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Golden Melody Award-Winning Singer ABAO Performs at Eswatini’s Bushfire Festival, Applauds TaiwanICDF’s Empowerment of Women
The Taiwan Technical Mission in Eswatini took part in this year’s annual Bushfire music festival, held in the kingdom from May 30 to June 1. Golden Melody award-winning Indigenous Taiwanese singer ABAO was invited to perform on the main stage of this renowned international festival—dubbed “the African version of Megaport Festival.” During her performance, she led the crowd in a spirited chant of “Taiwan” and visited the International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF) booth to witness firsthand how Taiwan supports women's entrepreneurship in Eswatini.
The Bushfire festival attracts tens of thousands of visitors from around the world each year. In addition to live music performances on various stages, the event features themed areas such as an international food court, a Swazi cultural heritage zone, an international organization exhibition space, a children’s activity area, and a microenterprise marketplace. This year, the TaiwanICDF arranged for local beneficiaries of its Women’s Microenterprise Mentoring and Capacity Building Project to showcase and sell their handcrafted beadwork and leather goods in a repurposed container-turned-stall. Their bold color schemes and innovative designs broke away from tradition, drawing attention from a diverse range of consumers.
As a festival performer, ABAO visited the TaiwanICDF display and expressed her excitement about being in Africa for the first time—not just to perform, but to personally witness the contributions of Taiwanese teams on the ground. Touched by the children’s welcoming songs in both Chinese and English and a guided tour led by Taiwan Technical Mission project manager José Peng, ABAO remarked that the project goes beyond helping women start businesses—it also supports children's education, fostering hope for the next generation. She drew parallels with similar efforts in Taiwan to promote development in Indigenous communities.
Ambassador Jeremy Liang, Taiwan’s envoy to Eswatini, highlighted the TaiwanICDF’s efforts in building the women’s microenterprise program from the ground up. Through professional training and hands-on mentoring, the project has empowered women to sustain their households through entrepreneurship, delivering impressive and widely admired results. Ambassador Liang added that this successful model has the potential to be replicated in other countries.
TaiwanICDF Deputy Secretary General Peifen Hsieh noted that the program has already provided training for nearly 10,000 women entrepreneurs in Eswatini. By integrating microloans into the initiative, it has significantly boosted the success rate of women-led businesses. She emphasized that these empowered women are not only transforming their own lives but also contributing to social stability and national development—making this initiative a shared source of pride for both Taiwan and Eswatini.
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- Update: 2025/06/04
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