Graduate business start-up grant scheme launches
The 2026 Graduate Business Start-Up Grant Scheme, a $500,000 initiative supporting aspiring entrepreneurs with innovative, bankable and scalable business ideas was launched in Suva yesterday.
Twenty-two graduates were officially welcomed into the programme which was launched by the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF), in partnership with the Tertiary Scholarship and Loan Service (TSLS).
The incubator was developed to create a self-employed pathway for graduates. In its first year, 22 graduates successfully completed and graduated from the program.
The programme is delivered through FCEF’s Fiji Enterprise Engine (FEE), Fiji’s first private sector-led business incubator and accelerator. Between 2019 and 2023, FEE alumni boosted combined sales revenue by FJ$2.18 million, created at least 30 jobs, generated nearly FJ$825,000 in additional income, and raised approximately FJ$1.36 million in grant and debt financing according to a study into its impact.
Over six months, participants will receive comprehensive Business Development Services, including market research, business training and advisory services, coaching and mentoring, drafting and testing business plans, entrepreneurship attachments with allowance, product development support, a start-up grant of FJ$5,000, and linkages to further funding opportunities.
Top-performing incubates will have opportunities to access further support through a new partner, the University of New South Wales’ Founders and Global Innovation Foundry Programme. The scheme will also link participants with national innovation and MSME support initiatives, including the Reserve Bank of Fiji Innovation Hub and MSME Fiji under the Ministry of Commerce & Business Development.
As businesses in Fiji face rising costs, skills shortages and productivity challenges, the Graduate Business Start-Up Grant Scheme represents a practical, solution-focused response – strengthening youth employment pathways, supporting entrepreneurship development and expanding the private sector’s contribution to national growth.
