Venue: MITT CONFERENCE ROOM
Permanent Secretary
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Bula Vinaka and a very Good morning to you all.
It is a pleasure to be here this morning to present to you, the first three grant recipients of the Young Entrepreneurship Scheme or YES.
The YES is a Government initiative that aims to empower Fijian youth. A budget of $2million was allocated for the scheme in the 2017/2018 financial year, for grants of up to a maximum of $20,000, to be provided to young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18-30 years.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Fijian Government believes that youth empowerment through their active participation in economic activities, will harness the ingenuity and creativity of these youths and will help Government in building a modern and knowledge-based society.
Investing in the future generations of our country is a smart investment by the Fijian Government, as it is not only forward looking but provides an opportunity for our youths to actively participate in the growth of our economy.
Through such programmes and initiatives we are putting our faith in our youth, we are giving recognition to their skills and abilities and we are saying you are the ones who will lead the nation to a strong and prosperous future.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Ministry has been undertaking Start Your Own Business training in all the three divisions with over 183 youths trained thus far. Many of these youth are YES applicants or are budding young entrepreneurs.
The youth have learnt the basic business fundamentals and the development of marketing and business plans. The training is to enable the youth entrepreneurs to have better understanding of business planning and to apply for YES grant.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today we will be handing over grants to three grant recipients of the scheme, namely Atunaisa Rainima, Siwan Narayan and Adelene Tutu. These recipients have satisfactorily met the requirements for funding such as having innovative and unique business ideas, which are commercially viable and will be sustainable.
Mr Atunaisa Rainima will receive a cheque of $20,000 to start a grass cutting, landscaping and biogas business, which will be a byproduct of cut grass.
Mr Siwan Narayan will receive a cheque of $18,251 to start tiny houses construction in rural areas.
Ms Adelene Tutu will receive a cheque of $20,000 for her online fitness and training venture.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
At this juncture, I wish to congratulate the three grant recipients for successfully meeting all the requirements under the scheme and wish them the very best in their business endeavors.
I also encourage budding entrepreneurs to apply for the YES funding and to work with Government in building a modern and knowledge based Fiji.
Vinaka Vakalevu