Salutations

• Mr. David Ganaii, Secretary, Department of Commerce and Industry
• Mr. John Pora, Chairman of the Board of the SME Corporation
• Project partners’ CUFA, Centre for Arts and Innovation, and Tool Boox
• Esteemed guests, MSME representatives

Morning Tru – it’s my honor and privilege to be here this morning to deliver opening remarks.

I thank you for attending this official launch for UNDP’s Entrepreneur Accelerator Programme as part of our Rapid Finance Facility (RFF).

The Rapid Finance Facility is focused on Financial Inclusion, Access to Finance and Digital Financial Services for women entrepreneurs, and Women-owned and led MSMEs.

UNDP, working with its sister agency United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) continues to provide technical assistance, and financial support, backing PNG’s MSME agenda and creating an improved business environment MSMEs.

I am proud to say that UNDP is working extensively with MSMEs in Papua New Guinea. We recognise your potential to drive change and to innovate.

We are working with partners such as Japan to deliver innovation hubs in Bougainville to incubate new ideas to attract investment.

We are delivering blue and green business initiatives in East and West New Britain in the services, agricultural and tourism sectors.

We are working with the European Union to climate proof supply chains for MSMEs in cocoa, vanilla, and fisheries reducing costs and increasing production with access to clean and renewable energy.

We are proud to provide continued support to the growing MSME sector and entrepreneurs, making them resilient towards the external shocks such as supply chain and trade disruptions triggered by the Covid 19 pandemic.

While there is support for women entrepreneurs on how to start up a business, there is less support for the entrepreneurs take the next step in the journey.

Women and youth entrepreneurs are especially vulnerable and face challenges in accessing financing and other types of support.

Even with stimulus packages targeted at MSMEs, there are still challenges in reaching the smaller enterprises and the last mile MSMEs.  

The Entrepreneur Accelerator Programme seeks to promote domestic private sector development, build a culture of entrepreneur development, and stimulate the rapid growth of micro, small and medium enterprises to create wealth and employment opportunities.

The project has so far trained 2,500 women entrepreneurs in business development and further 1,200 in financial literacy and digital finance. The project outreach has been delivered in Port Moresby and Lae through partners including Agbook, PNG Exchange, Tok Stret, Westpac, JYVX and Digicel. 

The Entrepreneur Accelerator Programme emphasizes the need to provide comprehensive support to MSMEs, to unleash their full potential and increase their competitiveness and contribute to economic growth, as they find their own ways to generate income and employment for the women entrepreneurs and their wider communities.

Through the EAP, both new and existing entrepreneurs in Port Moresby can access quality entrepreneurship skills training, business development support, mentoring and coaching and access to finance. The program will create a sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem that will foster and support innovation.

Digital is transforming the world around us with a breathtaking speed.

Responding to the fast-changing digital landscape, we have also focused on the provision of digital skills training and access to e-commerce for the entrepreneurs who are keen on taking their businesses to the next level and get their start-ups off the ground, by leveraging digital technologies and e-commerce platform.

In doing so, the program aims to build their capacity in reaching wider markets and gain digital skills and facilitate the digital transformation of MSMEs.

Finally, following the trainings, the women entrepreneurs will be preparing for a Demonstration Day, which you are all welcome to attend.

The Demonstration Day will be a chance for the women entrepreneurs to demonstrate their learnings and selected growth-oriented enterprises will be able to pitch their businesses to a panel of investors to receive seed funding.

Let me close by emphasizing that investing in and empowering women has tremendous effects. Their increased participation in the economic development of Papua New Guinea can spark innovation and bring about a much-needed transformational change in the country.

We are proud to call many of you here today our partners because it will take new, innovative, and strong partnerships to achieve the change that is not only necessary, but will contribute to a fairer, and more sustainable global economy, and more decent jobs in Papua New Guinea.

Tenkiu Tru.