Page 37 - IB September 2018 Edition

Indepth

we are trying to develop smaller renewable energy projects across is happening is they drop out somehow from the productive work-
8 countries in the pacific and for that facility which is US$50 million, force, they obviously get stagnant, they cannot progress in their
we’re using blended finance to de-risk the projects. And if this solution workplaces and at the iFC, we’re trying to address that.
works for renewable energy, we can use it for different sector, we can
structure some similar facilities with small and medium businesses, IB: A lot is said about Private Sector Development – is
in agriculture or any other sectors. this an area that the IFC will also tackle here?

IB: Why renewable energy? Stoiljkovic: yes, a strong focus of the iFC is the private sector.
We work exclusively with the private sector but what we have learnt
Stoiljkovic: We as the World Bank group and iFC in particular with this approach of creating markets and working on sectors
are focusing on cleaner sources of energy and helping countries is that they’re not fully developed or the private sector is not fully
either increase access to power – because some countries in the engaged. We have learnt that there is a lot of project preparation, a
pacific, unlike Fiji, Fiji almost has full access to energy, but in the lot of upstream work, a lot of advisory services that have to be put in
other countries, we don’t have that, so we’re trying to help them with for some of those sectors to open up. And that also means that we
alternative sources of energy, to increase their access to power and will work more closely with public sector. Some of the constraints to
in some countries we’re simply trying to increase the energy mix so private sector development will have to be addressed by the govern-
that we have more clean energy. And when you have a lot of sun, a ment. Our colleagues from the World Bank will work from the public
lot of water in some countries, we’re trying to pursue both solar and sector to help us address them. So we’re trying to be a little more
hydro projects. Wind as well. proactive and not just to look at ready projects for us to finance but
to work more on developing then preparing them for financing. And
IB: You have also had extensive experience in the then as i mentioned de-risking and only then coming in with more
gender area. commercial financial instruments and mobilisation. We believe that
approach will get us to maximising finance for development. And
Stoiljkovic: Well, gender has always been with me somehow. When that will come mostly from the private sector because as you know,
i was Vice president for Advisory Services (at the World Bank), i was the private sector has those millions and trillions to be invested in
home to our gender secretariat. When i ran iFC operations, i was many economies.
also focusing on gender and in the last year, before i assumed this
position, i was running iFC’s cross cutting advisory services which IB: The signing of a Cooperation Agreement between
hosts the gender secretariat, so i was in charge for developing the IFC and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism
strategy for gender for iFC. i promoted tackling childcare study Fiji signals a new partnership. What will that involve?
globally, supported many of the gender efforts and solutions that
iFC has been engaged in. We’ve worked now in the pacific, in Stoiljkovic: i’m very excited about the signing of that agreement.
Solomon islands on 16 companies, helping them to train their The report is called “From Farm to Tourist Table.” given the impor-
women workers to become leaders, to help them address tance of tourism to Fiji and Fijian economy, given the fact that tourism
some gender issues including violence, so i’m very proud is a large employer of the Fijian people, we are hoping to increase
of that work and hopefully we can do more of that across the benefits of tourism to the local economy. When you look at food
the pacific. consumed or purchased by hotels, more than 50 per cent of it is
imported. And that puts pressure on foreign exchange currency,
IB: Is this why IFC has launched a gender ini- it also means that the money doesn’t stay here in Fiji and the Fijian
tiative in Fiji? Because you came in or was economy. So the study helped us address the issues or constraints
it always in the works? of why chefs and hotels are not buying local produce. Some of the
key constraints identified were around quality, reliability of supply,
Stoiljkovic: Well, it is one piece of it. Because we have standards. We will work together with the Ministry with the support
already done one childcare study globally, it’s an oppor- of the Australian government who has financed our work on the
tunity for us where we could look at the solutions around study, to remove some of those constraints. We’ll find some pilot
childcare for all reasons that we’ve mentioned, here in Fiji. But hotel projects and we’ll work with them to create better links to the
to me, when i look at women, i look at women as employees, so local produce in agriculture. And of course being who we are, the
childcare is going to help women as employees to be more next step for us would be to support some of those producers – the
present and less absent, and that will help the employ- local farmers – and finance their operations and allow them to grow,
ers. i also look at women as business owners, to become more reliable and to produce more quality products.
entrepreneurs and we also have a range of ways of
supporting women entrepreneurs, teaching them IB: When will this work begin?
and sharing experience with them and of course
we have women as leaders. When you look at Stoiljkovic: Well the partnership has just been launched so the
the world’s population, 50 per cent is women. study is already there identifying those constraints. We will now
in many countries 50 per cent start piloting some of the works with specific hotel companies and
of women also go to chefs. And that will lead us to the next stage, which will be some
school and what financing.

Islands Business, September 2018 37