Lending and land tough for business

AN international financial expert has expressed concerns that lending and freeing of land for development are  major economic constraints affecting local business, The National reports.

Outgoing country manager for International Financial Corp (IFC) Peter Cusack said two major concerns plaguing small business were its inability to borrow money from financial institutions and mobilising land for development.

Cusack said the opportunities for small business to borrow from the banks were limited, or at times non-existent, until the idea of micro-financing had emerged.

He said small business entrepreneurs could not expand or sustain operations due to limited capital and that lending institutions do not trust them.

On land mobilisation, there is a need for traditional land to be freed up for development.

Cusack said the government needs to help landowners in their land registration so they could benefit from any development that would take place on the land.

Meanwhile, the problem of financial lending will be eased when small business entrepreneurs are readily informed of the opportunities available through set of data, lenders’ profile and other necessary information provided by Credit & Data Bureau Ltd (CDBL).

CDBL is a PNG company established in 2008 by leading financial institutions. 

Managing director Bruce Mackinly said: “We supply our members with information that allows them to make informed credit and business decisions.

“We collect this information from our members and also from public records … we then make this information available to our members through a sophisticated but user-friendly software system accessed through the internet,” Mackinly said.

He said CDBL principal business was the operation of a credit bureau database where members could access the credit history and identify details about their customers. 

The credit bureau also assists members with debt collection involving defaulting debtors who are in the database.

Businesswomen urged to support one another

WOMEN entrepreneurs in the country have been urged to support one another to achieve business targets and contribute to the country’s economy, The National reports.

The advice came yesterday from two prominent women – PNG Women in Business president Janet Sape and Women in Agriculture president Marie Linibi.

Both women were recently in Nagoya, Japan, for the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) women’s entrepreneurship summit hosted by the Japan and US governments as an opportunity for women to get together, network and share ideas.

Sape said the summit had brought many high profile women from around the world who were vice-ministers and other senior positions in their governments, vice-presidents, managing directors and many more. 

“This meet showed me that we, in PNG and the Pacific, have a long way to go before we can become like one of these women.

“And I saw that this is not a deterrent, but an encouragement for us to work hard to achieve this dream,” she said.

Linibi said they were  now encouraged to reach out to all the women in various sectors such as those in mining, informal markets, fisheries, agriculture, among others,  to all join and make this work.

Sape said New Zealand deputy secretary Amanda Ellis had pledged to assist PNG women overcome business hardships after she spoke on the subject at the summit.