Fiji’s Graduate Business Start-Up Grant Scheme will receive a funding boost in the upcoming national budget, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad confirmed on Monday.
Speaking at the disbursement ceremony for the first batch of grant recipients, Professor Prasad announced that the coalition government would not only continue the scheme next year but also increase its allocation in the 2025–2026 budget, due to be tabled in Parliament on June 27.
“This is an opportunity to not only start a business and earn income, but also become contributors towards employment,” Professor Prasad told the recipients gathered in Suva. “You don’t have to just look for a job. You can become employers yourselves in the not-too-distant future.”
The Graduate Business Start-Up Grant Scheme was introduced in the current budget cycle with a $300,000 allocation and is being delivered through a public-private partnership involving the Ministry of Education, the Tertiary Scholarships and Loans Service (TSLS), and the Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation (FCEF). Each successful applicant—young tertiary graduates with bankable and scalable business ideas—received $5,000 to launch their venture after undergoing business training, mentoring, and entrepreneurship attachments.
The programme also marks Fiji’s first private sector-led business incubator in the education sector. Of the 21 new entrepreneurs supported in this initial rollout, 70% are women.
“I can assure you that in the next budget, we will not only continue to support those who are going to receive the grants today, but also increase the allocation so that we can encourage and support more young people with additional funding as well,” he said.
Professor Prasad also called on commercial banks to adopt more flexible approaches to support MSMEs, especially those just starting.
“Banks have to become a little less conservative. They need to liberalise a little bit of their approaches and policies so that they can support more small and medium enterprises,” he urged. “And I hope that the banks will see this as a very important initiative by the government… and come on board to support small, medium enterprises, especially those who are starting their businesses.
“A lot of hand holding, a lot of support, a lot of experience… has to be passed on to our young people,” he said.
The scheme forms part of the government’s strategy to expand Fiji’s MSME sector and reduce unemployment. Under the new National Development Plan 2025–2029, the government is aiming to increase MSME contribution to GDP from 18% to 31% and lower unemployment to 3.8%.
Professor Prasad said the forthcoming national budget would continue to build on the “solid foundation” laid by the current administration.
“It includes fiscal consolidation, it includes looking after people, and it includes providing predictability, stability of economic policies. The next budget… will also include anticipatory measures, some additional innovations with respect to how we can diversify our economy [and] grow our economy,” he said.
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