Business Assistance Fiji: Empowering women and communities

“If you empower women, you empower communities”.

That was the message by Dr Nur Bano, President of the Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) at last week’s Business Assistance Fiji (BAF) graduation ceremony in Suva. The event saw 50 businesswomen being accredited not only with certificates, but with essential skills and knowledge to run a successful business.

“Women have that innate ability where they are natural financial managers. They’re really brilliant. It’s just that not many have harnessed it,” Dr Bano said.

Business Assistance Fiji is a limited liability company owned by the Fiji Commerce Employers’ Federation, Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Fiji Institute of Charted Accountants, and Women in Business. It is also an in-country partner of Business Link Pacific that is supported by the Fiji Government.

BAF General Manager, Ramesh Chand, says the company works with MSMEs on business diagnostic referrals, building networks of service providers, subsidies for advisory services, business support grants, and business training.

Earlier this year, BAF collaborated with the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CeFi) based in Papua New Guinea. The collaboration involved the coaching and training of 50 women entrepreneurs around Fiji during a three-day workshop.

Post-training was also conducted involving digital business skills, including training on how to set up a Facebook account and how to use e-commerce platforms like Vodafone’s VitiKart. One-on-one debt counselling sessions with businesswomen who have loans were also undertaken.

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