Tonga's Chamber of Commerce says a New Zealand mentoring programme for the Pacific region is upskilling local business mentors to also help provide sound business advice and support.
Tonga is one of eleven nations on the Pacific Mentoring Programme, being run by Business Mentors New Zealand, and funded by NZAID.
Chamber president Paul Taumoepeau says prior to the programme trusting local mentors was a common problem to overcome for many businesses.
But he says its great there's a choice now for businesses to utilize either a local or a New Zealand business mentor who are also accessible over email and telephone to give advice as well.
"That was a sticking point with us with trying to set up mentoring system using experienced business people here in Tonga. When we got this programme we thought oh we can solve this problem."
Paul Taumoepeau says at this stage only businesses on Tongatapu are eligible to take part in the programme.
