A record 67 Solomon Islands builders, contractors, and business managers have taken part in an Australia-led industry workshop to help them strengthen their project planning, cashflow management, and long-term business growth.
The industry workshop – Project Scheduling and Cashflow – is the 16th to be delivered by Australia’s Solomon Islands Infrastructure Program Workforce Skills Series.
Acting Australian High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, Mr Andrew Schloeffel, commended the industry participants for their commitment to professional development.
“It was great to see such a high level of participants of participants at this workshop. Australia is committed to supporting Solomon Islands contractors and workers take on a larger share of construction projects, creating local jobs and economic opportunity far beyond the new infrastructure alone.”
“This is a very well attended event, and the popularity of the topic reflects both our responsiveness to industry need, and the maturity of a sector that is focusing on sustainable, high quality infrastructure delivery,” said Mr Schloeffel.
“By working side by side with local contractors, Australia is a supporting a generation of highly capable companies ready and able to deliver Australian-supported infrastructure projects to high standards—creating local jobs and economic opportunities far beyond the new infrastructure alone.”
Participants engaged in real-world exercises designed to help them better manage uncertainty, align infrastructure delivery schedules with business capacity, and improve overall resourcing strategies.
Danny Dau of Mountol Enterprises said the session was a timely reminder of the importance of solid business structures.
“A lot of Solomon Islander-led projects don’t fail from lack of effort, they fail due to issues like poor resource management or receiving too much funding without clear structure,” Mr Dau said.
“This workshop helped reinforce our foundation and take our businesses more seriously going forward.”
Ulysis Yanols of Leading Group, shared how the workshop deepened his understanding of planning tools and the thinking behind them.
“This training reminded me how important it is to understand the logic behind what you’re doing,” said Mr Yanols.
“Now I know how to input the right planning data and use the numbers to guide decisions, rather than just relying on tools like Excel.”
The SIIP Workforce Skills Series will continue throughout 2025, with upcoming workshops focused more on the core business management practices.
The program is delivered in partnership with Solomon Islands Government agencies and industry experts, as part of the #SIAusPartnership.
