Two local businesses have received a huge financial injection in the arm to take their work to the next level. 

SkyEye Samoa and Nora’s Plantation Foods are winners of the Innovation Xchange Frontier Innovators programme, which recognises outstanding social enterprises delivering development impact for communities in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Samoan businesses were among 15 outstanding Frontier Innovators awardees selected from over 700 applicants in the Indo-Pacific region. Each winner will receive up to A$100,000 (T$193,000) to help accelerate their businesses and broaden their development impact.

Australian High Commissioner, Sara Moriarty, congratulated the award winners. She presented the awards to Tuiolotoa Lisa Karene for Nora’s Plantation Foods and Faaso’otauloa Sam Saili for SkyEye.

“I want to congratulate Nora’s Plantation Foods and SkyEye Pacific for their success in being selected as two of only 15 Frontier Innovators from across the Indo-Pacific,” Ms. Moriarty said.

“Both businesses will receive funding support to scale up their businesses and contribute to social and economic development in Samoa. They are also receiving a programme of support, which has been tailored to meet their needs, and delivered by experts in the relevant fields.

“We want to see Samoa’s economy grow and see jobs created that will lift people out of poverty and we believe that programmes such as this - that benefit and enhance the services of the private sector - are a strategic way of achieving that goal.”

Being innovative plays a critical part in achieving that goal.

“We believe that innovation, finding new and creating solutions to problems holds the key to adapting to the rapidly changing development landscape and making an impactful difference on the lives of people,” said the High Commissioner.

“Innovation can help deliver development solutions that are cheaper, faster and more effective. We recognise that government doesn't have all the answers, and we need to work with businesses and the private sector. 

“Frontier Innovators is a great step towards harnessing the creative minds of innovators throughout our region to help deliver impact.”

The Frontier Innovators represent the first part of Australia’s A$15 million (T$29m) Scaling Frontier Innovation programme supporting social entrepreneurship in the Indo-Pacific.

Scaling Frontier Innovation is an initiative of the Australian Government’s Innovation Xchange, which shares learnings and brokers new connections so that innovation becomes intrinsic to the delivery of the whole of Australia’s aid programme.

Australia’s Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop launched, the Innovation Xchange back in 2015.

At the time, she said: “Our innovation Xchange will drive new and exciting technologies, ideas and partnerships in our aid programme. We will take seemingly intractable development problems and come up with the best and brightest and most practical ways of solving them.”

More about Nora’s Plantation Foods and SkyEye in the upcoming editions of the Samoa Observer.