The Ministry of Trade, Co-operatives, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Communication has officially updated its name to include “micro” and will now be known as the Ministry of Trade, Co-operatives, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Communication.
This change was approved by the Cabinet in a meeting held in February this year, acknowledging the micro business sector as a vital part of the MSME community in Fiji. The sector represents approximately 82 percent of registered businesses in Fiji, equating to about 30,000 businesses, not including unregistered and informally operating enterprises.
Minister for Trade and MSME Manoa Kamikamica stated that while the name change does not alter the Ministry’s stance, it emphasizes that the Ministry is committed to supporting all sectors. “There were some concerns that we were only looking after the small MSMEs,” he mentioned during a press conference regarding the Government’s allocation to MSME initiatives yesterday.
“For us, one of the goals is to start with micro businesses and assist them in growing to become small and medium enterprises or possibly more,” Kamikamica added. “Seeing some of those success stories is the entire reason why we have structured ourselves this way. To achieve this, our ministry collaborates with other ministries to ensure that the allocated funds for MSME work are effectively utilized.”
Applications for funding from the Ministry’s $3.6 million allocation for MSMEs are now open to MSME operators across Fiji.