TWENTY-one tertiary graduates who, have completed the Graduate Business Start-Up Grant Scheme, will receive $5000 to kick start their business ideas today.
This is after the 21 graduates completed the training, advisory, mentoring and entrepreneurship attachment component of their six months program under the Graduate Business Start-Up Grant Scheme.
The incubatees are from the central, western and north divisions and comprise of 70 per cent women.
The Graduate Business Start-Up Grant Scheme has been made possible through a public-private partnership between the Tertiary Scholarships & Loans Service (TSLS) and the Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation (FCEF).
This strategic public-private partnership unlocks the business expertise of the private sector and provides the 21 TSLS graduates who have innovative, scalable and bankable business ideas direct business development services.
This initiative is in line with Fiji’s National Development Plan (2025-29) which aims to increase annual economic growth rate to 4-5 percent, investment to 20 percent, MSME contribution to GDP by 21 percent and unemployment down to 3.8 percent. In the last five years, FCEF has developed expertise, through its Fiji Enterprise Engine (FEE), in managing business accelerator programs and the Academy of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE).
“While this is the first time we have rolled out an incubator program, we have drawn from the depth and breadth of business intelligence within FCEF and our networks, to ensure and that the incubatees are provided with the relevant business development service to help them succeed,” FCEF chief executive officer Edward Bernard said.
For the first time, a private sector-led and Government-supported business incubator programme targeting the education sector has been introduced in Fiji.
This is an excellent strategy for the education sector as it contributes to building a clear pathway for tertiary graduates to choose entrepreneurship or self-employment as a career option. MSMEs in Fiji play a significant role, contributing 18 percent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounting for 60 percent of total employment.
The Government through the Ministry of Trade, Cooperatives, MSME and Communication (MTCMSMEC), has been working on various initiatives from legislations to policy and grant funding to support MSMEs.
Examples include the five grant programs under MSME Fiji, the Access to Capital Bill, BusinessNow platform and the MSME Strategy. The business training has supported the incubatees to formulate their draft business plans based on their initial business concepts.
The last few months of training, advisory, mentoring and entrepreneurship attachment has allowed the 21 incubatees to draft their business plans which they will start, using the grants that they receive.
“While the incubatees go out and start their businesses with the grant, we will continue to monitor and provide on the ground advisory and mentoring,” FEE manager Palinda Kaitu’u said.
“In addition and after a month, we will bring the incubatees back into the classroom to fine tune their business plans based on their learned experience and then send them back out into the market.”
Some types of businesses the incubatees are starting include organic fertilisers, import substitute agricultural products, automotive hub for TVET training, resource/land development for investments, tourist tours and tracking and health and fitness.
The Graduate Business Start-Up Grant Scheme was implemented as a multifaceted business incubator model that will aim to further enhance TSLS graduates innovative, scalable and bankable business ideas and to start their businesses.
This means that it is more than a grant scheme and designed to de-risk both the incubator and individual businesses of the TSLS graduates.
Ultimately, it is envisaged that the business incubator will, in the immediate term, provide the incubatees the knowledge, skills, resources and experience to start and sustain their business and in the short to medium term and to de-risk their business so they can access more capital and expand their business and resilience. The Government approved this scheme in its 2024-2025 National Budget with an allocation of $300,000.
While this scheme provides an excellent opportunity to guide graduates into careers as an entrepreneur, there is also an opportunity to strengthen the eco-system by supporting entrepreneurship education in the primary and secondary school system to build the basics of entrepreneurial thinking.
