Riya Mala 
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for MSMEs, Manoa Kamikamica [Source: Ministry of Trade, Co-operatives, SMEs and Communications/Facebook]
The success rate of government grants for businesses is at an all-time high of 90 percent.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for MSMEs, Manoa Kamikamica, says the grants are proving to be highly successful, particularly in motivating young entrepreneurs.
Kamikamica says this success rate is due to a rigorous and well-structured process for awarding the grants.
He says the careful selection process helps maximize the impact of the program and contributes to the growing number of successful young business owners.
“One of the ones that comes to mind is Mr. George Fong. He developed Ticketmax, and it’s used quite widely in Fiji. Now FRU is using it, as I understand. He tells me it can be used for this and for kava bars, etc. So, a lot of these entrepreneurs are quite innovative and successful.”
Kamikamica, however, says the ministry is also working to address the backlog of grant applications from previous years.
Programme Director Monica Dawai says they are revising the criteria and provisions of their grants to support more businesses.
“We should be able to assist more people under YES now, because we won’t be looking primarily for that unique and innovative, but we will try to make sure that you have a business idea or have a business project that you are able, if you get this little bit of funding, to kick-start yourself.”
The Ministry is optimistic about the long-term benefits of the grant initiative, highlighting its role in fostering innovation, job creation, and economic growth among Fiji’s youth.
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