of support for the msme sector which must be applauded. clearly it is important that the level of backup as i indicated earlier must be managed well. sponsorship ladies and gentlemen, i would like to express my sincere gratitude to our sponsors for this evening ’ s microfinance awards : the pacific financial inclusion programme ; anz bank ; life insurance corporation of india ; westpac banking corporation ; bank south pacific ; bank of baroda ; and, hfc bank. thank you for your continuous support and partnership in helping us recognise and appreciate our up and coming fijian businesses. awards this year we have introduced one new award category, the young entrepreneur of the year. the microfinance awards categories are now : 1. individual micro - entrepreneur ; 2. partnership micro - entrepreneurs ; 3. young micro - entrepreneur ; and 4. microfinance service provider. the winners for the individual, partnership and young micro - entrepreneur categories will each receive a cash prize of $ 5, 000 while the three runners up will receive $ 3, 000, $ 2, 000 and $ 1, 000 respectively. the institution category winners will receive trophies and we also have some merit awards. process this year we have received a total of twenty - nine entries, predominantly from viti levu and a few from kadavu, labasa, lau and gau. bis central bankers ’ speeches assessments for the individual, partnership and youth categories were based on business growth, use of local resources and creativity, adequate book - keeping, sustainability and compliance with government regulations. the assessment for the institution category focused on outreach, delivery channels and use of innovative technology and client protection. congratulatory comments ladies and gentlemen, all finalists for the 3rd national microfinance awards were selected by a panel of 3 judges representing the pacific financial inclusion program, the national centre for small and medium enterprise development and the reserve bank. i would like to congratulate all the winners of tonight ’ s awards and trust that you will seize this opportunity and use the additional financial windfall to further grow your businesses. for those who did not quite make the top award in your category, i urge you to continue to strive hard. i have found that nothing comes easy in life. we must work for it. i certainly wish all of you the very best over the coming years. introduction of chief guest ladies and gentlemen, it is now my privilege and honour to introduce our chief guest this evening, the honourable faiyaz koya, our

the existing microfinance schemes and the demand for microfinance in 1996 with technical assistance from the un escap. based on the findings of the survey the reserve bank proposed to the government the need for setting up an agency within the government to drive the microfinance initiative. around the same time the reserve bank, in collaboration with the undp, organized a national conference on microfinance. the outcomes of this conference led to the government setting up a microfinance unit in 1999. the initial role of the microfinance unit was to conduct pilot - projects on the best methods and means for promoting micro - credit lending. by 2000 the national microfinance unit was fully operational. initially, the national microfinance unit acted as a wholesaler of micro loanable funds to fiji council of social services ’ microfinance unit and the aglow ’ s microfinance unit. however, in 2001, the national microfinance unit ventured into its own retail microfinance operations. it started lending to individuals rather than to groups. this eventually resulted in significant problems for the national microfinance unit and led government to review the effectiveness of the national microfinance unit. in a study conducted by the world bank in 2003 it noted that “ the national microfinance unit neglected systemic issues in favour of a pre - occupation with short - term operational objectives ”. this was a result of almost exclusive emphasis on microcredit and ignoring issues such as, savings, capacity building and the creation of an enabling environment. consequently, the individual lending programme of the national microfinance unit was discontinued. in 2004, the government merged the national microfinance unit with the national centre for small and medium enterprises ( ncsmed ). let me share with you some statistics of the ncsmed on microfinance. • • savings o the number of savings clients rose from around 12, 500 in 2004 to around 24, 000 by the first quarter of 2009, an increase of around 93 percent. o total savings is around f $ 1 million. lending o • loan repayments o • repayment of loans has improved from around 62 percent in 2000 to 95 percent in 2008. number of micro businesses o • total lending by the centre was around f $ 7 m at the end of march this year. in addition the centre provided capital grants of $ 7. 1 m. 200 new micro businesses by 2008 compared to 46 in 2004. training and capacity building o the centre plays a very critical