MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
Australia is challenging businesses around Australia and the Asia Pacific region to apply for funding for projects that lift people out of poverty.
The Enterprise Challenge Fund for the Pacific and South East Asia will provide grants of up to $1.5 million for developing successful business ideas which improve livelihoods, incomes, and access to vital goods and services.
Funded through Australia's international aid agency, AusAID, and administered by an independent panel, the Fund is based on a successful British model, which has supported projects in the agricultural, forestry and fishery, renewable energy and telecommunications sectors.
Examples of success stories under this funding model include the development of a commercial egg industry in the Maldives, a project to turn waste from copper mines into affordable fertilizer for subsistence farmers in Botswana, and a 'fair trade' export label for fruit growers in South Africa.
In many countries in our region, there are significant obstacles to pursuing commercially viable business projects - including access to finance, perceived risks, lack of information and the high costs of creating new markets.
By challenging business, including those in Australia, to look for new market opportunities in the Asia-Pacific, the Enterprise Challenge Fund aims to stimulate growth and ensure that the poor are included in the resulting benefits and opportunities.
The Fund is designed to share risk and bidders must meet at least half of the cost of the projects. Bidders must also show that projects cannot be implemented without the grant and that commercial funding is unavailable.
The first round of funding covers projects in eastern Indonesia, the southern Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. The pilot program will be extended next year to East Timor, the Lao PDR, Cambodia, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.
An information session on the program will be held tomorrow in Sydney and applications close on December 31 this year.
The Enterprise Challenge Fund for the Pacific and South East Asia is a $20.5 million six year pilot program based on similar, successful, programs supported by the United Kingdom in Africa.
Media inquiries:
Malcolm Cole (Mr Downer's office) 02 6277 7500
AusAID (Public Affairs) 0417 680 590