Mothers receive vouchers to start small business activities

THE Moresby North-East micro-small to medium enterprises (MSMEs) first rollout saw 400 mothers in the district receive K1 million worth of vouchers with certificates in Port Moresby on Thursday.
MP John Kaupa said the voucher would help fund business startups for women. The amount ranged between K1,000 and K5,000 depending on the type of activity each woman was doing and would be taken to Eliso at Eram or any Farmset shops to collect their supplies.
The women also received their certificates of acknowledgment after completing a week-long training at the Institute of Business Studies (IBS) on how to save and use their money.
This also qualified them to be eligible for the project.
Kaupa said SMEs would empower, enhance and help mothers to be economically independent in whatever small businesses they were involved and to sustain the cost of living in the city.
He said the Government would not help everyone, they only provide services and make avenues available, and encouraged the recipients to make use of the assistance.
“I am appealing to all recipients to make use of this assistance,” he said.
“Do not misuse but generate interest in your SME. In the long term, it must help your families.
“That is why it is called the ‘Family Bit’ concept.”
Kaupa said the second rollout would take place next March with the number of recipients to increase to 500.
He said for the others women who did not participate in the district SME rollout, he had allocated K1 million for Christmas cleaning which they can involve in and another K500,000 for sports for this festive season.