Trainings - Chamber

Chamber is keen to provide training opportunities to the business community, as the creation of the Tonga Business Enterprise Centre in August 2010 shows.

In the first 8 months of 2010, Chamber has been in-country manager for a number of organisations in order to provide adapted and efficient learning or mentoring opportunities to the business community. These programs have successfully helped a number of companies improve their vitality.

These practical and informative workshops are conducted by New Zealand based Management Learning Associates Ltd. Topics are: Effective Business Communication, Customer Service Excellence and Professional Presentations.

Developed by BITC (Business In The Community), PBMP provides Mentors from New Zealand to small and medium sized businesses in the Pacific in order to help them manage and grow their businesses in a way that supports sustained increases in production and employment over time. Mentoring focuses on sales and marketing, financial planning, working out a viable business plan and identifying obstacles facing by these businesses. In June, 5 mentors were assigned to work with 4 different businesses. They will come back to Tonga every six months to assess the performance of these businesses through time.

In October 2010, new client businesses will be selected and added to the Scheme.

Aiming at promoting enterprise development in order to contribute to poverty reduction, YES focuses on small to medium businesses. It seeks to:

• develop entrepreneurial and technical skills
• raise the skills level of existing entrepreneurs so they can further develop and run a successful business
• develop a support mechanism in the form of coaching/mentoring role for young entrepreneurs both in-country and from Australia

The program covers subjects such as business planning, financial management, marketing, and human resources, and alternates between one day workshops and one-to-one coaching on the workplace of the participants. 10 participants received a completion certificate at the end of the course.