Hula villagers learn to run small businesses

 By CARMELLA GWARE

Hula village in Central witnessed the graduation of 79 business students on Friday after two weeks of intensive training.

The “start and improve your own business” programme was an initiative of the United Church in partnership with the Small Business Development Corporation.

SBDC official Peter Paiwu encouraged the 79 graduates to use their knowledge and participate in small and medium enterprise development in their village and country.

“The Government understands that small to medium enterprises is the backbone of the economy in any country,” he said. 

 He said even the Bishop of United Church, Laka Renagi, was determined and focused on taking this partnership forward to sustain and grow SMEs.

“We expect 79 new SMEs to be started and I know you are the champions that will make SME move.”

Paiwu said the Government was attending an SME summit in Malaysia to look for opportunities and experience what SMEs were like in that country and other parts of the world.

“A national summit will be held in Madang in July to discuss possible reforms for the SME,” he said.

“One of the main topics will be reserve activity list, for example, certain businesses will be reserved for nationals only, like the kaibar business.” 

Operation of small to medium enterprises in major urban areas has been the subject of conflicts in the past, with many people calling for such businesses to be reserved for Papua New Guineas only.