Today in Port Moresby city saw 230 participants, mostly women, graduate with certificates from a new training program provided by the SME Corporation (SMEC). This new training program called "Invest and Grow Money", which runs for two weeks, aims to equip participants with the right skills and knowledge to start up their small business and then provide funding support for the participants through a soft loan, and later supporting them through further trainings to help their businesses grow. The Acting Manager Capacity Building, Mr. Bill Reuben said that initially the SMEC only provides training to participants from the SME sector over the years and does not provide fundings or conduct follow-ups on the progress of their businesses. But this new training program marks a new chapter for SMEC in helping Papua New Guineans start their small businesses. Mr. Ruben said the “Invest and Grow Money” program is new to the SMEC, but it has been very successful in many parts of the world, something which can be mirrored here in Papua New Guinea (PNG). SMEC Officer in Charge (OIC) and Director for the BACB Division, Mrs. Diana Guria said this new training program bridges the gap between training and funding support; a first for the SME Corporation in its 27 years of existence. “SME Corporation has seen gradual decline in business start- ups with its participants in the past Start Your Business (SYB) trainings, and now has opted to use a new approach of lending a manageable amount via revolving fund concept for participants to start businesses,” said Mrs. Guria K100, 000 was allocated by SMEC for this program, where K20, 000 will be diverted to the five main group accounts established with Women’s Micro Bank. Each participant will then get K500 soft loan for start ups. “After receiving the soft loan, all participants will undergo 16 weeks intensive business start- up program. They will start small businesses and manage their income generating projects for 16 weeks with the close supervision, assessment and evaluation by SME Corporation.” “It is anticipated that with the new concept, participants will start micro to small businesses immediately after the training, unlike the trainings conducted in the past because this time soft loans will be made available,” she said. She further added that at the end of the week- 16, each entrepreneur will repay the principle with no interest back to the SMEC and continue to operate with the remaining balance. The five groups consist of 40 participants each, and of the 230 first batch under this training program, 213 are women and 17 are men who graduated today at the FAPNG Building in Gordons.