In 2022, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) joined forces with e-commerce industry leaders in the Pacific to establish e-commerce business toolkits on moving from offline to online. Accelerating e-commerce adoption by both merchants and consumers presents numerous benefits, such as increased formalization of businesses, expansion of businesses and better digital financial inclusion. It also plays an important role in our post COVID-19 economic recovery.
The PIFS E-commerce Business Toolkits are simple, step-by-step, example-based, guides for a hypothetical business wishing to explore the use of online tools to sell products and services in a given industry and a given geographical context.
Based on the positive feedback received from users of the Toolkits, and taking advantage of the higher level of digital readiness in the Pacific, PIFS has consolidated and expanded its support to Pacific MSMEs through a four-step approach.
- Toolkits development and accessibility
- Promotion and training
- Mentoring and coaching scheme
- Small grant scheme
To ensure continuous support to Pacific businesses, PIFS established the eCove Community in 2024. eCove is an online platform where Pacific businesses can access free training resources and incentivise peer learning and collaboration, thereby promoting Pacific regionalism.
