MINISTER for Industry, Trade, Tourism, Local Government, Housing and Community Development Premila Kumar officially received a cheque from the Indian High Commission for $2.04 million for assisting the establishment of small micro enterprises (SMEs).
In receiving the cheque Mrs Kumar said the government was very grateful for the financial assistance by the government of India because Fiji needed to grow its economy and nothing could be better than looking after the small micro enterprises (SMEs) sector.
Mrs Kumar said Fiji should learn from India in regards to the growth of SMEs and how it operates.
“This assistance will go a long way for our people and we look forward to the continued support,” Mrs Kumar said.
India’s High Commissioner to Fiji Vishvas Sapkal said the assistance was basically geared to assist with SMEs and SMEs sectoral grants.
“We have seen a lot of success stories in the SME sectors which have already been given to the SME grant beneficiaries,” Mr Sapkal said.
“I remember in the first tranch of this SME assistance of $US2.2m ($F4.6m) almost 4752 people benefited out of that and their success stories have appeared in the media and we look forward that this assistance will be a platform for other entrepreneurs to establish their small businesses here in Fiji.”
