Treasury

The aim of the Division is to develop, implement and monitor fundraising and financing programmes for the SME sector.

Its responsibility therefore is to develop, implement and monitor fundraising and financing programmes for the SME sector. The Division is responsible for funding of the Center’s activities and programmes. It develops project proposals for funding opportunities from donor organizations and governments. In addition the Division assists in the provision of advisory services in finance to organizations that service SMEs directly and to SMEs themselves. The other major responsibility of the Division is to monitor and manage trends in SME lending activities in line with corporate objectives.

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Training

Entrepreneurial activities require both business opportunity and entrepreneurial capacity. Therefore entrepreneurial education and training at NCSMED focuses on:

- identifying and enabling individuals and would – be entrepreneurs to comprehend changes in their national and global economies and identify business opportunities; and
- assisting individuals and would – be entrepreneurs in developing the skills necessary to pursue business opportunities.

The specific objectives of the Training Division are:

 To expand business training programmes that are specifically tailored towards SME development;

 To make business training accessible to SMEs Fiji wide, particularly in the rural areas and among the economically disadvantaged groups.

 To equip local trainers in the private and public sectors with business and mentoring skills to enable them to meet the demand for business skills training from SMEs that they service.

 To design and deliver appropriate training interventions for SMEs

Research & Development

‘Creating Sustainable Livelihoods through Enterprise Development’

The SME sub sector continues to strengthen and make a contribution to national development, particularly in improving the quality of life of the socially and economically disadvantaged. Enormous untapped economic development opportunities remain for the sub sector to expand and grow, especially in the rural areas where natural resources remain underutilised.

1996 estimates indicate that a total of 170,000 people, representing 57 per cent of the entire labour force, were involved in various forms of activities which are classed as small or micro-enterprises. Small and micro-enterprises generate more livelihoods than paid or formal employment, which absorbed a total of just under 130,000 workers in both the public and private sectors at time of the estimate.

Although considerable progress is being made in the SME sub sector, the major constraints and challenges are:

- lack of sufficient business support services and infrastructure;
- poor financial management skills of SME operators;
- restrictive laws of the local councils;
- lack of knowledge about the existence of SME service – providers;
- a lack of data for the SME sector; and
- lack of finance for business start-ups
The R & D division aims to develop new business opportunities including running of pilot projects and to collect ideas of activities, information and data and to conceive, formulate, test and validate pilot schemes, methodologies, products and services. This division also looks after the development of technology for the use of small and micro enterprises.

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Micro-Finance

The Microfinance Unit of the National Centre for Small & Micro Enterprise Development has partnership with various microfinance institutions for the delivery of microfinance services.

There are three (3) microfinance institutions, four (4) village banks and a cooperative programme through the department of Cooperatives. Collectively they cover 13 major areas in Fiji in which 333 communities and villages have been given access to the service.