More than 7,300 small and medium business owners in Moresby North-East will benefit from over K6.5 million under the district’s SME Empowerment Initiative.
This has been made possible following the launch of Phase-3 Financial Literacy Training at the Sir John Guise Indoor Stadium in Port Moresby on Monday.
Environment Minister and Moresby North-East MP John Kaupa formally launched the training programme, which aims to equip participants with essential financial management skills before they receive assistance to grow their businesses.
Held under the theme “Empowering the Future,” the three-day programme focuses on budgeting, saving and investing to help participants build sustainable businesses and contribute to community development.
Addressing thousands of informal vendors at the launching ceremony, Minister Kaupa said the financial literacy training was designed to help participants better understand how to manage their money.
“This financial literacy training will purposely conduct for you to understand how to use money, in the areas of budgeting, saving and investing,” Minister Kaupa said.
Minister Kaupa said the SME programme was a National Government policy that the people of Moresby North-East were implementing towards Vision 2030.
“For the people of Moresby North-East, SME programme is ongoing engagement started in 2019, and we had completed Phase 1 and 2 and now are extending to Phase 3,” he said.
Mr. Kaupa highlighted his vision of supporting informal vendors to transition into the formal business sector.
“I must support and make so some of you can leave from informal sector to the formal sector,” he said.
He said the SME programme was intended to empower ordinary people and ensure they had opportunities to improve their livelihoods.
“The government is for the people, and every class of the people must give their shares accordingly,” Kaupa said.
However, Kaupa told the informal vendors that assistance under the programme would be distributed differently this time.
“This time, I will not assist with the cash money but words of stocks to everyone,” he said.
He said individual vendors could receive assistance of up to K1,000 to support their business activities.
Mr. Kaupa said assistance under the 2026 SME Programme would be provided directly to individual participants following lessons learned from previous phases.
“From the experience of the past years of rolling out the SME program, I had advised you all to form an organization and funded it,” Kaupa said.
“But it was oversighted by the association presidents and secretaries in their personal interest resulted unfair distribution, and most were unhappy,” he said.
Mr. Kaupa challenged the informal vendors to take personal responsibility for managing the assistance wisely.
“It is you that will manage, not Mr. Kaupa. If you don’t manage it wisely, the little share given, it will affect your living, your children’s future, and your family,” he said.
“Are you serious enough to manage it?” Mr. Kaupa questioned.
Thousands of people registered during the launch for the three-day Financial Literacy Training under Phase Three of the Moresby North-East SME Programme 2026.
The funds will be issued directly to participants who successfully complete the training and receive their certificates.
Mr. Kaupa concluded by thanking successful entrepreneurs who had benefited from the SME programme over previous years and encouraged other participants to follow their example.