$3m to Back iTaukei Business Ventures
The iTaukei Trust Fund Investment was also regulated in 2024 to assist landowners.
Friday 11 April 2025 | 05:30
An assistance of $3million will empower iTaukei landowners to bolster their business ventures.
Minister for iTaukei Affairs Ifereimi Vasu said there was a challenge for iTaukei people to venture into businesses with the resources they possessed.
He said in 2024, the iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB) approved financially backing 46 iTaukei businesses with total assistance of $3 million.
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This support encompassed 23 businesses that were formed through trusts, cooperatives, and iTaukei companies alongside 23 individual businesses.
The minister said a report by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics highlighted that 75 per cent of the iTaukei lived in poverty.
“We, the Coalition Government, want to change that report by setting up initiatives to uplift the landowners in operating businesses”.
He said the iTaukei Trust Fund Investment was also regulated in 2024 to assist landowners.
“The fund requires no initial deposit for registered iTaukei individuals in the iTaukei registry known as the Vola ni Kawa Bula (VKB),” Mr Vasu said.
“An interest of 2.5 per cent to start under an agreed repayment period with $4 million set aside to assist the landowning trustee or company and $1 million to assist individual iTaukei and a further $1 million set aside to assist ecotourism operators.”
He said the TLTB had provided assistance to empower iTaukei landowners and foster economic growth through targeted investments and support for the future of their community.
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