with the Generator Programme through Emerge Aotearoa (which is designed to help Maori and Pasifika people start small businesses).

Her goal is to start her dream company “BABTO”, which will focus on making and selling island-wear, dresses and shirts for both children and adults.