Getting Down To Business

Samantha Magick

But we also tried to think laterally about "business" this month- about some businesses where the driver is not exclusively a healthy profit. That is why we have featured a couple of ventures which while small, are significant because of their underlying philosophies about poverty alleviation, landowner engagement and community empowerment. A case in point is Fiji's Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprises 'N' Development, (FRIEND) which is heavily subsidized by donors and other more conventional businesses, but is already being seen as a model in some neighboring nations.

That's not to devalue the contribution of more traditional businesses. All of those featured are on some scale, creating new opportunities in the community beyond their own corporate headquarters.

The "innovative businesses" range from the predictable in the tourism and agriculture/aquaculture sectors, to service and technology based industries, and in the case of Sustainable Energy Limited, something that was almost fantastical a few years ago when the Kyoto Protocol negotiations were floundering. SEL is a joint venture between the Fiji Electricity Authority and Australian company, Pacific Hydro. That company's managing director Jeff Harding said recently, "Kyoto initiatives that were proposals and theories are now commercial opportunities and economic realities." (Let's hope that the heart of the Kyoto Protocol-greenhouse gas emission reduction targets- are pursued with the same enthusiasm for the sake of vulnerable island nations.)

One theme that kept emerging from the profiles was the continued potential of the Internet and telecommunications in delivering and marketing products- such as the University of the South Pacific's Internet Law course, and the promotion of the art and products of Che'lu in Guam. In almost all cases, it is a crucial aspect of doing business with remote customers. This makes catastrophic communications failures, like the Intelsat blackout of January this year, all the more concerning. The Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association has set up a working group to address key issues around the satellite failure, including contingency plans and delays in restoring the satellite link, and therefore essential services. PITA Manager Fred Christopher says the cost to the Pacific Islands of the breakdown ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that the islands themselves had to bear the costs of aligning satellites to the new location. For some of the more remote islands, this meant chartering planes to get technicians there quickly.

This issue of Pacific Magazine also features a thorough examination into the state of the union in the Federated States of Micronesia by contributing editor Giff Johnson. Giff recently visited FSM and spoke to a wide range of political and economic participants about the challenges to the unity of FSM, the relationship with the U.S. in this second Compact period, and the gap between talk and action on private sector development among other issues. It's an essential read for understanding some of the challenges facing one of the region's more complex countries.