Providing Business Skills To Pacific Entrepreneurs

The private sector partnership and Pacific initiative is part of UNDP's enterprise development component of the Pacific Sustainable Livelihoods Programme (PSLP) supporting, among others, micro enterprises. The partnership started last year incorporating Pacific Islands countries Fiji, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Vanuatu and Niue.

The aim was to pilot a programme offering business skills training to young Pacific islanders. The workshops have resulted in new business partnerships, new business development and better-equipped managers.

Coloured tapa baskets...created by Pacific Infusion.

Avoi was advised by workshop resource people that if her business was to grow, it was necessary for her to ship out of the "dead-end location because there wasn't much people traffic and that I should seriously consider moving away from traditional craft colours.

"I took that direction and I don't regret making that decision. I have a clearer perspective now of what I'm doing, what can be done to Pasifika Infusion products and I know what can be done to lift the standards of our (Fiji) crafts."

The Australian component of the workshop came from international shop chains Adidem (parent company of the Body Shop) and Accessorize. Each group is assigned a Body Shop or Adidem manager who act as facilitators. In addition, there are two/three trainers including Jeff Liew, PSLP regional programme manager & chief technical advisor.

Liew said: "Each group is assigned a real business that belongs to one of the participants. What they learn in the morning is transferred to the shop in the afternoon."

Participants work on different aspects of the business operation: displays, customer relations, creating the Wow factor, improve sales, finance and marketing and e-commerce.

It's very hands-on and the transformation is incredible. Hands-on means taking the sasa (broom) and sweeping the windows, painting, create new signage, rearranging store displays. It also creates competitive spirit among the participants.

There's always a foundation to what you're doing. A shop is not a warehouse for stringing things. It's a place for selling products. In fact your shelf should be selling your products for you. We teach them these fundamentals that have been developed by the Body Shop, one of the more successful retail companies in the world. So they have proven merchandising and sales techniques to teach."

One of the bigger spin-offs of the retail skills workshop is the formation of young entrepreneurs networking groups. Fiji was first to set up the Fiji Islands Young Entrepreneurs Association (FIYEA). Samoa has YES or Young Entrepreneurs of Samoa, and Tonga, YIB or Youth in Business.

Unlike Samoa, Fiji or Tonga, Tokelau, where internal commerce is mainly at the co-operative level, is yet to cultivate an atmosphere conducive to vibrant commerce.

The Tokelauan participants are hampered by distance, for one, between the atolls they reside in.

Falani Aukuso, director of the Office of the Council of Faipule, based in Samoa says: "Tokelau doesn't have an entrepreneurial environment in which business is encouraged. It's still a fairly communal and traditional society. Individualism is not as strong as communal needs and it's difficult even for an experienced person to go into business. The four participants indicated though that they were all fired up to start their own business, but they would need external support."

FIYEA, on the other hand, now has 60 members and growing. The association believes that "youth entrepreneurship is an essential tool for economic growth," adding that "stimulating youth business start-ups, creating a supportive policy environment and educational reforms are the essential ingredients for promoting youth entrepreneurship in Fiji."

Selected by Commonwealth Youth Programme as a best practice model for Youth Enterprise Development initiatives in the South Pacific, FIYEA has mediated for its members numerous business know-how and skills upgrading sessions with commercial and legal bodies. Niue rep Jorinda Heka believes the obstacle for budding entrepreneurs on Niue is "identifying the type of business that will meet the people's needs bearing in mind the declining population."

Meanwhile, negotiations continue to extend the Body Shop/CYP/UNDP partnership to 2004, and if successful, it's likely to see representation from countries like Kiribati and Tuvalu.