Revive scheme to grow economy

I AGREE with former member of parliament and businessman William Ekip Wii’s comments in urging the Marape/Steven Government to fund the National Development Bank Ltd (NDB) and roll out its Stret Pasin Incubation Scheme.
The scheme would grow the economy through the small to medium enterprise (SME) sector in the country.
Wii’s comments were published in The National’s Mind Your Money section on Oct 30.
Wii is a successful entrepreneur in the scheme. The NDB has had some of the best programmes in place to grow the local economy in the SME sector.
The scheme made many Papua New Guineans millionaires in the 80’s and one such example is Wii.
The NDB in 2012 rolled out the scheme and attracted 5,000 people who applied for it.
In 2014 only 10 were selected on merit and approved for funding.
Of these 10, a handful were funded and a few are yet to be funded to date due to the government’s inadequate funding to the bank. If the Government is serious about growing the economy, Prime Minister James Marape can switch from infrastructure development and invest in the SME sector through the NDB.
Marape is a young and vibrant prime minister who I see has a heart for his people and the country.
China is the fastest growing power in the world which Papua New Guinea can learn from.
That’s because Chinese nationals are retail shop operators and owners around the world.
The money they make are sent back to grow their local economy in China.
There are China Towns in New York to Buenos Aires, from Melbourne to Calcutta and from Lae to Mt Hagen.
In these China Towns, they don’t do manufacturing but they operate simple retail shops, make money for themselves and for their country of origin.
Over to you, the Government.

Michael Telford,
Mt. Hagen