sada reddy : promoting microfinance in fiji opening speech by mr sada reddy, governor of the reserve bank of fiji, at the third microfinance expo, labasa, 24 september 2010. * * * the commissioner northern, lieutenant colonel inia seruiratu labasa town administrator mr. vijay chand microfinance clients and entrepreneurs representatives of banks and financial institutions government agencies and ngos people of labasa distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen introductory remarks bula si ’ a and a very good morning to you all. it is a real pleasure for me to be here today in labasa on this occasion. the reception we received since arriving yesterday has been overwhelming. indeed the people of this region live up to your reputation as “ the friendly north ”. i am sure that the macuata province is still celebrating its rugby team ’ s successful challenge and promotion to play amongst the big boys in the 2011 digicel cup, after the win over the namosi rugby team last weekend. congratulations and well done! we have been monitoring with much anticipation the developments that have been taking place here in the north. we want to be part of it and this is the reason we are here today. i wish to acknowledge the tremendous support we have received from the commissioner northern ’ s office and all the stakeholders here today in organizing this event. thank you very much! this is the third microfinance expo organized by the reserve bank this year. the support and co - ordination that we have received in all three have been fantastic. our partners are here again today – the banks, financial institutions, the non - bank financial institutions, investment agencies, government agencies, mobile network operators, ngos, mfis, the ncsmed and the micro enterprises. all combine their efforts to promote greater awareness about financial inclusion and microfinance. it is a good example of the public, private sectors and civil society partnership towards common goals. results are produced through such coordination and understanding. at the end of the day, it is the general population that will benefit from such collaboration. why promote microfinance? some of you may be wondering why the reserve bank of fiji is so keen on promoting microfinance. various studies on microfinance around the world have shown the significant improvement in the lives of people through the outreach of microfinance. it has : contributed significantly in tackling poverty ; seen improvements in housing, health & sanitation ; resulted in better access to education ; and more particularly the

professional chefs, or budding home based caterers. to support local value adding and small business development we have also collaborated with the ministry of women and the indonesian government in facilitating a training workshop for women on making handcrafts utilizing batik, bamboo and coconuts. we hope that the two workshops today will enable participants to learn about creating income generating activities that could be used to start a small business. we also have on hand commercial banks and microfinance institutions that offer free financial literacy trainings and advice on their products and services. of course, we have also invited the micro entrepreneurs to come and sell their wares at this expo. you can extend your support to these entrepreneurs. conclusion we hope that you will invite and encourage as many of your friends and families to come down and enjoy the wide variety of goods and services available from the different stakeholders. ladies and gentlemen, this is a rare opportunity ; we have brought microfinance and financial literacy to your door - step. i hope you will grab this opportunity. this occasion is also meant to be educational and fun. apart from the abundance of useful information and products by the institutions represented, there are also lots giveaways for the children and the entire family. with these words i declare the labasa 2010 microfinance open. thank you.