What does it mean to be a woman of influence?

Perhaps a good definition is seen in the works of Emeline Afeaki-Mafile'o who won the community/social category at the recent Women of Influence awards for "innovative and extraordinary leadership" of her communities in South Auckland and Tonga.
In 2001, at just 25 years of age, Emeline set up mentoring service, Affirming Works (AW) in Manukau City, which has since mentored over 5000 youth and young people across all school levels addressing social and educational needs such as numeracy, literacy and the transition from school to work.
“I already felt like a winner being a finalist,” Emeline insists. “I was honoured to be associated with the other finalists in the category. To win… blew my mind.”

Having lost their mother earlier this year, Emeline and her family, with whom she is very close, enjoyed celebrating the happy occasion together.
“Receiving this award provided an opportunity to reflect on the past decade and those that helped me felt like they too were partakers in this award. I love that I get to work with youth in the community that has given so much to me. I feel like I’m giving back which creates a sense of belonging. I love my job so much.”
Emeline was first exposed to the rewarding field of community services work as a volunteer at an adult literacy school in her youth. One day whilst peer tutoring, a mother asked if she would consider tutoring her children.
“Thinking there would be maybe five I agreed. But when the day came she had over 60 kids packed into her Mangere garage.”

Emeline has successfully completed three degrees – a Bachelor of Social Work (Hons.), a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Science and a Masters in Philosophy majoring in Social Policy. She actively encourages Pacific Island people to take the initiative and create businesses for themselves, and she has also provided mentoring to help establish several small and medium size businesses and not-for-profit organisations. When she lived in Tonga the last three years she was also the secretariat for the Tongan Chamber of Commerce and continues to be an advocate on behalf of the Pacific community on social and economic issues within the New Zealand Government.
Emeline was awarded the Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award for 2006 and is an inaugural member of the New Zealand Social Entrepreneur Fellowship.

Emeline does not take for granted the opportunity she has to work in South Auckland schools creating systems that allow people to empower themselves.
Two out of every five children born in the Auckland area are from Pasifika ethnic groups of which the six major groups include Samoa, Cook Island, Tongan, Fijian, Niuean and Tokelauan. 60% of these people were born in New Zealand and by 2026 they will make up 12% of New Zealand's workforce.
Unfortunately these Pasifika people have the lowest qualification levels of any ethnic group in the country.
Mentoring is a way to help address these gaps in achievement, and it also helps create a bridge from the opportunities and resources of schools to the lives of local families and their communities.
Her work in this area has led to the establishment of Fofola Consultancy Ltd, which contributes to public policy development in New Zealand and the South Pacific. This company has played a vital role in creating the first Pacific Youth Development Strategy for Auckland, A Tongan Conceptual Framework against Family Violence and has a vision of working with all Pacific peoples across the globe.

Recently Emeline and her husband established a coffee company, Tupu’anga Coffee in Tonga which is the largest provider of coffee to the Tongan domestic market and is used in New Zealand in her latest project at Community Café, a social enterprise to provide sustainable funding for Affirming Works.
“We looked into products that we could stock that came from the Pacific to lessen our carbon footprint and to create an intimate relationship with the growers of the products. We went to Tonga to purchase some coffee and the business just happened to be up for sale. We were able to re-mortgage our house and buy the coffee business which now provides 76 people in Tonga with income. How rewarding is that! We don’t take any income from the coffee business and it’s been both rewarding and self-sustainable for the past two years.
Now we have hundreds of people using the Community Café as their hub which, in turn is assisting in funding mentoring in 13 South Auckland schools in 2013 to over 300 students in primary, intermediate and secondary schools. What had been planned as a building for the community to use has evolved into social services working closely together and breaking down individual silos. A community should be served by the people in that community.”

Emeline believes it is a positive rite of passage for youth to get involved in community work.
“As a teenager it’s quite easy to think of yourself but it’s so empowering when you think of others.
“Two weeks ago I was in Tonga checking out the work in the coffee factory that we own.  Most of my charitable work is done voluntarily. For me that is not just about my own personal investment – it also reflects on my integrity. It is valuable to commit yourself to a cause in a voluntary capacity.”
Now that her business is providing measurable returns Emeline is working to strike the right balance between work and personal life.
“So often the two are intertwined because I love what I do so much. I have three boys aged 2, 4 and 6 years old so my day starts early. Right now I’m working with a new organisation called the Venn Foundation for graduates looking at career paths that also consider the flourishing of society. I sit on a number of Government boards plus we have the café, this year I lectured at Unitech which consequently has also meant I have been able to mentor students both in and out of class. I love the variety of my life. Being self-employed means I am able to choose work that I totally enjoy. I love family time. I am an entrepreneur.”

www.affirming.org.nz

Emeline’s two top tips for taking the first step with a great business idea:
 

1. Start with yourself.

 
I often ask women ‘how do you see yourself?’ If you see yourself as a person that isn’t going to do well, who doesn’t have the attributes to deliver on her promises and plans… than you are just that. Other people can tell you what they think of you and you can get all the qualifications under the sun but you also need the confidence to be able to bet on yourself  and take the necessary risks to go far.
 

2. Establish your values.

 
When I wrote my first business plan I wrote down my values first. They were Pacific, Community and Women. As I matured in business so did my values, the company, its ideas and innovation also grew.