Wednesday 6 November 2019 10:17pm
Ioanna Taurannang, of Kiribati, hopes to return home and start her own business. Photos: Sharron Bennett.
Back in Kiribati Ioanna Taurannang was a senior auditor, but after her time studying for a Master of Sustainable Business at Otago she hopes to return as an entrepreneur.
Taurannang is one of the fourteen New Zealand Scholarship students who are completing their studies this year. They were awarded with certificates of competition at a ceremony at Staff Club on 29 October.
Taurannang will return to Kiribati at the end of the year and has a plan to start her own sustainable business, but she also hopes the lessons she has learnt at Otago will have a wider impact in her home country.
While there are many budding entrepreneurs back home, Taurannang has seen many businesses fail in their infancy.
“They have great ideas but they usually dissolve quite quickly.”
She hopes with the new knowledge she has gained in management she can help business people in her community find their feet and prosper.
With the environmental problems facing Kiribati creating businesses which are sustainable, environmentally friendly, and able to tackle environmental issues is at the forefront of Taurannang’s mind.
The New Zealand Scholarship aims to build potential leaders and is offered to citizens of developing countries. It offers full scholarships of undergraduate and postgraduate academic study in New Zealand and in the Pacific.
It was Taurannang’s dream to pursue further study so receiving the scholarship was a “life-changing” opportunity.
“Without this opportunity my academic journey wouldn’t have been possible from the start.
“I do not regret leaving my home and my family for this wonderful opportunity.”
New Zealand Scholarships recipients who are about to complete their studies. Absent: Ryder Fuimaono and Oripa Waqa.
There was a lot of laughter and heart-warming stories shared at the completion ceremony.
The 14 graduands hail from Samoa, Cambodia, Tonga, Vietnam, Vanuatu, Fiji and Myanmar. Among them there are scholars in health sciences and business who will all leave New Zealand with the intention to improve their communities in different ways.
Antony Crane, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, says the New Zealand Scholarship is an integral part of the country’s foreign aid programme, with an objective to support sustainable development in developing countries.
“Each and every one of you have the ability to influence change and have a very real impact on the community you are returning to.
“You take with you a range of new skills and attributes, more than just your qualification, you have living skills, you have the ability to adapt to an environment that you have been dropped into, and you have, therefore, a resilience, which I hope with never leave you.
“You can use these tools to help your country achieve the future that it deserves.”
New Zealand Scholarship Completion recipients:
Bethrica Tofilau: Bachelor of Pharmacy, Samoa
Ryder Fuimaono: Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, Samoa
Chanlina Meng: Master of Finance, Cambodia
Eritabeta Foliaki (Dorothy): Master of Science, Tonga
Teli Faamoe (Ree): Bachelor of Oral Health, Samoa
Faleola Mafi (Ola): Post Graduate Diploma in Commerce, Tonga
Hà Ngân Hà (Hà): Master of Sustainable Business, Vietnam
Helen Skipps: Master of Sustainable Business, Samoa
John Namani: Master of Finance, Vanuatu
Ioanna Taurannang: Master of Sustainable Business, Kiribati