‘Dealing and socialising with people at the grassroot level, for me, was an eye opener’
Growing up for Minister Faiyaz Koya was different, unlike others his age. The Natabua High School old scholar grew up among political leaders of the time.
This was what inspired him to follow in his father’s footsteps.
His father Sidiq Koya was a statesman and Opposition leader for the National Federation Party.
The lawyer by profession said: “Growing up my family was always heavily involved in my father’s political life.”
“Our lives were not only involved around my father’s political life but other leaders and colleagues during his era.
“I was inspired to join politics because of the three main men I look up to in life.
“My father, the Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and the Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.” He said he never thought he would be involved until PM Bainimarama and the A-G instilled it in him.
“I was drawn by the PM’s vision for Fiji. A country for all Fijians.”
Sabbatical
After the 2018 elections Minister Koya missed out on the first lot who were eligible to get in to parliament “When I dropped out it was a whole new environment for me,” said Minister Koya.
“I was grateful for that time away and it gave me a lot of time to reevaluate and reengineer how I look at things.
“Dealing and socialising with people at the grassroot level, for me, was an eye opener.”
Today
The now Minister for Commerce, Tourism, Trade and Transport said he was happy to be back and ready to take on the challenge.
Previously Mr Koya had been minister for industry, tourism trade.
This term, he said transport had been added to his portfolio and though it came with a lot of challenges he would take it on headstrong.
Minister Koya said his key priorities were:
■E■sure business continuity;
■Recovery and revival of the Fijian economy; and
■Job preservation and creation. In order to achieve this, he said there were a few projects underway as well as those in the pipeline.
Tourism Sector
the and
He said: “The ministry with industry leaders has officially come together to form a Tourism Recovery Team.
“This team is chaired by Permanent Secretary for Commerce, Tourism,
Trade and Transport, Shaheen Ali.” The stakeholders included Tourism Fiji, Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, Fiji Airways, Reserve Bank, Society of Fiji Travel Associates and the Ministry of Health to name a few.
The team holds regular discussions on ways to help recover the private and public sector.
Trade
The ministry of the trader sector has also been working on a few projects.
These are:
Micro and Small Business Grant
Which was initiated in 2015, as part of the Fijian Government’s initiative to provide grants for the start-up for micro and small businesses as well as assistance to existing micro and small businesses.
Through this programme the Government has invested about $34.4million in this programme and has assisted approximately 38,000 people.
National Export Strategy
Which was initiated in 2006 to stimulate the country’s trade and export sector, creating jobs and contributing to the overall socio-economic development of the country.
Young (YES) Entrepreneurship
The Young Entrepreneurship Scheme was established for young aspiring entrepreneurs to start their own business. The programme has assisted a total of 8 applicants through grant funding worth $129,000.
The young entrepreneurs assisted by the YES programme are successfully undertaking their businesses in home construction, health and fitness, traffic management, hydroponic agriculture, physiotherapy and green energy.
Integrated Human Resources Development Programme
The Integrated Human Resource Development Programme (IHRDP) was established to support employment creation in rural areas.
The programme provides grant funding for community based income generating projects in rural areas with a focus on supporting Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) development.
During the period of 2013 to 2019, the Fijian Government has contributed over $2.8 million to 52 income generating projects under the IHRDP programme.
Additionally, these 52 income generating programmes have been forecasted to improve approximately 5397 livelihoods.
Northern Development Programme
Since inception of
Scheme
the Northern Development
Programme in 2008, the Fijian Government assisted a total of 2340 enterprises.
Total amount that was made available to these enterprises amounted to $22.3million of this a total of $10.1m was Government funded and $12.2 million was provided as loans to these enterprises by financial institutions in the same period.
From the 2340 enterprises, the programme had helped to create 7083 jobs. On average 3 jobs were created per enterprise.
In addition to employment creation, the NDP either directly or indirectly supported the livelihood of 35415 people. (27 per cent of the total population of Vanua Levu).
Road Side Stalls
The Ministry, through the Economic Unit provides Roadside Stalls which strives to improve the quality and standards of roadside stalls, which falls outside municipal boundaries.
Since its inception from 2017-2018 financial year, 112 stalls have been constructed and handed over to vendors around the country thus, ensuring economic livelihood of more than 500 Fijians.
Department of Co-operatives
The Department of Co-operatives Business (Department) under the Ministry also works toward enhancing job growth and transitioning the informal to formal sectors by way of formulating and implementing policies and strategies to facilitate the promotion, establishment and monitoring of cooperative businesses in Fiji.
There are currently 375 operating Cooperatives who have branched out into fifteen (15) sectors such as transport, agriculture and forestry and to name a few.
In the financial year 2018-2019, a total of 93 jobs were created within Cooperatives.
Assistance to Fijian Businesses
In addition to the programmes the Ministry is also working together with accredited organisations in the implementation of a new initiative called Business Assistance Fiji.
Business Assistance Fiji will provide concessional loans to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) who need assistance in keeping their businesses open during this hard time and also provide an opportunity to select a few who wish to open their own business.
MSME businesses who wish to apply for these products must be majority Fijian owned.
The loans can be injected directly into the business operations or utilised to fund capital purchases.
Priority will also be given to new/existing businesses able to demonstrate the ability to create employment opportunities or support the export of Fijian-Made products.
Fijians who have become unemployed as a result of COVID-19 must have a proven ‘skill’ that can be developed into a business.
In addition, new micro enterprises in the Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, Information Communication Technology (ICT), Textile Clothing and Footwear sectors will be prioritised. MSME’s meeting these criteria will be eligible to apply for one of the three products available, that is:
Product 1
- New and existing micro enterprises with gross turnover less than $50,000 will be eligible for maximum funding of $7000;
Product 2 - Existing small enterprises with gross turnover between $50,000 to $300,000 will be eligible for maximum funding of $14,000; or
- Existing medium sized enterprises with gross turnover between $300,000 to $1,250,000 will be eligible for maximum funding of $21,000.
Product 3 Outcome of the business survey
More than 3500 businesses from across all sectors and sub-sectors participated.
Minister Koya said: “We wanted to ensure we gave every possible business type, from every corner of Fiji, the opportunity to contribute.
“Prior to the COVD-19 pandemic, 71 per cent of the respondents stated that their businesses were stable and thriving.
“These businesses were able to set aside cash reserves or make savings from profits.
“As you know, following the outbreak, this has dramatically changed the landscape of doing business globally. “The results revealed the main impacts felt have been:
“Depletion in cash flows to adequately manage their business operations or service debt;
Inability to fully operate all functions of the business (reduced hours of operations, cancelled or delayed capital works);
“Difficulty in managing and retaining employees and customers; and “Concerns on supply and increase in the cost of raw materials.”
In terms of revenue, 1200 businesses stated they expect a decrease in their revenue by 75 per cent, should the impacts of COVID-19 continue for up to six months, with 512 expecting bankruptcy.
These are preliminary results which were announced in Parliament.
The Ministry will be receiving the final report within the next few weeks and will be able to share more information then.