By FRANCIS RODNEY PULU
THE Human Development Institute (HDI) Campus at 6-mile in Port Moresby, celebrated its 28th anniversary last week, highlighting programs it has been driving to empower those who wish to be financially independent.
Interestingly, the institute’s anniversary celebrations coincided with the country’s 49th independence celebrations as both events fall on the same date, which is September 16.
PNG got its independence in September 16, 1975, while the Human Development Institute since its establishment, observed its first graduation ceremony in September 16, 1996.
The HDI, originally known as the Entrepreneurial Development Training Centre (EDTC) was founded by the late Sam Tam.
During its establishment the institute was also blessed by the late Reverend Samson Lowa at now the Sioni Kaumi Memorial Church.
The celebrations portray that HDI has come a long way and aspires to continue develop home grown entrepreneurs going forward.
For me, little did I know about this institute until I was there to cover the anniversary event through an invitation by the HDI General Manager, Mr. Grand Wavine.
Wavine, whom I knew back then in the mid-nineties through my soccer era, was a little kid.
I saw this little kid when I was playing soccer alongside his elder brother, Clive Wavine, who now resides and works in Perth, Australia.
By attending the event, I was privileged and honoured to have come across the institute celebrating its 28th anniversary on high note.
It was an eye opener for me to learn about how practical and impacted coaching lessons that this institute has been providing since its establishment.
Late Tam, who is now called by those at the HDI as “Papa Sam”, was also one of the key architects in designing the country’s commonly known program called “The Stret Pasin Stoa Scheme”, under then the National Agriculture Bank in the early eighties and nineties.
For Papa Sam he had a vision of starting this institute to develop local entrepreneurs so in return they can work, sustain themselves and eventually contribute back to the economy.
In a nutshell, Sam’s vision was to breakthrough the stigma of poverty to be self-reliant.
This Institute, commonly called by many as “the grassroots institute”, offers coaching programs from level one to level seven.
It has branches in 21 provinces in the country with an estimate of around 45, 000 students around the Pacific and Asia Pacific, studying various levels of coaching programs.
Some of these Pacific and Asia Pacific countries include; Fiji, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Singapore and Indonesia.
One thing that makes this institute stands out is, there is no difficulty in the processes of enrolment because there is no complicated entry requirements needed – no certificates from grade eight (8) to twelve (12) are needed.
All it needs is for anyone to enrol and undergo coaching programs at various levels.
Once the students enrol to register into level one, they learn theory and at the same time put back into practice what they’ve learnt back into their small businesses. In return, they graduate to advance to next level until they reach the final level which is level seven.
The morning program of the institute’s 28th anniversary celebrations was organised at the new Tumbuna Market, located at 5-mile Jack Pidik Park in Port Moresby.
It was a very special event where the entrepreneurs were awarded certificates from level three to level five. The event was graced by the presentations of two new awards called “The Papa Sam Awards” – Awards of ‘Noken give up’ & ‘Mi ken in Tok Pisin’.
Following the presentations of the students’ certificates, the institute embraced a special moment when it launched its new online registration program.
To add more excitement and flavour to where HDI stands for, a special moment was witnessed when the winners of the inaugural game of money challenge were announced.
This category was more practical where about 66 trainees were given K10 each and were able to generate about K36, 830. 00 within just two weeks.
After announcing the winners, the dividends were given back to the winners to continue sustain their business as they continue to attend coaching and climbing levels.
Alexis Tam, a keynote speaker and Director of HDI, encouraged the graduands to be committed in what they are learning and doing.
Tam, who is the son of late Papa Sam, also challenged the graduands to show commitment in order to succeed.
“I recently saw a video of a person who had an appointment at ten o’clock, got there at ten minutes to ten and they said you are late. To be early you have to be on time. If you are not on time, you are already late,” he said.
Tam said that is the commitment where a lot of Papua New Guineans have whether he or she is a student, business person or an entrepreneur.
“They get up early and want to be out there so that when a first customer comes on the streets, they are able to sell their betelnut, smoke or eggs and so forth. They are the committed ones,” he said.
Florence Saia, one of the women who advance into level 6 after successfully graduating from level 5 on behalf of the graduands, emphasised how everyone plays their part.
Saia said everyone has a unique talent to do whatever they can to achieve in life.
She said: “We have that unique talent but how can we develop it, HDI has it and I stand here and say I enjoy that because at HDI we support one and other. We hold hands together. We unleash each other so that we become good, find out who we are and what position we are at, but the end game of HDI is for us to be self-reliant or financially independent. And today as we celebrate political independence, the question I can ask is are we self-reliant and financially independent? That is the challenge for us and I told the ladies that we will still go up to level 7 and leave behind something for our children”.
Saia further appealed to other mothers to come along and join HDI, adding that “as we walk in that journey you will find what you are good at.”
In an interview, Wavine said the main philosophy of HDI is going by the common saying that says: “Do not give a man a fish but teach him how to catch fish. If you give a man a fish, you feed him for one day. But you teach a man how to fish you feed him for life and that is the true meaning of independence. To be able to sustain yourself and to rely or depend on no one”.
Wavine further paid tribute to Papa Sam and also talked about the theme for next year’s anniversary which is innovating minds and shaping futures.
He said: “How we are going to go after him when he is gone. We have the legacy of Papa Sam. The thing about legacies is that it is not what you do during your time but what happens after you are gone. And yes, we are not going to say hip-hip hooray HDI has the answer! no if we have the answer people will be running to us. However, we know we have a pathway and there is no secret to success. There is hard work, determination, and consistency so we are looking forward to next year’s anniversary where we will be celebrating how to innovate creativity at HDI”.
Wavine further extended his invitation to those out there who wish to take up coaching lessons, starting from level one.
He said the message is very clear that in the current state one may feel that he or she has no job and also think maybe he or she is not educated and so forth.
“You may feel like I only finished grade 6 or grade 8 and I am not this and I am not that because that is what people think.
“But my message is that you don’t worry because if you allow that it will control you and you will always be that way,” Wavine said.
He added that education does not limit anyone, stating: “You can do whatever you want because education does not limit anyone. The amount of money in the bank does not limit you, it is just you that is limiting yourself. And if you can turn that around, you will see miracles happen that you never expected. We are here to help you open your eyes, and we call it levels of thinking so come along and register”.
Wavine further added that what HDI provides is also an alternative to anybody.
“We are inclusive, our youngest student is 8 years old and our oldest was around 93.
“We don’t have any educational requirement that you need to finish grade 8 or 10 or 12 and so on.
“As long as you can read and write and if you are able to understand and comprehend, then you are able to attend our training,” he said.
For more information regarding enrolment one can log onto the online registration using the Moodle application by clicking onto this link http://hdionlinelearning.com/
