of this activity, we in the reserve bank and on our national capital markets taskforce, will continue to commit ourselves to promoting fiji ’ s capital markets with the relevant stakeholders and more such activities will be organised for the schools and students in near future. bis central bankers ’ speeches acknowledgements organising activities of such magnitude requires a concerted effort by many stakeholders. so please allow me to thank our sponsors : the south pacific stock exchange ; v b holdings limited ; fijian holdings unit trust ; and the unit trust of fiji, who made this initiative a success. special thanks also to the ministry of education, especially the acting permanent secretary, for supporting our “ be money wi $ e ” program and also for assisting us in relaying the awareness to all schools in a timely manner. we will continue to work closely with ministry of education and hope to receive the same support for other activities which will be organised as part of the “ be money wi $ e ” program. special appreciation must also go out to the members of the capital markets awareness working group for helping assess the essays and choosing the winners. your commitment to the bmw program is greatly appreciated with all your support and hard work we received a total of 224 entries from secondary schools around fiji. i might mention that it was certainly not an easy feat to decide on the winners, which was proof of the high calibre of the entries concluding remarks in concluding, i would again like to congratulate the three winners, sakshi, divneeta and upasna. with your research towards this essay we hope that you have learnt and now have a better feeling of what the capital markets are all about. we also trust that with this knowledge you will be great ambassadors on the subject in your schools and communities. we hope that your prizes will lay a foundation for your future investments and you would, over time, grow to be more savvy investors in fiji ’ s capital markets. with this, ladies and gentlemen i thank you for your presence here today, thanks also to our winners and all their fellow participating students and i wish you all a great afternoon. vinaka bis central bankers ’ speeches

barry whiteside : microfinance initiatives in fiji opening address by mr barry whiteside, governor of the reserve bank of fiji, at the launch of the 2014 microfinance awards, reserve bank of fiji, suva, 2 june 2014. * * * fellow national financial inclusion taskforce members our valued sponsors of the microfinance awards : life insurance corporation of india and the pacific financial inclusion programme all our stakeholders in financial inclusion colleagues and members of the media ladies and gentlemen a very good evening to you all. it is with great pleasure that i welcome you all to the launch of our 2nd national microfinance awards. a number of us were fortunate to be present during the first awards presentation ceremony last october, which coincided with the pacific microfinance week conference in nadi. at the time we experienced the great excitement amongst our winners, but what was also gratifying were the emotions and sentiments shown by all the regional participants at the conference. the national microfinance awards is a special event in the rbf calendar. this is when we get the opportunity to pay tribute to the key stakeholders and recognise the valuable contribution that microfinance makes to the national economy. more importantly it is about recognizing and supporting our budding micro - entrepreneurs. i am pleased to learn from last year ’ s winners, that participating in the awards has helped them raise their strategies, goals and ways to improve and achieve a better future. furthermore it has inspired their respective communities, highlighting the hard work and discipline that is needed in keeping a small business running. at the reserve bank we are pleased to learn that as these micro - businesses have grown the business owners often involve their family members. this has provided valuable work experience, especially for their young ones. the extra income to the family translates into important advantages, including a chance for a better education. micro - entrepreneurs not only create a path to economic self - reliance but they also bring positive social and economic benefits to their local communities and the economy as a whole. we all know many examples of large successful companies in fiji today that started from very humble beginnings. in 2013, there were approximately 4, 200 micro, small and medium enterprises or msmes in fiji accounting for approximately 12 percent of our gdp or around $ 800 million. msmes, when given the right support, have the potential to lift the economy and can contribute strongly to employment, an issue which has been very much at the forefront of our development and growth objectives. i am pleased that the reserve