Founders of the Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprises 'N' Development (FRIEND) are today celebrating their success last night as the overall winner of the Fiji Development Bank's Small Business Awards 2006. The awards were announced and presented at the Holiday Inn Hotel on Victoria Parade, Suva.

FRIEND, a non-governmental organization (NGO) founded five years' ago as a charity organisation to alleviate poverty in Fiji's rural communities through the development of fund-raising ventures to provide the communities with better access to resources.

The head office is based in the city of Lautoka on the main island of Viti Levu, with volunteers from many parts of Fiji.