NZ Business Mentors Start Work In The Pacific

Media Release
Date: 31st May 2010

New Zealand Business Mentors Start Work In The Pacific

The first New Zealand volunteers taking part in the new Pacific Islands Business Mentoring Programme have started work in the Cook Islands. Five mentors from Business Mentors New Zealand (BMNZ) arrived in Rarotonga this month.

The Cook Islands is the first of 11 Pacific island countries to be included in the BMNZ managed project over the next three years with funding provided by New Zealand’s Aid Programme.

The programme aims to assist small and medium sized businesses in the Pacific to manage and grow their businesses in a way that supports sustained increases in production and employment over time. It is hoped the programme will be a catalyst for identifying other business needs such as training, and create opportunities for partnerships and joint ventures, and increased Pacific exports, including to New Zealand.

Teresa Manarangi-Trott, Vice President of the Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce, the BMNZ agent for the scheme says: `We have had an incredible response from businesses wanting to be mentored since the Chamber began promoting the BMNZ programme. A huge difficulty for companies here is that they don’t have the support and business knowledge available that they need but which New Zealand mentors will be able to provide. We do recognise that business mentoring is essential to help our economy stand on its own feet.’

Ray Schofield, Business Mentors New Zealand CEO adds: ‘Experienced Independent NZ business mentors bring a fresh perspective and approach to analysing existing business performance and opportunities in what are naturally very small business communities. Often the range of expertise provided by the NZ mentors is simply not available in these countries.

‘The situation in the Pacific over recent times has seen many business owners not knowing how to cope in what has become a very challenging business environment. Many lack the experience to get through it which is where a business mentor can be a real asset.’

Prime Minister John Key announced the development of the new Pacific Business Mentoring Programme last year to provide practical support for Pacific businesses, explaining: ‘Many of the Pacific business people I have met recently have told me how useful it would be for them to have greater access to business advice and mentoring from New Zealand.’

Countries benefiting from the BMNZ Pacific Islands Mentoring Programme include the Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Niue, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tokelau.

For more information on Business Mentors visit www.businessmentors.org.nz

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