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Two of the course participants from Fiji in one of the sessions at the Coast Watchers Hotel in Madang last week. |
Two female participants from PNG taking part in the sessions. |
Representatives of the co-financiers of the course, (from left) Howard Aru from the Centre for Development of Enterprise (CDE) regional office in Vanuatu and David Ashiagbor from the Commonwealth Secretariat and Professor Hemnath Rao of ASCI in India. |
Three lecturers from Divine Word University’s Faculty of Business and Informatics delivered several topics of a short course for business managers offered by the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) last week.
Jun Pasilaban, Virgie Kasek and Luis Alamil delivered the topics on the invitation of the organizers of the course, co-sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Centre for Development of Enterprise (CDE) regional office in Vanuatu and Brisbane-based Aureos Capital Ltd (Pacific Capital Partners, Brisbane).
Mr Alamil took the session on analysis of financial performance in SMEs, Mr Pasilaban delivered his presentation on accounting principles and Ms Kasek presented hers on inventory methods, costing and pricing.
The course was held at the Coastwatchers Hotel in Madang town.
Course facilitators said there were possibilities of involving staff from DWU in future programs.
The week-long course was for budding private enterprise managers from the Pacific Islands, including Papua New Guinea.
The managers’ course was tailored and delivered at the request of Aureos Capital Ltd for staff of companies that Kula Fund II has invested.
According to the organizers, the course is part of a program to strengthen management and growth in small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Commonwealth countries.
David Ashiagbor, an economic adviser with the Economic Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London said their focus on SMEs was deliberate because up to 80 percent of the global workforce is employed by enterprises in this sector.
Mr Ashiagbor said while the big corporations can fend for themselves it was the SMEs that often struggled and needed help.
Howard Aru, Head of the technical intervention office of CDE in Vanuatu said they would like the course to impact on small companies operating in the Pacific. Mr Aru said CDE’s involvement is under its “investment support program” and its support is demand-driven.
Professor Hemnath Rao of ASCI said although they deliver short courses for managers on behalf of the Commonwealth Secretariat in India, South Asia and Africa, it was their first time to do so in the Pacific.
Prof Rao said they provide tailor-made courses for managers and those starting out to be managers for two weeks but the PNG module was condensed into a week.
Andrew Crompton, partner and communication representative for Aureos Capital Ltd said they would like to see more of such programs offered for managers in SMEs in the Pacific region.
The course participants came from PNG (10), Tonga (4), Vanuatu (3) and Fiji (2).
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