In efforts to encourage sustainable living after the mine, Barrick (Niugini) Limited (“BNL”) continues to facilitate capacity building training for locals in Porgera valley.
The Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) training is one such training that BNL has facilitated.
The first in November last year have 60 people graduate with Certificate of Attendance.
The recent, from 31 May to 9 June this year, have 71 people participated.
Many of them were from the co-operatives within the district.
The training was delivered by Port Moresby-based Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Corporation.
According to BNL Economic Programs Superintendent Daniel Sosi, the recent training was facilitated on the request of the Porgera Agriculture Co-operatives Association Limited chaired by Nickson Pakea.
This is an umbrella organisation that includes the Porgera Vegetable Farmers’ Co-operative Society (PVFCS), Porgera Inland Fish Farmers’ Co-operative Society (PIFFCS), Porgera Paiela Coffee Co-operative Society (PPCCS) and the Porgera Livestock Farmers’ Co-operative Society (PLFCS).
“They requested PJV to help them build their capacity in terms of basic business skills and knowledge and so we requested for the SME Corporation to come and help facilitate the training”, Sosi said.
He said the training aimed to build capacity to enable people to move away from mine related projects and shift focus to sustainable activities such as agriculture, fisheries, and tourism, among others.
“We’re trying to get them to understand that they need to use the skills, they need to use the land to actually make a living out of those non-mine related projects and business activities”.
SIYB Coordinator Andrew Mai said the training was about planning a business.
“Most of the time in PNG we try to do business without planning at the first stage so when we get into business we are looking more like conducting trial-and-error sort of business and most of the time it’s unsuccessful and it fails.
“So basically the outcome of this program is to teach participants to plan their business before they can actually get into conducting their businesses”, he said.
Participants Ramson Liwame and Naiyala Mark thanked BNL for facilitating the training.
Liwame, who did not get a placing in tertiary institutions after year 12 in the formal education system, said he was motivated to embark on some business ideas.
“I thought I was hopeless while staying at home but this training has given me hope to build myself and to start my own business”, he said.
Ms Mark said she was privileged to have received such training as it saved her the cost of travelling elsewhere in the country to receive the same training.
She intends to improve her small agriculture and livestock farming business.