Entrepreneurship
Gender and the way forward
GREETINGS again from the Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation (FCEF).
It is estimated that gender gaps cost economies some 15 per cent of GDP (UN Women), this highlights how vital it is that women are empowered to allow for economic growth.
The Fiji Enterprise Engine (FEE) program has actively supported business development in Fiji since its establishment in 2019 and also focuses on supporting women economic empowerment which is central in realising women’s rights and gender equality.
Gender parity is one of the underlying focus of the business acceleration program, to help women led businesses access business development services that will allow accelerated and sustainable growth.
Since 2019 the FEE program has encouraged the participation of women led businesses with close to 50 per cent of businesses that have participated in the program being women led businesses.
It is also important to note that we have more women that are now accessing business support and development services.
FCEF being the national private sector organisation of Fiji, saw an opportunity to try leverage the support of its partners in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Through the support of the Market Development Facility (MDF), FCEF through its business accelerator program the FEE saw an opportunity to assist the most affected, which were the small businesses.
In assisting these businesses, the FEE program on the 11th of June launched its COVID-19 business support for MSMEs.
Amazing results have been accumulated through the MDF, the results identified that over 300 participants registered for the webinars with 65 per cent of these being women and 40 per cent of those that utilised the free counselling services also being women. The total number of beneficiaries for the support totaled 101 with 75 per cent of them being women, additional income for the beneficiaries’ amounted to $6280, and cost savings of $9200.
The other findings were that total private sector leveraged via MSMEs accessing grants and loan through the support of the business coaches amounted to $193, 957.
The impact of the COVID-19 support in a very short span of time has identified that with proper support the MSMEs have the ability to adapt to new ways of operating and that would allow for them to identify opportunities and pivot their businesses to meet market needs and to also succeed.
Since 2019 the program has provided support to twenty-seven (27) MSMEs of which 13 were women led businesses.
The FEE program has been able to support the extravagant women led business such as:
1. The Mad Hatter Hut
2. Pepe & Pepe
3. The Fusion Hub
4. Raiwaqa Bakery
5. GingerLei Beer
6. Elite Crystal Car Coating
7. Shopaholic
8. Nailed It
9. Marama Vanilla
10. Lailai & Sprouts
11. Waitika Farms
12. Misaele Investments
13. HooSear Investments
In supporting these women led businesses the FEE program has been able to empower women who empower society, through employment creation that supports livelihoods in communities.
The program has been fortunate to have strategic partnerships that has enabled and encourage participation of women led businesses. In 2020 through the support of the YGAP which is an international development organisation that believes in the power of entrepreneurship as an effective way to support and provide an opportunity for people to lift themselves out of poverty.
Through its strategic partnership with the YGAP, the FEE program was able to access assistance that fully funded the participation of five women led businesses.
Another three women led businesses were able to secure scholarships that allowed for their participation in the 2020 FEE program through the MDF which is an Australian Government funded multicountry initiative which promotes sustainable economic development, through higher incomes for women and men, in the partner countries that they work in.
This has allowed for eight women led businesses to participate and get support from the FEE program in 2020.
Also, in response to COVID-19 the FEE program through a bipartite agreement that was signed by the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF) and Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC), was able to assist approximately 10 women entrepreneurs through the Transition 2 Business (T2B) program.
The Transition 2 Business program was an International Labour Organisation (ILO) led initiative with the employers’ body and workers union, to provide a bipartite support for those who have been made redundant due to COVID-19 and transitioned into running a business to support their livelihoods.
Through the initiative, the ILO engaged the services of the FEE business coaches who provided a three-part training to these MSMEs on:
1. Record keeping
2. Quality Control
3. Finance Management
4. Managing Suppliers
5. Managing Stock
6. Marketing & Branding
7. Networking
The 10 women entrepreneurs that received the business training also had access to the mentoring by the Women Entrepreneurs & Business Council (WEBC) and Business Link Pacific (BLP).
It is quite evident that Women make significant contributions to their country’s economies. There is a growing recognition among Governments and in the private sector that investing in women and girls has a powerful effect on productivity, efficiency and economic growth.
Higher income for women and increased control over income leads to increased spending on food and education resulting in improved outcomes for children’s education, health and nutrition, and leads to greater sustained poverty reduction.
Equality of opportunities is inevitably and is the most progressive way to help build strong economies and societies.
■ Savenaca Baro is the business acceleration manager for the Fiji Enterprise Engine. The views in this article do not necessarily represent this newspaper.