NextGen Papua New Guinea Program: Empowering Young Business Leaders

The program is an outbound exchange to foster entrepreneurship, encourage business innovation, and provide concrete business leadership and professional skills for a new generation of Papua New Guinea (PNG) business professionals. This initiative builds on the foundation of the long-standing Professional Fellows Program model and offers a dynamic and substantive professional experience to entrepreneurs and business leaders working in the fields of technology, innovation, social media, business, and social entrepreneurship.

The program will support a minimum of 5 emerging or influential young business leaders from Papua New Guinea to participate in a business fellows exchange program in the United States. The program aims to create sustainable linkages between PNG entrepreneurs and American businesses and build a cadre of like-minded trade partners.

Program Goals 

• The goal of the program is aligned with the U.S. White House’s Indo-Pacific Strategy which emphasizes the importance of free and open Indo-Pacific where governments can make their own sovereign choices and ensure that citizens on both sides of the Pacific benefit from innovation, strengthen economic competitiveness, produce good-paying jobs, rebuild supply chains, and expand economic opportunities.
  • Goal 1: The program aims to strengthen the capacity of Papua New Guinea’s young business leaders to foster market access, develop entrepreneurship, critical thinking skills, and leadership skills.
  • Goal 2: Showcase American values and business practices by presenting the full range of American professionalism, innovation and civic values through the sharing of expert knowledge representing the diversity of the United States. In turn, Papua New Guinea business leaders and government regulatory bodies recognize the benefits of American business practices and partnerships.
  • Goal 3: Strengthen partnerships by developing new approaches to trade that meet labor and environmental standards.

Program Objectives

• Objective 1: Creation of short-term exchange program in the United States.
  • A minimum of 5 young Papua New Guinean business stakeholders and government lawmakers will engage in an exchange program with small- and medium-sized enterprises and other private sector organizations in the United States.
  • Location: United States
• Objective 2: Post-exchange long-term training and engagement with American business leaders and experts.
  • Upon returning from the exchange, alumni will continue training and engage with American business leaders and experts in a long-term follow-on program. This program component will be virtual.
  • Location: Virtual/Papua New Guinea
• The cost of each traveling program varies, depending on the price of airfare, the length of the program, in-country travel costs, and other costs related to implementation. The funding in this grant aims to bring a minimum of 5 participants to the United States. The length of participant’s program will vary based on what the applicant proposes for technical activities but is envisaged to between one to four weeks. Travel within the United States is dependent on programming. It may be one city with an intensive workshop or a visit to multiple cities.

Funding Information

• Length of Performance Period: 24 months
• Number of Awards Anticipated: One (1)
• Award Amount: $2,000,000 subject to availability of funding.
• Anticipated Program Start Date: September 30, 2024

Participants and Audiences 

• The intended target audience for NextGen PNG includes emerging or influential young business leaders from Papua New Guinea (PNG). These individuals are the primary beneficiaries of the program, which aims to provide them with opportunities for professional development, skill enhancement, and networking. The program specifically targets individuals who are actively engaged in various sectors such as technology, innovation, social media, business, and social entrepreneurship within PNG.

Eligible Applicants

The following organizations are eligible to apply:

• Not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society/non-governmental organizations.
• Public and private educational institutions.
• Public International Organizations and governmental institutions.

For more information, visit U.S. Embassy to Papua New Guinea.