Financial training helps growth of SMEs

A SMALL but unique business finance and loan training to local villagers in Nawaeb, Morobe, has seen the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the area.
The financial skills training was conducted along with the issuance of small soft loans to participants and has since help these simple village people flourish in economic activities since 2018.
The trainings was delivered earlier in May and June this year in Morobe and has captured hundreds of local participants that were now actively participating in SME activities.
The Farmer Micro Finance and Mama Finance Company conducted these training at Erap, Wain and Nabak areas and from Gobadik, Butala, Buhalu and Busung villages in the Bukawa area of Labuta local level government.
The training delivered was on basic information on journal keeping, cash flows, business tree and loan access steps according to Mama Finance chief executive officer Abner Yalu.
Mama Finance runs business training for rural-based entrepreneurs and started training in 2017 but was formally registered with Investment Promotion Authority on Jan 28, 2018.
Yalu said the company had a managing director based in Goroka who supported the ongoing training.
“Teaching participants to understand how to generate business ideas, how to track business on a balance sheet (or business tree), cash flow (money plan) and how to increase business competition using marketing techniques and principles,” he said.
Yalu said training was for both illiterate and literate people, with all business templates (balance sheet, cash flows and business records) are done on charts with participants moving stones and sticks around from different sections like a board game, to see flow of cash, expenses and profits.