On Monday, 23rd August 2021 Digicel Samoa hosted the Samoa Chamber of Commerce &
Industry (SCCI) monthly Members Meeting at the Lava Hotel Conference Room, Sogi. This month’s meeting was attended by 78 Chamber Members.
The SCCI Members Meetings serve as a forum for the Chamber President and Madam Chair, Seulupe Michelle Macdonald, and the Chamber Secretariat, to provide an update on the SCCI work conducted over the last month. The update for Chamber Members this month included the strengthening of Public Private Partnerships as Seulupe informed members that engagement with the new government stakeholders has begun.
As the National Private Sector Organization (NPSO), the Chamber continues to work closely with the government to advocate on behalf of private sector for the growth of all businesses. During the meeting Member services Manager and Acting CEO, Lote Lima shared with attendees of the upcoming private sector opportunities for members to take advantage of including a number of capacity building trainings on PACER Plus and Business Integrity training for youth entrepreneurs.
As is often the case, these opportunities are available not only to the Chamber membership but all members of the Samoa business community. To learn more about these opportunities, we encourage businesses to please contact the Chamber Secretariat to find out how you can participate. Business Link Pacific (BLP) Manager John Lemoa also updated members on the recent second window of the BLP Business Adaptation Grants
that closed last month where Samoa submitted 120 applications and assessments are underway.
From the first window, 41 applications from Samoa were shortlisted with 31 applications approved for funding and 10 applications remaining in progress. Each month, the host of the evening shares a special presentation with the Chamber membership. It is an
opportunity for organizations to showcase their products or services and share their initiatives that support the growth of private sector.
The Digicel Samoa Chairman Fia’ailetoa Pepe Christian Fruean opened the Special Presentation with his welcome remarks, thanking the Chamber for this forum and offered a word of encouragement to businesses before passing the presentation to his sales team led by Head of Business Operations, Michelle Tasi.
The Digicel team shared their innovative business solutions such as the extensive cloud service products they have available including cyber security, web and email hosting as explained by, Iftaar Ali (Pre-Sales Engineer & Product Development Manager). This was followed by Aneta Tavae (Mobile Advertising Manager) who shared Digicel’s Mobile Advertising and demonstrated how this tool can assist businesses to reach a wide audience with targeted advertising.
Finally, the presentations concluded with Kurt Fatupaito (Commercial Finance Manager) who provided an engaging presentation on Digicel’s MyCash App, a mobile wallet that businesses could consider accepting digital transactions as either an agent or merchant. The excitement of the evening peaked during Digicel’s special giveaway prizes that included a fitbit, tablet, and night’s stay for 2 at the Lava Hotel that were gifted to three lucky attendees.
This month the Chamber welcomes 2 new members to its membership since the last Members Meeting on the 19th July 2021: A & F Anapu Dairy and Bakery managed by Florestina Anapu, and Samoa Biotechnology Company managed by Taulapapa Maria Leota.
