Women in Business

Caleb Jarvis says despite most of the region being free of the virus, the economic impact of closed borders has been detrimental.

Jarvis says this is evident in countries reliant on tourism - a sector with a majority of female workers.

From capital to develop and export goods like coffee, to training and support with digital platforms, Mr Jarvis says many women are balancing with being the primary caregivers at home.

According to a survey conducted by PTI, the economic impacts of Covid-19 on female-led businesses in the Pacific continue to rise.

Australian Awards is piloting a new Australia Awards short course that aims to help build the capacity of women to trade.

The ‘Australia Awards: Women Trading Globally’ course is offered to Pacific women with their own business who have the potential to become ‘export ready’. 

It will cover international trade and how one might be able to embark on the pathway of growing their business into new international markets.

While it’s a different reason for each individual, the common reason stands as financial illiteracy and long bank processes.

Arua Ginate, from Port Moresby’s largest coastal village, Hanuabada, expressed her thoughts on this during a recent graduation from a basic financial literacy course.

Arua, 65, is a pioneer participant of the Givim Han Long Laip Projek rolled out by Women in Business this year.

This was highlighted last night by Mary Peschka, the global director for Advisory Services of International Finance Corporation, at an event organized in partnership with the Business Coalition for Women.

The event reflected on PNG’s journey in empowering women, honoring the path-breakers, celebrating the achievers and to inspire the next generation of women in the private sector in PNG.

While highlighting progress in this area, Mary Peschka said sadly, there was very little progress, last year, especially regarding gender parity on boards or in executive decisions.

But despite these gains, we’re still our own worst enemies when it comes to money.

According to a recent report by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, women who work full-time earn nearly $11,000 less per year than men, which adds up to almost half a million dollars over the course of a career. Women earn 79 percent of what a man earns.

Hosted in Barbados, the 2nd Caribbean Agribusiness Forum was held earlier this month and featured Women in Business Development’s associate director Alberta Vitale, Milani and Paddles chef Dora Rossi and chef and author Robert Oliver.

Vitale said in designing Organic Farm to Table, there were three key audiences – the farmers, the chef/restaurant/hotel owners, and the consumer.