VANUATU: Looking back at three years of Business Link Pacific in Vanuatu and looking forward to new and inclusive business services

In 2017, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) launched its multi-country Business Link Pacific initiative in Vanuatu, with the goals of incentivising the market for business advice, promoting private sector growth, and improving the sector's capacity to increase employment. Since then, Vanuatu’s business community has helped to shape BLP’s main services across the region.

In 2020, we look back at 3 years of positive impact generated in Vanuatu through business advisory services. The following are the key milestones reached in the country as of 2020:

• A local network of 25 approved business advisory service firms offering a broad array of services including, accounting, marketing, human resources, certification, and communications, amongst others.
• The Vanuatu network has initiated 176 projects to small and medium-sized enterprises across the archipelago. 94 have been completed with a further 82 in process.
• The total value of these projects amounts VUV 75,000,000 (NZD 1M), 50% of which was directly paid by the businesses.
• 250 businesses have been assisted to access Cloud-based accounting subscriptions, such as Xero and MYOB.
• In 2019, Business Link Pacific interventions incentivized 69 new jobs and as more projects complete, we hope this number continues to grow.

BLP is enabled by its local partnerships with business advisors, small businesses and the Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who delivers BLP services to the private sector in the country.

BLP core services are increasingly used by businesses and advisors; more than two hundred firms in Vanuatu have used the Business Health Check, Diagnostic and referral services, and more recently the Business Continuity Planner.

Going forward, Business Link Pacific faces the challenge of expanding the reach of all its services to include new and remote segments of the business community. Hence, in addition to BLP core services, such as the Online portal, the Business Health Check, Diagnostic and referral services, the Business Continuity Planner, and its Professional Development Programme for Business Advisors, we have developed a gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) subsidy, available to eligible Vanuatu based small businesses and designed to address the most vulnerable groups in the country.

While BLP’s services have had very good uptake from women-led businesses, a gender equality and social inclusion review of the programme carried out in 2019, found that there were further opportunities for small businesses with 1 to 5 employees, led by women, youth and indigenous groups from vulnerable backgrounds in Vanuatu, to access BLP subsidy support.

The new GESI Subsidy for Vanuatu is available to groups of up to 10 entrepreneurs or small businesses, with between 1 and 5 employees, including the owner. The candidates should be businesses led by women, or youth, or indigenous people, or other groups, who haven’t accessed BLP subsidies previously, and would otherwise not benefit from BAS due to a variety of barriers, including, isolation or illiteracy.

The full criteria for the GESI Subsidy for Vanuatu can be accessed here. The subsidy is a limited fund and will be closed once resources are depleted.