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SPBD Fiji 2020 SPBD Fiji 2020

OUR TEN YEARS IN FIJI

A Message from Elrico Munoz, General Manager

SPBD Fiji was formally opened in December 2010 by inclusive hire purchase programme in Fiji because
the then Minister for Women, Poverty Alleviation we don’t ask for any payslip, we don’t ask if you
and Social Welfare, the late Dr Jiko Luveni. However, have properties or their value. We just look at your
the first seed was actually planted in October 2010, creditworthiness, your face value. Your face is your
when we recruited our staff. Our first office was my collateral. It’s how credit-worthy you are.
room at Suva Motor Inn, and our first employee was We also started our Small and Medium Enterprises
Ronita Raj who had the right qualifications, a driver’s (SME) loan product, which is a way of supporting
license and her own car! members as they move out of poverty and grow

We were unknown in Fiji at the time, and it was a their businesses. We are a membership-based
critical period. Many other microfinance institutions institution and you are entitled to join our operation
were closing down and people were actually as long as you meet our criteria.
demanding that their savings be returned to them All this time, our loan disbursements continued to
because they just disappeared like ghosts in the air.
grow. While it took us four years to reach our first
The first village that accepted us was Kalokolevu, and $10 million, it only took us one year to double that
I am very glad the Centre is still here with SPBD in to $20 million. Tropical Cyclone Winston did slow our
2020. growth as one-third of our portfolio was adversely
affected and so were our members in Ra, Ba,
From our simple and humble beginnings we finally
opened an office, and started the micro-credit and Ovalau, Savusavu and Taveuni. But we did not lose
savings services. The first partner that recognised hope. In fact, with support from our partner, The
our potential was Vodafone, and SPBD is actually one MicroDreams Foundation, we did a massive relief
of the early adopters of M-PAiSA. and rehabilitation programme. The communities
could see how we responded, and more members
We opened our second branch in Sigatoka and then joined SPBD, which led us to set up branches in
we moved on to Savusavu and then Lautoka. Within Rakiraki and Labasa.
the first three years we were able to set up in other
towns. It took us one year to reach our first $1 Around this time we introduced the Higher
million in loan disbursements. Then the pace really Education Loan Programme and with the support of
picked up. In two years, we disbursed $5 million, the Rotary Club of Suva, reached out to communities
and in four years, another $10 million. That was our in Ovalau. We continued to develop new business
transformation stage. partners, R. C. Manubhai and Vinod Patel, who give
our members discounted prices on hardware when
We were really ready to really grow because we had they do their home improvement projects.
proven there was a good business proposition for
establishing a microfinance operation here in Fiji. More recently we also offered Fiji Bloom, a business
Our partnership with the Fiji Development Bank formalisation and acceleration programme that
(FDB) was a big boost at that time. FDB provided supports members in the informal sector to move
us with a sizeable loan amount, but it was really to the formal sector. This programme also helps
also a leap of faith. I still remember when I had a members to grow from micro-enterprises to budding
discussion with the then Chief Executive Officer, SMEs.
Ratu Deve Toganivalu. He said, “I can see the future While COVID-19 has disrupted our operations
of SPBD because you’re like a big aeroplane going since 2020, we managed to increase our loan
international. It takes quite a while to take off disbursements during COVID-19. We are now in 400
and when you’re taking off, you’re breaking a lot villages, assisting more than 9,000 women and our
of fuel. So, right now you’re still taking off. We’ll cumulative loan disbursement now stands at $69
provide more fuel to you so that you will reach your million.
destination.” So, for that I’m very grateful to Ratu We’re honoured to work in a collaborative manner
Deve, who also convinced his board to provide us with the micro-entrepreneurs of Fiji, and we look
with the necessary capital. forward to many more years together. Thank you,

This meant we were able to expand. We added Vinaka Vakalevu and Dhanyavaad.
additional products, partnering with Courts so our (Excerpts from a speech delivered during the Launch
members could access white goods. It is the most of SPBD’s 10th Anniversary logo on 14 October 2020)

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