finances are very critical for us to succeed in businesses. • one of the most challenging aspects of financial and business management i have noticed with most i ’ taukei businesses is the lack of budgeting and lack of financial discipline. financial and business literacy is, in my review, the key to our success. • one of the reasons many small businesses fail is because we sell goods on credit. selling goods on credit means that your cash flow as a small business is affected resulting in the inability to restock or repay your loans. in most cases, such credit become bad debt and as a small business operating with narrow margins and low volumes, this can be disastrous. when you walk into a store owned by a noni ’ taukei, you will see a notice prominently displayed which says “ no credit ”. we therefore must follow this same rule of “ no kerekere ” if we are to succeed in business. • i often hear our own people saying that we the i ’ taukeis do not have it in us to succeed in business. i totally disagree as there are some of you here are a living testimony of businesses that have been successful. it is therefore important that we tell ourselves that we can succeed in business otherwise the battle will be lost before the contest begins. • as i had highlighted earlier, the government introduced a sme credit guarantee scheme. in my view, this facility is well suited for the i ’ taukei to take advantage of as the interest rate on such loans does not exceed 10 % p. a. and the government guarantees to pay 50 percent or whichever is less, of the sme loans that go bad. bis central bankers ’ speeches our assessment is that very few i ’ taukei business people have accessed this facility out of the 483 loans advanced to date. it is, therefore, important for us to take advantage of this facility as well as the iseff which attracts a maximum interest rate of 5 % p. a. • while i am of the view that i ’ taukei businesses must be assisted, we must also be careful not to give too much handouts as it has the potential to create this “ handout mentality with no responsibility and accountability as it is given free ”. we must change this hand - out mentality. • talking of changing behaviours is easy but most importantly, how do we go about changing them? we all cannot be business people. however, we can create the right environment for our children and future generations

barry whiteside : increasing / enabling participation by all fijians in the financial sector address by mr barry whiteside, deputy governor of the reserve bank of fiji, at the fiji economy update 2010, lautoka, 22 july 2010. * * * welcome ladies and gentlemen – a very good morning to you all. let me, at the outset, thank the organisers for the opportunity to speak at this forum on a very relevant topic – “ increasing or enabling participation of all fijians in the financial sector ”. i find it refreshing to move away from the reserve bank ’ s traditional monetary policy and economic presentations and just highlight a number of exciting initiatives are being developed to bring more of our citizens into the financial sector fold. introduction my intention is to approach this topic from the context of financial inclusion, which basically means the extension of financial services to all, including those persons commonly referred to as “ unbanked ” and in the remotest of areas. we all understand that the advancement of information flows, communications, technology and legislation, will allow us to overcome barriers to the penetration of financial services into most areas. we are witnessing this in fiji, as i speak, with the recent launch by mobile network operators in fiji of their mobile money services. one bank has also launched an sms product for its customers. such developments will make redundant the need for the establishment of brick and mortar banks in rural, remote and maritime areas for basic transactions to take place. they will definitely reduce operational costs for banks if they are partners in this exercise. one of the missions of the rbf is to build a reputable financial system. part of this exercise is ensuring that the institutional infrastructure of the financial system contributes to reducing information transmission and transaction costs. enabling this to happen by providing guidance and direction to all players in the financial system, will facilitate economic growth. financial inclusion and literacy are critical parts of this process. the reserve bank firmly believes that increasing financial inclusion : • will reduce the financial and economic vulnerability of individuals and households ; • will promote economic growth ; • will alleviate poverty ; and • will ultimately improve the quality of peoples ’ lives. rbf initiatives let me share some recent initiatives by the reserve bank in this area, and other development work we are doing to complement government ’ s efforts to grow the economy and reduce poverty and inequality. enabling the participation of our people in the financial sector is a crucial part of development and an exciting challenge for the reserve bank. this may mean taking on development roles that may