BSP happy to support SME owners in procurement process

By PETER ESILA
THE Bank of South Pacific is happy to support small-to-medium enterprises during the procurement process, says chief executive Robin Fleming.
Fleming last week bought a Chauka Ya dress for her daughter after the brand was launched by Jacks of PNG in Port Moresby.
The Chauka Ya designed is Cynthia Kewei, a former employee of the bank.
“It is important to support all small businesses,” Fleming said.
“Cynthia used to work for BSP.
“Being female, and being in small business, it is important to show some support and it does promote SMEs and particularly female SMEs.”
The bank also bought Chauka Ya face masks for its staff.
“From an SME perspective, apart from the facility we have with the Government, we have got a clear guidance from an executive level to have more SMEs involved in our procurement process,” he said.
“It is good to be able to deal with bigger businesses.
“We have to ensure that some of our services and products can be supplied by smaller businesses that are female-owned.
“We pay them within 30 days so that we can involve more small-to-medium enterprises in our procurement businesses – for services, goods and the like.”
Jacks of PNG retail operations manager Ashish Kumar said the company looked forward to partnering with more local designers to market their products.
It has so far secured three Papua New Guinea designers as partners.