Lily PNG magazine

11/08/2025

Oh Chris Cobb, you definitely stole our hearts away!!
Cold Chisel's 'When the War is Over' was the perfect song choice - just WOW!
In case you missed it, PNG's very own Chris Cobb made it through the Blind Auditions of The Voice Australia's latest season last night with all 4 judges turning their chairs!!
But his wantok Ronan Keating (one of the judges, who is married to Storm, cousin of Chris's partner Kalolaine Uechtritz) was the first to turn – what a moment!
Let's get behind 'our' Chris to go all the way to the Grand Finale.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Chris Cobb performs 'When The War Is Over' by Cold Chisel for their Blind Audition for The Voice Australia 2025.Find The Voice Australia full episodes, highl...

27/07/2025

Congratulations to all 7 winners of the WOW Westpac Outstanding Women Awards 2025.
From left:
✳️Julie Rereve (Young Achiever/Buka cocoa technologist and owner of Jullz skincare SME);
✳️Raka Numa Raula (Private Sector/Comrade Trustee Services company secretary at one of PNG's largest super funds)
✳️Delsie Casper Nick (Not-for-Profit/Enga HIV and disability support worker);
✳️ Anne-Shirley Korave (Sustainability & Overall Winner/QueenPads SME owner and menstrual health advocate)
✳️Dr Pamela Toliman (Public Sector/ PNG Institute of Medical Research senior researcher and cervical cancer screening pioneer),
✳️Rutha-Meu Ome (Sports & Arts/Goroka NRL Bid Academy head and rugby star turned coach)
✳️Violet Bukon (Entrepreneur/Lae catering and cake business The Eatery)

27/07/2025

Congratulations to Westpac's 2025 Outstanding Woman – Anne-Shirley Korave, the founder of menstrual health advocacy business QueenPads, who has made it her life's work to make reusable eco-friendly sanitary pads affordable and available to girls and women, particularly in rural areas of PNG.
Anne-Shirley, pictured here with her main supporter, mum Lois, also won the Sustainability Category, one of seven category awards handed out at the WOW Awards ceremony at The Stanley Hotel last night.
The other winners, chosen from over 150 entries from across PNG, were:
• Entrepreneur Category – Violet Bukon
Founder of The Eatery Catering & Cakes, Violet turned a side‑hustle in Lae into a fully‑fledged catering company that champions local ingredients, creates jobs for young women and sets a new benchmark for customer service in Morobe Province.
• Not-for-Profit Category – Delsie Casper Nick
As president of Kun Women Association, Delsie mobilises village women and youth to deliver adult‑literacy classes, disability support and HIV‑awareness in Enga and Port Moresby – showing how grass‑roots volunteers can transform community health and inclusion.
• Private Sector Category – Raka Numa Raula
Company Secretary at Comrade Trustee Services, Raka drives stronger governance and member‑first reforms in one of PNG’s largest super funds, while mentoring emerging leaders through Toastmasters public speaking roles across the Southern Division.
• Public Sector Category – Dr Pamela Toliman
A senior researcher at the PNG Institute of Medical Research, Dr Toliman pioneered rapid HPV screening that is reshaping cervical‑cancer prevention and led the team that built PNG’s in‑country COVID‑19 testing capability – groundbreaking work saving lives nationwide. Dr Pamela used her acceptance speech to call for more government support, describing cervical cancer as "the unnecessary cancer", saying that if every PNG woman was screened at least once in their lifetime then cancer rates would drop by 40%.
• Sports & Arts Category – Rutha-Meu Ome
Former dual‑code rugby star turned coach, Rutha‑Meu heads the Goroka NRL Bid Academy where she uses sport to teach leadership, language and life‑skills to hundreds of Highland youths, opening doors for the next generation of female athletes.
• Young Achiever Category – Julie Rereve
Bougainville cocoa technologist and founder of the Jullz natural‑oils skin and haircare line, Julie juggles research in the BACRA chocolate lab with a thriving SME that reinvests profits into community retail and women’s financial‑literacy workshops. Julie was a recent finalist in the 2025 Lily Homemade Competition - Useful Category with her cocoa hair dye.
As the overall winner, Anne-Shirley wins a K5000 grant and a full-year mentorship program with Westpac PNG, including attending an Australian executive leadership symposium.
Well done to all the winners and finalists!

15/07/2025

For PNG’s 50th birthday this year, the Miss Bird of Paradise PNG Pageant has invited all 22 provinces to submit entrants for the first time!
It’s an ambitious challenge and one that a number of provinces, including Gulf, Morobe, Sandaun and Western have already signed up for.
On Saturday night (July 12), the new Western Province pageant committee held a fundraiser runway show at The Cosmopolitan club ahead of their provincial mini-pageant in Daru on August 30.
Only Western models, musical artists and designers were featured in the runway show, including designers Anita Neawa, Iania Maneka and Alice Kolokolo-Clancy of Jadasha Grace Collections – the maker of gorgeous PNG floral clay earrings who came third in the Lily 2024 Homemade Competition and is the new chair of the Western Province committee.
Another highlight of the show was having the models carry Western Province’s distinctive signature tulip bilums that had been sourced from the Duminak and Kayangabip villages of the Yakamkayakmin Tribe from the North Fly District.
Earlier this month Western’s nine finalists were announced, so best wishes for the upcoming pageant go out to: Kimberley Rulete, Olive Valu, Sophie Asa, Elaine Mara, Diana Olewale, Naomi Koge, Jacklyn Manuambi, Anzorah'amira Lovai, and Josephine May.
This reel includes highlights of Saturday’s runway show, with thanks to Alice and the Western Province committee for the share.

09/07/2025

Sharing content from Lily Magazine.
Credit: Lily Magazine.

Our product: Buai Skin waste converted to topsoil cover mulch.
Achieving: 1. Environmental waste management, 2. Agro-Climate Smart, 3. Community collaborations, 4. Wealth creation, 5. Change in behaviour (responsible littering), 6. Clean cities (Promoting tourism).

Congratulations to our 3 Homemade Competition winners!
Pictured from left, Nicholar Boas from Lae with her blue herbal salt (Edible), Geno Geno of Gereka, Port Moresby, with her buai skin mulch (Useful), and Carole Cholai, of Port Moresby, with her one-sided bra and associated care products for breast cancer surgery patients (Wearable). Second from right is Lily editor Margo Nugent.
Photo taken by Anthony Lingnonge of Lily Magazine at the judging event at Santos Stadium today.
MEDIA RELEASE: Three Winners Named in 2025 Search for PNG’s Best Homemade Product
A blue herbal salt that provides health benefits for Papua New Guineans with lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, a soil mulch made from discarded betelnut husks, and a one-sided bra that gives comfort to breast cancer surgery patients are the three winning products in the 3rd annual Lily Homemade microbusiness competition.
The winners Nicholar Boas (Edible), Geno Geno (Useful) and Carole Cholai (Wearable) were announced live on Facebook today after judges chose their products at the end of an extensive national search that yielded about 150 entries.
“I guess God has a purpose for allowing us to go through situations in life,” said an emotional Carole, who is herself a breast cancer survivor and had both her right breast and ovaries surgically removed in March last year. Although untrained in sewing, she said her mother helped her come up with a pattern for a one-sided mastectomy bra, and also side-tying underpants, and after finding these undergarments made her own recovery more comfortable, she wanted to share them with others going through the same ordeal. “I actually thought I was going to die last year – you know, cancer to everyone means death in PNG, but there are a lot of cancer survivors that continue life that we don’t hear about,” she said.
Carole has now designed a range of associated care products such as soft chest support cushions, hair growth oil and breast pads that can be bought as a gift package under the Sista Luv Foundation she formed with two survivor friends.
Each category winner receives K2500 cash from the Australian Government through the PNGAus Partnership, along with an K8000 business website from Media Partners, business setup costs valued at K1000 each including business and trademark registration from Business Link Pacific, and a night’s stay at the Crown Hotel inclusive of breakfast for two.
Edible Category winner Nicholar Boas will also receive product development support from the CPL Group with a view to bringing her herbal salt on to the supermarket shelves.
Most of the 15 finalists attended the judging event and mini-market setup at Santos Stadium today, with others calling in, sending video presentations or having their products sent in to be sampled.
All received a four-day business development workshop funded by the Australian Government through PNGAus Partnership that gets under way at the Women’s Business Resource Centre tomorrow (Tuesday, May 13). This will be backed up by two months of mentoring support.
After the judging event today, targeted training sessions on how to access financial services were provided to the finalists by microbank sponsors MiBank and Women’s MicroBank (Mama Bank).
The finalists also received gift hampers containing shampoo, body gel, toothpaste and other self-care products from Colgate-Palmolive PNG.
To make the competition accessible PNG-wide, return airfares were provided to the seven regional entrants by Air Niugini and SP Brewery under its Chiller Beer brand, with those entrants also treated to a free night at the Crown Hotel to welcome them to the city.
The three winners were decided by 11 guest judges including Chef Julz Henao of The Catering Co, Maku Gifts/Lavagirl founder Annette Sete (who was not present but sent her votes ahead), and representatives from all the sponsoring partners.
More about our winners:
Nicholar Boas - EDIBLE CATEGORY WINNER
Product: Butterfly Pea Herbal Salt
Buiness: Warapipe Trade
Lae
Herbal blue salt is a product I diversified into after realising that many PNGians were suffering from lifestyle diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. The plant is a crawler and the chemical from its flower is extracted and mixed with the normal table salt to fuse the dye which is very rich in flavins and antioxidants beneficial for the body and which reduces blood impurities and brings it to its normal condition at the cellular level. The salt is now changed to blue colour. It is better for diabetic and high blood pressure patients to consume it with food than the normal salt which most times they refrain from consuming as advised by their physician.
Challenges are mainly to do with transportation and freighting items to customers around PNG and to other countries, packaging and website.
Background: Nicholar is an agronomist by profession, and has a mixed parentage of New Ireland, Jiwaka and Morobe. In 2018, she registered Warapipe Trade as a business, specialising in trading of food and affordable household items in a small canteen that she operates in Tent City, Lae, as well as a nursery with high-value plant seedlings such as landscapers, hedges, roses ixcoras and vanilla clones (seedlings). Recently she diversified into beneficial homemade herbal products.
Nicholar also cultivated PNG’s first varieties of vanilla clones (seedlings) as reported by the Post Courier in September last year.
Geno Geno - USEFUL CATEGORY WINNER
Product: Buai Skin Mulch for Topsoil Cover
Business: The Seed Supplier
Gereka, Port Moresby
The winner of the first Homemade Product Competition in 2022 with her betelnut fibre plates, bowls and spoons has devised another product that repurposes betelnut (areca nut) waste, this one a gardening mulch that can reduce water stress on city trees and shrubs by acting as a barrier to evaporation. The mulch also enriches the soil as nutrients are released as the husks break down, as well as reduces weeds and soil erosion.
Geno’s team has trialled a collection operation where filled boxes of areca husk rubbish were bought from buai vendors in the Gereka area, with youths getting involved to earn extra income The husks were heated at a high temperature and washed down to kill off unwanted pathogens. In order to prevent fungal development during the decomposition process, the husks were crushed and ground into finer fibres extracting the liquid content. Our process ensures that all bacteria and unwanted pathogens are thoroughly removed. The fibres are placed over the topsoil at the base of plants as soil mulch.
Geno is seeking support from NCDC to reach out to other suburbs and advocate on the collection of waste husks to help keep the city clean. The goal is to cover the base of every garden bed and tree in Port Moresby that is currently water-stressed.
Benefits include waste management and environmental improvement, as well as income generation for youths and other marginalised people.
Carole Cholai - WEARABLE CATEGORY WINNER
Product: One-Sided Mastectomy Bra (comes in post-surgery kit with breast padding, heart pillow support, hair growth oils, beanie and side-tying underwear)
Business: Sista Luv Foundation
Port Moresby
I am a breast cancer patient and survivor and had mastectomy and oophorectomy surgery in March 2024 after a long diagnosis ordeal since first getting screened late October 2023.
My greatest challenge was going through dealing with movement and adjustments with the mastectomy which comes with continuous chest pain and restricted movement.
Finding suitable clothing especially undergarments during the healing process of mastectomy and post mastectomy is a challenge and after going online and searching with also what I wanted for myself for comfort, I've put together these products.
I am learning to sew and much has been self taught, looking at tutorials online and help from my mum and sewing sisters.
What have put together is from what I feel is comfortable and trust any other fellow breast sisters will appreciate also.
These products are part of "The Sista Luv Post Mastectomy Gift Pack" for women going through mastectomy. This is an initiative by a group of breast cancer survivors of which I am founder to provide a support group for sisters who need the emotional, friendship and mental support, and to provide advice for carers for breast cancer patients and in-depth information on services, processes and preparation through the breast cancer journey through shared experiences and knowledge.
We are in the process of formally establishing the group to work closely with the Cancer Unit of Port Moresby General Hospital and PNG Cancer Foundation.

27/06/2025

PNG's modelling industry has an exciting future judging by the standard of the next crop of young models rising through the ranks!
At Jack's of PNG's fashion show at Vision City on Wednesday, the liklik models won over the crowd, modelling latest collections including a first look at the 50th Independence limited edition Kumul range that will be on sale from July 7.
Other designers who contributed to collections included Wandid Amini Korimbo of Niugini Native (Central), Cynthia Kewei of Chauka ya (Manus) with crab and lionfish designs, and 2024 Design PNG Competition winners Lele Leonard (Madang) and Mike Joseph (Western Highlands). Lele debuted his 'Great Warrior' design, while Mike's design was 'Butterfly of Life'.
The show was a collaboration between Jack's and PNG Fashion Week and featured about 15 models who are preparing for the Genesis Runway Show at APEC Haus on Saturday, September 20.
Photos: Olive Sukun, Lily Magazine

27/06/2025

School break took an exciting turn for shy 12-year-old Jimmy Igo from Hanuabada village on Wednesday when he stepped on to the catwalk for the first time at Vision City at an event where his dad was named one of Jack’s of PNG’s latest design contest winners.
In Grade 4 at Hanuabada’s Hagara Primary School, Jimmy – who won a K100 gift voucher for his modelling efforts – is the son of skilled portrait painter and musician Igo Marc Willie, and had travelled with his mum Reia and toddler sister Jasper to support dad at the Jack’s Design PNG Competition announcement.
The announcement coincided with the official launch of Jack’s 50th Independence Collection through a fashion show in collaboration with PNG Fashion Week.
Igo and three other established artists each received a K2500 prize from Jack’s, while in a new category introduced this year to nurture students and young beginners, two artists received K2000 each.
The winners, selected from more than 220 entries, were Igo Marc Willie, Hayavi Ikati, Analis Wokam and Shila Mulina, while Sebastine Luke and Melky Watubang were the beginner artists, with the last two also singled out for special mention due to the extra challenges they currently face. Sebastine is serving prison time at Beon Correctional Institution in Madang where he had no access to the internet or design tools, and Melky, a young designer who lives in Kokopo, is fully deaf.
Upon receiving his prize at the Jack’s store in Madang, Sebastine said: "This has given me hope in a place that often feels so dark. With just a black pen and the four walls around me, I poured my heart into that artwork. Winning despite being a prisoner means the world to me – it shows that dreams can still shine, even in the darkest places."
Back in POM, an excited Igo, who learned he was one of the six winners with a call on his birthday on June 16, thanked God for the blessing and said he had been drawing since childhood. “I just entered the competition without expecting to win,” he said. “I am honoured and grateful for this opportunity.” Igo and Reia have four children, with Jimmy and Jasper joined by two more sons. Reia said, “We saw the promotion of the competition at Waterfront, and we went and told him (Igo), ‘Can you try it?’ That time when Jack’s designer ring to us, we were so excited.”
The entries were judged by Baiwa label fashion designer Natasha Tamanabae and former Design PNG 2022 winner and now employed at Jack’s as a product designer Louis Sivina, with the pair looking for originality, visual appeal including the use of elements and compositions, and stories behind designs that explained their inspiration and meaning.
Addressing the crowd, Louis said that previous years had seen strong male representation so this year changes had been introduced in the hope of empowering more women to participate and shine.
The winning designs are yet to be made public as they will be revealed when the fashion garments they are printed on are launched later in the year.

Words: Olive Sukun
Photos: Olive Sukun and Jack’s of PNG

25/06/2025

And the winning cover photographer of our special 50th anniversary Welcome to PNG edition is... Tiana Reimann!
This talented Kimbe-based sportfishing guide has access to some of the most beautiful parts of PNG aboard her family's motor yacht MV Ultimate One (seen in the background of this pic) so was able to snap this joyful pic of kids in their PNG colours on the beach at Mioko Island in the Duke of York Islands.
As our children will be the ones guiding our great nation through the next 50 years, we thought this was a fitting cover as we celebrate and look back on the last 50.
Happy anniversary year PNG! And congratulations to Tiana.
[Side note: Tiana was also a finalist in this year's Lily Homemade Product Competition - Edible Category with her delicious and healthy butterfly pea flower and honey gummie sweets.]
Click here to view the new Welcome edition #32: https://online.flippingbook.com/view/316684397/

30/05/2025

Coming to POM in June - fashion design masterclasses with Lae-born design teacher Nicholas Huxley!
If you're a budding fashion designer, model, stylist or other creative, be sure to register by emailing [email protected]. The workshops will lead into PNG Fashion Week events from September 17-20 including the Pacific Fashion Summit and The Genesis runway show, and aim to grow the skills of locals who want to compete on a global scale.
Nicholas has a remarkable resume in the fashion world that spans over 40 years, including over the last decade working closely with Fiji Fashion Week to help grow that country’s fashion industry. Based in Sydney where he was head teacher at the TAFE NSW Fashion Design Studio before retiring in 2018, Nicholas has mentored some of the world’s top fashion names, including Akira Isogawa, Alex Perry, Nicky Zimmermann, Lisa Ho, Dion Lee, and Romance Was Born. He's also dressed celebrities like Nicole Kidman, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and even tailored a suit for Bette Davis. He’s worked as an illustrator for fashion magazines Vogue, Marie Claire, and Elle, been nominated for an AFI Award for his costume design in the cult sci-fi film Sons of Steel, and received multiple fashion industry awards. His work as an advisor extends from the US where he helped launch the Miami Fashion Institute, to Fiji where his involvement since 2015 in developing fashion students and aspiring designers led to him receiving a national fashion award in 2023 for his services to the industry.
Nicholas was a special guest and judge at last year’s PNG Fashion Week show – marking his first trip back to the place of his birth and childhood in 60 years! Raised in Lae as one of five boys, his childhood was shaped by creativity and storytelling – his mother worked for the ABC as a correspondent, and his father Jim Huxley was the managing editor of the New Guinea Times-Courier. In 1962, Jim also launched NuGini Toktok, the first pidgin-language newspaper in New Guinea, and was highly regarded for mentoring local journalists, including Muttu Gware, who became the first PNG editor of a commercial newspaper.

27/05/2025

Lots of great reading in the latest PNG Air Magazine!!
Our cover story is about the brand new Oscar-hope movie made with PNG cast and crew, and set in the jungles of the Sogeri Plateau – keep an eye out for 'Papa Buka'!
There's also a fascinating story about PNG's rare and little-known walking sharks ('Meet PNG's Cutest Shark'), and a wrapup of Australian-PNG events to celebrate our 50th anniversary, from a phenomenal music festival starring some of the best PNG-singers, dancers and muso names in the biz produced by master drummer Airileke on June 28, to art exhibitions, a cooking show by PNG Chef Julz Henao and Torres Strait actor Aaron Fa'aoso, and a PNG-made film competition.

This interactive flipbook is created with FlippingBook, a service for streaming PDFs online. No download, no waiting. Open and start reading right away!

27/05/2025

We're looking for our next WELCOME cover!!
Jason Nekeneke had one of the biggest thrills of his life when he saw his photo of Fly River model Zinna Jason Mamaea in a beautiful woven tulip bark bush twine dress on the cover of the last Welcome guide for Jan-June 2025.
With over 40,000 free copies in circulation around PNG he was able to take as many of the little booklets as he liked home to Kiunga to help promote his upcoming event - the Western Bilas Fashion & Arts Festival in October.
He also received a little K100 bonus for his expenses.
If you have a photo that you think is cover-worthy, drop us a line and send your pic for consideration to editor Margo Nugent at [email protected]

12/05/2025

Congratulations to our 3 Homemade Competition winners!
Pictured from left, Nicholar Boas from Lae with her blue herbal salt (Edible), Geno Geno of Gereka, Port Moresby, with her buai skin mulch (Useful), and Carole Cholai, of Port Moresby, with her one-sided bra and associated care products for breast cancer surgery patients (Wearable). Second from right is Lily editor Margo Nugent.
Photo taken by Anthony Lingnonge of Lily Magazine at the judging event at Santos Stadium today.

MEDIA RELEASE: Three Winners Named in 2025 Search for PNG’s Best Homemade Product

A blue herbal salt that provides health benefits for Papua New Guineans with lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, a soil mulch made from discarded betelnut husks, and a one-sided bra that gives comfort to breast cancer surgery patients are the three winning products in the 3rd annual Lily Homemade microbusiness competition.
The winners Nicholar Boas (Edible), Geno Geno (Useful) and Carole Cholai (Wearable) were announced live on Facebook today after judges chose their products at the end of an extensive national search that yielded about 150 entries.
“I guess God has a purpose for allowing us to go through situations in life,” said an emotional Carole, who is herself a breast cancer survivor and had both her right breast and ovaries surgically removed in March last year. Although untrained in sewing, she said her mother helped her come up with a pattern for a one-sided mastectomy bra, and also side-tying underpants, and after finding these undergarments made her own recovery more comfortable, she wanted to share them with others going through the same ordeal. “I actually thought I was going to die last year – you know, cancer to everyone means death in PNG, but there are a lot of cancer survivors that continue life that we don’t hear about,” she said.
Carole has now designed a range of associated care products such as soft chest support cushions, hair growth oil and breast pads that can be bought as a gift package under the Sista Luv Foundation she formed with two survivor friends.
Each category winner receives K2500 cash from the Australian Government through the PNGAus Partnership, along with an K8000 business website from Media Partners, business setup costs valued at K1000 each including business and trademark registration from Business Link Pacific, and a night’s stay at the Crown Hotel inclusive of breakfast for two.
Edible Category winner Nicholar Boas will also receive product development support from the CPL Group with a view to bringing her herbal salt on to the supermarket shelves.
Most of the 15 finalists attended the judging event and mini-market setup at Santos Stadium today, with others calling in, sending video presentations or having their products sent in to be sampled.
All received a four-day business development workshop funded by the Australian Government through PNGAus Partnership that gets under way at the Women’s Business Resource Centre tomorrow (Tuesday, May 13). This will be backed up by two months of mentoring support.
After the judging event today, targeted training sessions on how to access financial services were provided to the finalists by microbank sponsors MiBank and Women’s MicroBank (Mama Bank).
The finalists also received gift hampers containing shampoo, body gel, toothpaste and other self-care products from Colgate-Palmolive PNG.
To make the competition accessible PNG-wide, return airfares were provided to the seven regional entrants by Air Niugini and SP Brewery under its Chiller Beer brand, with those entrants also treated to a free night at the Crown Hotel to welcome them to the city.
The three winners were decided by 11 guest judges including Chef Julz Henao of The Catering Co, Maku Gifts/Lavagirl founder Annette Sete (who was not present but sent her votes ahead), and representatives from all the sponsoring partners.
More about our winners:

Nicholar Boas - EDIBLE CATEGORY WINNER
Product: Butterfly Pea Herbal Salt
Buiness: Warapipe Trade
Lae
Herbal blue salt is a product I diversified into after realising that many PNGians were suffering from lifestyle diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. The plant is a crawler and the chemical from its flower is extracted and mixed with the normal table salt to fuse the dye which is very rich in flavins and antioxidants beneficial for the body and which reduces blood impurities and brings it to its normal condition at the cellular level. The salt is now changed to blue colour. It is better for diabetic and high blood pressure patients to consume it with food than the normal salt which most times they refrain from consuming as advised by their physician.
Challenges are mainly to do with transportation and freighting items to customers around PNG and to other countries, packaging and website.
Background: Nicholar is an agronomist by profession, and has a mixed parentage of New Ireland, Jiwaka and Morobe. In 2018, she registered Warapipe Trade as a business, specialising in trading of food and affordable household items in a small canteen that she operates in Tent City, Lae, as well as a nursery with high-value plant seedlings such as landscapers, hedges, roses ixcoras and vanilla clones (seedlings). Recently she diversified into beneficial homemade herbal products.
Nicholar also cultivated PNG’s first varieties of vanilla clones (seedlings) as reported by the Post Courier in September last year.

Geno Geno - USEFUL CATEGORY WINNER
Product: Buai Skin Mulch for Topsoil Cover
Business: The Seed Supplier
Gereka, Port Moresby
The winner of the first Homemade Product Competition in 2022 with her betelnut fibre plates, bowls and spoons has devised another product that repurposes betelnut (areca nut) waste, this one a gardening mulch that can reduce water stress on city trees and shrubs by acting as a barrier to evaporation. The mulch also enriches the soil as nutrients are released as the husks break down, as well as reduces weeds and soil erosion.
Geno’s team has trialled a collection operation where filled boxes of areca husk rubbish were bought from buai vendors in the Gereka area, with youths getting involved to earn extra income The husks were heated at a high temperature and washed down to kill off unwanted pathogens. In order to prevent fungal development during the decomposition process, the husks were crushed and ground into finer fibres extracting the liquid content. Our process ensures that all bacteria and unwanted pathogens are thoroughly removed. The fibres are placed over the topsoil at the base of plants as soil mulch.
Geno is seeking support from NCDC to reach out to other suburbs and advocate on the collection of waste husks to help keep the city clean. The goal is to cover the base of every garden bed and tree in Port Moresby that is currently water-stressed.
Benefits include waste management and environmental improvement, as well as income generation for youths and other marginalised people.

Carole Cholai - WEARABLE CATEGORY WINNER
Product: One-Sided Mastectomy Bra (comes in post-surgery kit with breast padding, heart pillow support, hair growth oils, beanie and side-tying underwear)
Business: Sista Luv Foundation
Port Moresby
I am a breast cancer patient and survivor and had mastectomy and oophorectomy surgery in March 2024 after a long diagnosis ordeal since first getting screened late October 2023.
My greatest challenge was going through dealing with movement and adjustments with the mastectomy which comes with continuous chest pain and restricted movement.
Finding suitable clothing especially undergarments during the healing process of mastectomy and post mastectomy is a challenge and after going online and searching with also what I wanted for myself for comfort, I've put together these products.
I am learning to sew and much has been self taught, looking at tutorials online and help from my mum and sewing sisters.
What have put together is from what I feel is comfortable and trust any other fellow breast sisters will appreciate also.
These products are part of "The Sista Luv Post Mastectomy Gift Pack" for women going through mastectomy. This is an initiative by a group of breast cancer survivors of which I am founder to provide a support group for sisters who need the emotional, friendship and mental support, and to provide advice for carers for breast cancer patients and in-depth information on services, processes and preparation through the breast cancer journey through shared experiences and knowledge.
We are in the process of formally establishing the group to work closely with the Cancer Unit of Port Moresby General Hospital and PNG Cancer Foundation.