Lino Eaki is on a journey to expand her business as well as providing this vital service for many working-class parents in Papua New Guinea’s capital city. equips
Steppingstone Preschool, tucked away behind a church in a suburban community has enrolled up to 10 children in its primary year of business in 2022.
Lino was part of cohort of twenty-eight other women entrepreneurs that participated in a six-week Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme (EAP) from October to December 2022.
The programme was facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme and Credit Union Foundation Australia.
Through this programme, 28 women across Port Moresby have gained access to vital skills to grow their small businesses and address the challenges women entrepreneurs face today.
The curriculum included live instructor-led training sessions, self-paced learning, engaging speaker series by industry leaders, and mentoring sessions with private sector individuals, for additional support and networking.
“I have been teaching for over 20 years, teaching from public to private school and as a mum myself saw the need for earlier learning and childcare targeting the working class.”
Previously, from the fees I collected as school fees went to paying rentals and expansion of the school. However, attending this course has allowed me to improve on my financial management of the funds and it also taught me how to market my business online with useful digital and innovative tools and ideas.” said Lino
Women entrepreneurs benefited from a range of topics offered by the program, such as digital marketing, financial management, customer experience, logistics, and more.
Aside from digital skills, women entrepreneurs also gained practical financial skills to better manage their businesses, forecast and budget beyond for the coming years.
“I gained a lot of knowledge from this course; it has been mind boggling and as the name of my school suggests – a steppingstone. This experience gave me the confidence and the drive I needed. I am also happy to say that this has not only been a journey for me, but for my school, students and their parents – so to the organisers, I say, you have not only helped me grow but you have impacted the lives of my students and their family,” she said.
Since its inception, the initiative has provided more women-led Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) with the business acumen to tackle challenges and access vital skills and tools to better manage their businesses. There has been a lot of interest and requests from the general public to continue rolling out programmes like the Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme.