Recently, I had the pleasure of travelling to the Republic of Nauru on behalf of the Australian Business Volunteers (ABV). ABV is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to help communities thrive through training and mentoring local businesses. They work with skilled business volunteers alongside their staff and local partners to achieve long-term community plans.
In my capacity as a Skilled Business Volunteer, I had been working with ABV’s local partner of 4+ years, the Nauru Chamber of Commerce (NCC) and the Sustainable Tourism Working Group for a few months prior to my trip, providing training to small businesses owners and further support where needed. This work comes under the NCC-led Private Sector Development Roadmap, aligned to the National Sustainable Development Strategy, which has the goal of fostering inclusive and sustainable economic development.
Nauru’s Tourism industry is in its early stages, with incredible work being done by Nauru Tourism Corporation in preparing the country and its people for travellers from around the world. In 2023, Nauru had 375 tourists, up from just 27 the previous year. Most tourists were bucket-listers aiming to visit every country in the world, with Nauru being one of the destinations they wanted to check off their list.
Lately, however, more adventure travellers are visiting to discover Nauru itself or as part of an island-hopping experience including Micronesia and Kiribati. Located only 41 km south of the equator and with a ring-road of only 18 km, Nauru offers a unique landscape of pinnacles, tropical rainforests, and white beaches mostly surrounded by coral reefs. The Nauruan people are warm, welcoming, and very passionate about AFL!
Nauru is known for its phosphate mining, of which there is only very little nowadays. There is a strong need to diversify, and tourism is one of the growth areas. With the aim of sustainably developing the industry, there’s exciting progress being made in terms of adding small scale accommodation, training tour guides and developing experiences such as fishing, hiking, kayaking and cycling. I had the pleasure of staying at one of the new homestays in the Yaren district on the west side of the island, allowing me to be right amongst the locals, experience local life and enjoy a stunning sunset every day!
Whilst it felt like a holiday at times, I did work. I attended meetings with industry organisations, board members as well as youth group representatives, who are all sharing the same passion to move Nauru forward. These meetings allowed me to learn about and gain insight into Nauruan culture. I had the pleasure of hosting a workshop for local small business owners, predominantly women, and training them on email correspondence and social media to promote their businesses. This was definitely a highlight, as were the one-on-one mentoring sessions I had with several small business owners. It’s inspiring to see how most small businesses are developed with limited resources, yet creativity and innovation are driving their success.
The Nauru Chamber of Commerce, Nauru Tourism, the Sustainable Tourism Working Group and other related industry organisations are doing an incredible job in assisting small grassroots businesses. I am delighted to have contributed in a small way as well and I look forward to continuing to work with ABV and the Nauru Chamber of Commerce.
A big thank you to Jenn Harris at the Nauru Chamber of Commerce who hosted me!
If you’d like to learn more about my work in Nauru or how we can support your destination or tourism business, please reach out to me on vera@ecostory.com.au.