News Release- FDB Recognized and Awarded at ADFIAP Annual Meeting

The plaque of merit was received by Board Member, Mr. Inia Naiyaga (third from left), at the ADFIAP 40th Annual Meeting in Macao in May for FDB’sn win at the Outstanding Development Project Awards.

The Fiji Development Bank [FDB] has been recognized for its role in creating a development impact by the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific [ADFIAP] at its Outstanding Development Project Awards ceremony at the 40th ADFIAP Annual Meeting in Macao SAR, China. FDB emerged as winner in the financial inclusion category for its submission in the 2017 ADFIAP “Outstanding Development Project Awards” Programme.
FDB had submitted its entry “Small Start, Big Leap” in category 8: Development Finance-led Poverty Reduction by highlighting a financial inclusion project initiative that used development finance as a tool or instrument to reduce or alleviate poverty in the country.
The plaque of merit was received by Board Member, Mr. Inia Naiyaga, and Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Nafitalai Cakacaka, who attended the ADFIAP 40th Annual Meeting in Macao.
“The entry that was submitted highlighted how FDB as the only national development financial institution in the country continued to support Fiji’s largest microfinance institution, the South Pacific Business Development Microfinance [SPBDM] and, in doing so it continued to uphold its strong commitment toward financing projects that contribute to poverty eradication and economic empowerment,” said Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr. Nafitalai Cakacaka. “We are content to see that FDB’s efforts in delivering of financial services at affordable costs to different segments of the society across Fiji is being recognized. The partnership in 2014 with SPBDM, a leading micro-enterprise development organization that provides unsecured credit assistance to women micro-entrepreneurs and facilitates capacity-building, supported SPBDM’s capacity to reach out to women micro-entrepreneurs in the rural areas,” he said.
“Through financing a successful project of this nature, FDB encourages the formation of community-based business networks in the country such as the microfinance model as a self-improvement system of consistent productivity and accountability and fulfils its developmental obligation toward reducing poverty in the country by providing access to finances for a start-up of small businesses by women and other target groups,” he said.

He said the FDB is committed to promoting financial inclusion for all Fijians to be able to access affordable financial products and services that in the long term contribute towards easy access to finance that leads to economic development and poverty reduction. “As Fiji’s only development bank, we are mandated to provide finance for projects that contribute to the development of the Fiji economy and to improving the quality of life of our people. Therefore, our focus will remain to finance projects and organizations that lead to achieving Sustainable Development Goals such as reducing poverty, affordable energy, infrastructure development and small and medium enterprise development,” he added. The FDB had also being awarded by ADFIAP for enabling greater financial inclusion in Fiji in 2013 for its Social Banking Facility [SBF]. The purpose of the SBF was to provide cash to alleviate short and long term financial burdens through the implementation of enterprise for alternative livelihoods with the long term view of alleviating poverty.
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