Fifteen Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises will participate in the 2022 Fiji Enterprise Engine (FEE) business accelerator programme (FEE-X) next month.

The programme was launched on Monday by the Acting Prime Minister, Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in Suva.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum reiterated the valuable contribution of small businesses to Fiji’s economic recovery.

He highlighted the importance of the ongoing public-private sector partnerships to support the Fijian Government’s efforts to empower ordinary Fijians’ ability to tap into their economic potential.

About The Programme:

The FEE-X six-month programme offers locally-relevant business training and advisory support from an expert panel of local business coaches and an international master trainer across a range of disciplines such as strategic management, branding and marketing, human resources, financial management, business compliance as well as entrepreneurship and innovation.

Training and mentoring will be delivered through a combination of business classroom clinics, follow- up coaching, business mentoring, networking events and practical field activities.

The programme is Fiji’s first private sector-led business accelerator programme, managed by the Fiji Commerce and Employer’s Federation (FCEF) in partnership with the Australian Government’s Market Development Facility (MDF).

Now in its third chapter, the programme has adopted the FEE-X theme to acknowledge the vastly changing environment we live in and the need to ensure the program continues to offer timely and relevant support for MSMEs in these unprecedented times.

FCEF President Proud

FCEF president, Vinay Narsey said FCEF was proud to partner with MDF to deliver a programme which has grown from strength to strength, and continues to innovate to ensure its relevance for MSMEs.

“Based on recent MDF research, we are happy to introduce even more services for FEE-X, including new courses, as well as mentor matching.”

“This means, MSMEs in FEE will collaborate more closely with a number of our FCEF members who are the best at what they do in their respective industries,” he added.

Australian High Commissioner

Australian High Commissioner to Fiji, John Feakes expressed his confidence in the programme’s ability to deliver positive results for MS- MEs.

Mr Feakes announced that the Australian Government, through MDF, was awarding six partial scholarships for this FEE-X term, which would meet up to 50 per cent of the participation costs.

Since its establishment in 2019, the FEE graduates have generated combined revenue of FJD 1.1million and have accessed FJD 500,000 in new finance to support their businesses as a result of implementing learnings and leveraging opportunities through FEE.

“I am also very excited to inform you that ILO has recently received approval for a two-year joint UN project which includes Fiji.”

For ILO we would like to further strengthen our relationships and I would be very glad to discuss how we take our partnership and commitments to another level,” said Director of the International Labour Organization office for Pacific Island Countries, Matin Karimli.

To date, 27 local small business entrepreneurs have graduated from FEE, 60 percent of whom are women.

In addition, FEE has provided COVID recovery related webinars and coaching to close to 100 businesses.

Source: Fiji Commerce and Employer’s Federation

Feedback: selita.bolanavanua@fijisun.com.fj