Noah Taugaloidi is an entrepreneur from Bou Village in Milne Bay Province. He traded the ‘brighter lights’ of Alotau for peace, tranquility and a new beginning, founding the Bou Resource Development Cooperative Society to promote organic agriculture and inland fish farming encouraging self-reliance and prosperity in rural communities.
In August 2021, Noah graduated from a Certificate IV in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation, an Australia Awards short course designed to help business owners grow and diversify their activities by equipping them with practical skills and knowledge in business planning, finance, promotion and management.
“The course was a major game changer for me as to how I could strategically re-align our project to embrace new methods and ways of growing our co-op model and its members,” Noah says. “I realised early during the course that the existing co-op model was restrictive as it only recognised single based product models whilst the general co-op model was designed for expansion. This gave me the opportunity to redevelop a hybrid enterprise model called the ‘Accelerated Co-op Enterprises’ or ACE model.
During the course, Noah’s project of choice was ‘Developing working communities through a co-operative society model from being reliant to self-sustainable and wealth creation through enterprising ventures and incubator eco-systems’. The focus was production, packaging, and marketing of high value virgin coconut oil products and high-end biproducts.
Noah says, “while the period of completion extended beyond expectations, COVID-19 has taught me to develop patience and consistency in crossing over the line in any task big or small. We are still surviving today past the pandemic and we will remain resilient to the greater cause going forward.”
Noah is also using his new skills and knowledge to help others, extending his services to neighboring communities, wards and districts and working with more than 1000 farmers. His model was also presented at the Southern Regional Consultative Policy Development Workshop for inclusion to the new National Policy for the Co-operative Society in PNG. As a result of the course, Noah has also established a new management company as part of his Award project focusing on co-op development, growth and inclusivity.