Page 11 - SPBD Dec 2021

SPBD Fiji 2020
SPBD Fiji 2020
million in wages across our five Pacific markets
over the past 20 years, further supporting local
businesses and economies, as staff spend their
money within their communities.
As a local business, SPBD also supports
government revenue generating through
payroll taxes, national provident fund (NPF)
contributions, taxes and levies. For example, in
2020, SPBD Samoa paid US$320,000 in taxes
and levies to the government, and SPBD Tonga
paid more than US$270,000.
SPBD also contributes directly to the local
economy, purchasing products and services
from local businesses including accounting firms
for annual audits, car dealers for SPBD vehicles,
fabric and clothing makers for uniforms, local
print shops for Financial Education Booklets,
forms and other documents, and local office
supply shops.
SPBD’s effective natural disaster response
Over the past 20 years, natural disasters
impacted SPBD programmes in Samoa, Tonga
and Fiji. As a result, SPBD members and
their families lost homes and possessions,
suffered business losses, and endured
emotional distress. With financial assistance
from Jasmine Charitable Trust (NZ), The
MicroDreams Foundation, and so many other
generous supporters, SPBD was able to deliver
relief support to members in the immediate
aftermath. SPBD also implemented longer term
recovery efforts.
The COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021)
When COVID-19 hit in March 2020,
governments across the South Pacific adopted
sweeping, prudent measures to prevent
the spread of COVID-19 in their respective
countries, including shutting down businesses,
imposing restrictive actions on movement
of people and goods, closing borders to
international travel, and imposing curfews.
While critical to protecting the well-being of
the public, these measures resulted in loss of
income for the vast majority of SPBD members
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SPBD Fiji 2020
SPBD Fiji 2020
running micro-businesses.
At the outset of the crisis, almost every sector
was impacted – food-related businesses
(canteens, restaurants, bakeries); goods
production (clothing, handicrafts); retail (shops,
market vendors); services (transportation,
salons). The hardest hit, however, were the
micro-businesses catering to tourism, such as
those producing handicrafts and souvenirs.
To support members, SPBD relied on our
experience in managing natural disasters and
implemented measures including moratoria
on loan repayments, loan rescheduling and
restructuring options, and new business revival
loans to help our members cope with business
interruptions and re-start their businesses or
launch new ones as they work their way back to
normalcy.
Since the pandemic is ongoing, SPBD adopted
a conservative and patient “stay the course”
approach to ensure the SPBD Microfinance
Financial Institutions (MFIs) remain as healthy
as possible and will be there for the long term
to serve our members’ needs. Our 2021 key
priorities continued to be:
• Working with members who may need
support to transition to a new business;
• Continuing to keep our staff safe and building
the capacity of our employees;
• Maintaining a healthy loan portfolio in each
of our markets, and
• Limiting financial and operational risks.
Conclusion and key learnings
SPBD will continue to look for opportunities
to expand access to finance by reaching
underserved or unserved women
micro-entrepreneurs in new markets (both
within our existing countries and in new
countries). SPBD plans to continue expanding
across the region – within existing markets and
into new countries – to continue advancing
financial inclusion and extending access to
finance to tens of thousands more women.