Young Pacific Islanders are being encouraged to develop their entrepreneurial skills as a way to help inject growth into their country's economy.
The Young Entrepreneurs Retail and Business Development Workshop is organised by the United Nations Development Programme and the Body Shop Australia.
It's a five day workshop that teaches aspects of running small businesses and how to keep them resilient and competitive.
Six participants from Kiribati and Tuvalu have joined 30 entrepeneurs from Fiji in Suva for the workshop.
The UNDP's sustainable livelihood specialist, Jeff Liew says it's important to target people young in the Pacific because it has one of the youngest populations in the world.
"Two thirds of Pacific Islanders are under 25 years of age. Importantly many of the Pacific Island economies are not growing fast enough to absorb these large numbers of young men and women that are coming into the labour force. Which means for young people the only other employment or livelihood opportunity is to become self employed."
The UNDP's sustainable livelihood specialist, Jeff Liew.
