Lae Chamber of Commerce & Industry Inc: Positive Partnerships with BLP
Across the Pacific, a collaborative process is underway to enable Chambers of Commerce to utilise and work alongside BLP’s individually contracted business service managers. Through a series of interviews with a range of Chambers demonstrates just how positive this partnership is proving to be.
In partnership with core “in-country network representatives” (ICNRs), including Chambers of Commerce, BLP is able to raise awareness of the availability of business advisory services to SMEs and facilitate access to those services through accurate diagnosis and referral.
The demand stimulated by ICNRs leveraging their networks to engage directly with SMEs is promising to be an exciting development for BLP’s support programme.
At the gateway to the densely populated PNG highland provinces and home to one of the busiest seaports in the Pacific Island region, Lae is the industrial centre of PNG. Representing a large number of businesses across many sectors – manufacturing, agriculture (including prime export product, coffee), fishing, and developing tourism industry, SMEs in Lae are well served by the Lae Chamber of Commerce Inc (LCCI).
John Byrne, President of LCCI, has plans to broaden the reach of the Chamber to SMEs, offering workshops and connectivity to these businesses to ensure owners understand how to grow and develop their businesses. “There’s no business which starts big,” is John’s philosophy. “In an economy where 85% of business is informal, it’s critical to train and grow businesses to become taxpayers, allowing the infrastructure of the country to develop with the tax revenue generated.”
“In PNG, the people simply don’t believe they can do it,” John continues. “Cultural barriers such as this must be overcome, or SMEs just won’t grow.” Language, however, is the greatest barrier. “There are significant grammatical differences between ‘English’ and ‘Pinglish’, but most documents (notably those from the Inland Revenue) – are written in formal, complex, English, which the majority of the population who are not formally educated just don’t understand. These need to be simplified, almost into diagrams, to be understood.”
The main business marketing tool in PNG is Facebook. “Any business not using this medium has difficulty gaining traction.” John explains, “Websites are great, but not particularly useful in PNG. Understanding the enormous uptake of Facebook is a key to business success.” Working with SMEs to use this medium is just one facet of business development being facilitated by LCCI through training.
John believes BLP’s contribution to SMEs in the Pacific Islands to be the most sustainable business development model he has seen offered. “By training business advisory service providers (BASPs) on a deep level,” John says, “BLP is leaving a legacy of sustainability and a network within which the work can continue, even if funding is not available in the future.” BLP’s objective is to facilitate business in the Pacific Islands, and this is clearly being achieved with their partnership with the Lae Chamber of Commerce Inc.