SIYB in Papua New Guinea

Historical background

The SIYB programme in PNG was established through a project funded by AusAid and UNDP, hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry through the Small Business Development Corporation, a statutory body and implemented by the ILO.

Phase 1 of the project began in 1996 and ended in 1998 following the abrupt closure of the SBDC Offices under the 1999 Budget initiatives handed down in November 1998. At that stage SBDC provided direct delivery of services through a network of branch offices in the main centres and a staff in excess of 70. The services were also provided to a network of SED providers spread all over the country, called Network Partners (NPs).

The Project was transferred to the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) following the closure of SBDC in April 1999. During this period all branch offices were closed and all staff retrenched. All services of SBDC were cancelled, with the exception of the SIYB programme operating from IPA. Contact with most NPs was lost and very little record was kept of training activities taking place over this period, although training still continued and training material was still provided from IPA.

With the change of Government in July 1999, the new Minister for Trade & Industry directed that the Project be relocated back to SBDC. That directive was taken with immediate effect and by January 17th 2000, the project was physically relocated to SBDC office with its staff, materials and equipment. The major change being that the staff compliment of SBDC was reduced to a ceiling of 23. Following a strategic planning exercise, it was decided to no longer provide direct delivery of services, but to capacitate the NPs to undertake delivery of services on behalf and in partnership with SBDC.

During the first phase of the project, the standard SIYB training material was adapted for the PNG environment and Trainers and Master Trainers were capacitated to effectively use the training material programme with the respective target groups of the organizations (Network Partners) they represent. A data base was also created to collect data on all training conducted, and monitoring and evaluation data relating to these training services provided by NPs, their SIYB Trainers and Master Trainers.
The data base was not updated during the period of closure of SBDC, resulting in a lot of training data missing. Despite attempts to clear this backlog, the data for that period cannot be relied on as being complete.

Current developments

AusAid and UNDP provided additional funding for a second phase of the SIYB programme in PNG. This phase commenced in March 2000 and will end in February 2002. Negotiations are currently under way for a third phase focusing on establishing a broad based and more holistic enterprise development process and structure at provincial level and to address the established needs for sectoral adaptation of the SIYB training material.

A simplified version of the SIYB programme targeting Micro Enterprises has been completed during the second phase and work is under way to adapt the programme specifically for the Fisheries industry. Funding is currently sought for the adaptation of the SIYB programme to cater specifically for the Agricultural sector, Eco-Forestry and Small Building Contractors. The programme will also be pilot tested in seven Vocational Technical schools and based on the success of this pilot, will be incorporated in the curriculum for these schools.

Due to the small population of PNG, it is believed that the SIYB programme focal point will only be able to sustain itself financially if a broad base of needs can be addressed through an extended product range.

For this purpose, a not for profit company EDMAS (Entrepreneurial Development and Management Advisory Services Limited) has been registered and is being established with ownership predominantly in the hands of the private sector. Currently it is a subsidiary company of SBDC and the intention is to privatize EDMAS as soon as financial sustainability is achieved.