Minister for International Trade and Investment, Hon. Richard Maru says it is time the Government recognize the need for Papua New Guinean indigenous businesses to be recognized and supported as a unit in the country. Minister Maru said this recently during his closing address at the 14th World Indigenous Business Forum which was jointly hosted in Port Moresby by the Government of Papua New Guinea led by Prime Minister, Hon. James Marape and the National Capital District Commission led by NCD Governor, Hon. Powes Parkop from October 24-26, 2023.
“There are so many Papua new Guinean indigenous entrepreneurs who have done so much without Government support. This Forum allowed them to come and display their products and many of us were really inspired. I am so impressed of the energy and the drive of our people. They did not wait for the Government; they did what they had to do. Papua New Guineans have the potential. All they need is support. We need to look at how we can support our entrepreneurs, how we can nurture them, and how we can incentivize the growth of the indigenous private sector. These are the issues that we need to look at and organize ourselves to support our indigenous business community especially in industries that replace imports and grows our exports. Our Government must build a broad based economy that will create job and generate wealth,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru announced that first Papua New Guinea Indigenous Business Forum will be hosted next year with the theme ‘Replacing Imports and Growing Exports’.
“We need to help our indigenous businesses to rise up and take their place in this country,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru said he was happy that PNG connected with the world indigenous business family as a result of hosting the 14th World Indigenous Business Forum.
“The indigenous economy is a USD8 Trillion economy. We have been really inspired by all the presentations from the speakers who came from around the world and from our own entrepreneurs who spoke about their experience, their journey, their struggles, and their hardships. I want to thank Governor Parkop for co-hosting this event and for being behind MSMEs in Port Moresby since he became a Governor. Together we can provide the leadership and work on how we can mobilize our indigenous businesses, be their voice, and can work with them to unleash their talents,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru said he was very impressed with the quality and the ability of PNG indigenous women entrepreneurs.
“I want to tell all women entrepreneurs that our Government will get behind you. We are ready to back you up in the strongest way possible and we will start by supporting you to go and attend the Indigenous Women in Industry Conference in Aotearoa, New Zealand next year,” said Minister Maru.
“We also heard from PNG Women in Business Foundation of how they dreamed to have a bank and how they achieved that dream by establishing Women’s Micro Bank in 2014 with 90 per cent of its current clients being mothers from the villages. Our Government should really look at supporting them to grow,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru added that there were so many exciting outcomes from this Forum.
“The connections that we have made during this Forum will not stop here. The Papua New Guinea indigenous business community want to connect to the global indigenous business network, and we want to work with the Indigenous Leadership Development Institute to make sure we have a chapter in this country through a body that best represents our indigenous businesses so that we will connect directly with the rest of the world indigenous business community including recognizing our need to establish kava industry in Papua New Guinea. The demand for kava in Fiji and the Pacific has outgrown supply. Papua New Guinea has the potential to become the biggest producer of kava in the world if we establish kava as an industry and undertake multicropping with kava being planted under the cocoa trees to fully utilize the land so our farmers can make money from both cocoa and kava using the same land. This is one industry that is ready to boom,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru said he was also very impressed with National Fisheries Authority’s Inland Fisheries Unit.
“I am especially impressed with the very successful inland fisheries businesses in the highlands. We need to support them. Inland fishing is a huge industry in other countries.
This is an industry that we need to explore and invest more in to support our inland fish industry and our inland fish farmers,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru thanked Prime Minister Marape for his strong leadership and for his support in hosting this global event.
“We believe that we have delivered one of the best World Indigenous Business Forum ever hosted by any country in the world, and we could not have done it without the support of our Government and sponsors,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru also thanked all the sponsors who made it possible to host this event.
