Church in Kimbe, SMEC team up to run business training

THE Kimbe Catholic diocese in West New Britain has entered into a partnership with the Small and Medium Enterprises Corporation (SMEC) to provide training to its members.
The partnership will see SMEC run courses on entrepreneurship and micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) development through the church’s network in the province.
SMEC managing director Petrus Ralda said through the review process of the SME Policy 2016, research showed that 85 per cent
of Papua New Guineans lived in rural areas and were business illiterate.
“They do not know how to create a business but they engage in the informal economy,” he said.
“They sell for daily survival.
“There is no savings culture.”
Ralda said this issue could be addressed through business training.
He said this after 41 Catholic priests and laymen attended a two-week Start your business micro-enterprise training conducted by SMEC at Mai parish in Hoskins, West New Britain, last month.
According to Bishop John Bosco Auram, of the Kimbe Catholic diocese, in 2021, a survey was done at the Liklik Kristen Komuniti (LKK) level to find out issues affecting the communities and how the church could assist them.
“One major issue identified was finance and administration,” he said.
“People do not know how to manage their income or even expenditures.”
Auram said he wanted to find ways to seek government intervention to help communities.
Acting provincial administrator Leo Mapmani said: “West New Britain is an economically stable province, but we do not see the tangible outcome of the huge cash flow.”
Mapmani acknowledged the SMEC for the initiative and important strategy towards MSME development to change people’s attitude towards business.
Ralda said the church reached more remote areas than Government did not and, therefore, the partnership was useful in getting the message to more Papua New Guineans.
Ralda said the SMEC would conduct a training of trainers for 41 priests and laymen to enable them to conduct business training.