A team of Australian business consultants supported by the Australian Government is helping small to medium enterprises in the Pacific to raise finance to take their businesses forward to the next level.

Visiting Nuku'alofa to launch the Pacific Business Investment Facility yesterday, were Denise Aldous and John Hardin from Sydney, Australia, who talked to a meeting of local business people and bankers at Davina House yesterday evening.

“We work with businesses who want to raise finance. Our role is to help banks to make better and more decisions to lend - because usually they say we do not see many bankable proposals," said Denise Aldous, the Facility Manager.

The Australian Government is the primary funder who, along with the Asian Development Bank, funds the BIF's main role in supporting businesess to raise finance, she said.

"We bring in the specialised support to help businesses become bankable."

The facility uses a mix of local and international resources to do their work. "We try to reduce the risk level for the bank to help businesses develop expansion plans in a way that works for them, rather than overextending,” said Denise.

The service offers business advice to help businesses make better decisions. "For example, sometimes businesses are overly optimistic about what they can do and so they need someone to come in and downscale the plan so that they can keep the cash flow going," she said. "Only borrow if you need to."

The Facility asks businesses to input a miniumum 10% contribution of the cost of the consultancy and the rest is subsidized. "For example if the consultancy costs $10,000, the business will need to put in $1000,” Denise said.

Eligible businesses for the scheme must be formally registered, have five or more employees, at least three years of accounts, and be at least 51% privately owned to receive the tailored business advisory services. Business plans should involve expansion or diversification, save or create jobs and where practical, actively involve women.

John Hardin, BIF BUsiness Advisor, said he would visit Tonga regularly throughout 2016.

The BIF operates throughout the Pacific Islands, in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.