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Business |
Micro-loan facility for Yalu
villagers
THE National Development Bank (NDB)
has launched a new micro-finance scheme hoping to encourage
ordinary Papua New Guineans to venture into small enterprise.
The new scheme was designed to give ordinary people, especially
the low-income group, easy access to capital.
The pilot project was launched by NDB managing director Richard
Maru at Yalu village, Morobe last week.
It was a part of a day-long field trip organised by the bank for
participants in the recently-concluded conference for the
association of development financing institutions in the Pacific
(ADFIP) in Port Moresby.
During the field trip, local delegates and those from Fiji,
Kiribati and Samoa visited NDB-funded and supported projects at
Ramu and parts of Morobe and Lae.
Initially, at least K1 million would be rolled out for
micro-lending.
“Let us not be spectators in our own country,” Mr Maru said.
“Through the scheme, ordinary men and women can access loans to
start small business ventures without having to meet all
necessary bank requirements,” he said.
If the pilot project in Yalu proves successful, the new scheme
would be replicated in other Ahi villages and eventually in the
entire Morobe.
Yalu was one of the six villages of the Ahi landowners who gave
up most of their traditional land on which Lae city now sits.
He said NDB had intended to roll out the lending scheme
throughout PNG to give the people a chance and urged villagers
and school leavers to make use of the new scheme.
“NDB is about giving people a chance to make their own money,”
Mr Maru said.
Under the scheme, potential borrowers are required to form a
land group with each member paying a K150 registration fee that
will be used as group security to qualify for individual loans
between K500 to K2000.
Actual loan cash would not be given out but instead, the amount
would be used to pay directly for the materials and goods needed
in a project.
They must also attend a two-week project-personnel viability
(PV) training to be organised by NDB.
Addressing a small gathering at Yalu, Mr Maru revealed that
hopefully the first loans would be released by next month with
Sir Michael expected to be invited for the official release of
the first loans.
The people handed over K10,650 to Mr Maru as registration fees
for the group’s initial 71 members.
Following this, NDB officers were expected to visit Yalu
sometime this week to sign a deal that was now being finalised.
 
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