TL;DR Papua New Guinea has over 10 million people, and most of them live in rural areas where few people are online. Exports lean hard on gas and minerals. The ideas that fit bring power, money services and training to villages, help coffee and cocoa growers sell abroad, or serve the big resource sites.

The market in numbers

  • Population: about 10.76 million in 2025[1].
  • GDP per capita: about US$3,020 in 2025[2].
  • Internet use: about 19% of people were online in 2024[3], with about 39 mobile subscriptions per 100 people[4].
  • Where people live: only about 16% of people lived in towns and cities in 2025[5], and about 37% of jobs were in farming[6].
  • Exports: fuels were about 43% and ores and metals about 30% of merchandise exports in 2023[7][8].
  • Currency: the kina (PGK).
  • Starting a company: companies register through the Investment Promotion Authority's registry, which covers companies and business names[9].

What founders here actually have to work with

This is a big country by Pacific standards, but the money and the people sit in different places. The gas and mining projects bring in most export earnings[7][8], while most families live in villages[5] and many have no internet at all[3]. If your idea needs a smartphone and a data plan then you're selling to a small slice of the country.

That cuts both ways though. Villages without grid power, bank branches or trained mechanics are a real gap, and anyone who can serve them cheaply has the field mostly to themselves. Roads don't link many provinces, so plan around small planes, boats and local agents.

The resource sites are the other buyer. They run big plants, hire large crews and buy a lot of maintenance and training, and they pay on time. In my view a founder here should have one foot in each world.

Ideas that fit Papua New Guinea

Every idea below was researched for India. The rupee costs, UPI payments and Indian licences don't carry over, so treat each one as a brief you'll rebuild.

Power for villages

  • Hamletwatt: Fault alerts and battery dispatch for village mini-grids help operators keep the lights on without driving out every week. Start with one operator who already runs a few sites.
  • Anchorwatt: Solar at rural phone towers with spare power sold to the village fits places where the tower is the only steady power source. You'd need a tower owner as your partner.
  • Lathelamp: Solar-powered machines rented per use let a village tailor or grinder run without diesel. Keep the machines simple enough to fix locally.
  • Furrowlight: One loan for a solar pump share plus seed, repaid at harvest. You'd need a lender who understands crop cycles here [Requires validation].
  • Candlepay: Remote-lock meters for solar dealers selling batteries on instalments. Swap UPI for whatever mobile money service your customers actually use [Requires validation].

Money and farm exports

  • Askmybank: A voice helpline that explains people's own bank accounts suits first-time account holders. Run it in Tok Pisin and English before you add more languages.
  • Agentvillage: Village agents who sell small insurance covers and file claims for people. You'd need an insurer partner with a licence here.
  • Coopstarter: A field crew that gets new savings and credit groups to their first loans. Funding will likely come from donors and banks, not members.
  • Plotorigin: Plot maps and lot records help coffee keep selling into the EU under its tougher sourcing rules. Smallholder coffee and cocoa growers are the natural first users.
  • Organicfile: Audit-ready records help grower groups get certified and paid more. Pick one certification buyers ask for and build around that.
  • Frondline: Climbing robots and trained crews that harvest coconuts per round. Test it on one coastal plantation first.

Skills and the resource sector

  • Trainervan: A training van that certifies mechanics and electricians where they live. Resource companies looking to hire locally are a likely sponsor.
  • Weldready: Simulator practice and remote review get welders ready for trade tests. Line it up with the tests employers here already accept [Requires validation].
  • Furnacewing: Caged-drone surveys inside boilers, stacks and tanks during shutdowns suit large processing plants. Sell to the maintenance contractors as well as the operators.
  • Intakeview: Scheduled underwater checks of seawater intake and outfall pipes at coastal plants. Few local firms can do this, so you'd compete with fly-in crews on price and speed.

Health and logistics

  • Skyclinic: Drone routes between hospitals and remote health centres fit a country where many places have no road link. Aviation approval and mountain weather come first.
  • Pulpstrip: Paper water-test cards read by a phone camera suit village water checks. Only a health worker's phone may be needed, which matters when few people are online.
  • Ruralhub: One hub that takes every courier's parcels for the villages around a market town. Start in a town with a road to Lae or Port Moresby.

Rules to check before you start

Companies and business names register with the Investment Promotion Authority[9]. A business that is 50% or more owned by non-citizens counts as a foreign enterprise and needs certification from the Authority first, and some small-scale activities are kept for citizens under the Cottage and Business Activities List, as reported in 2020[10]. Tax goes through the Internal Revenue Commission[11]. Banking, insurance, health, aviation and mining work each have their own regulators [Requires validation].

This is a starting list, not legal advice. Check with a local lawyer or the agency itself.

Questions founders ask

Services for village groups and small growers cost the least to start, such as Coopstarter or Organicfile above, because they run on people and paperwork more than equipment. Getting to customers is the real cost, so start near where you live.

Do foreigners need a local partner to start a company in Papua New Guinea?

A local partner isn't the rule I found. A business 50% or more owned by non-citizens needs certification from the Investment Promotion Authority, and some small activities are kept for citizens[10]. That guide is from 2020, so check with the Investment Promotion Authority before you commit.

Can a startup here work for people who are not online?

Yes, and most should. Plan for voice calls, agents and paper backups, because only about one person in five uses the internet[3].

Talk to Yash

Building something that works for both a village and a mine site is hard, and I'm happy to help you work out which one pays for the other. If you need a hand, you know where to find me.

Talk to Yash →

Sources

  1. World Bank, "Population, total: Papua New Guinea", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/PNG/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?format=json&mrv=1
  2. World Bank, "GDP per capita (current US$): Papua New Guinea", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/PNG/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?format=json&mrv=1
  3. World Bank (ITU data), "Individuals using the Internet (% of population): Papua New Guinea", 2024. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/PNG/indicator/IT.NET.USER.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  4. World Bank (ITU data), "Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people): Papua New Guinea", 2024. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/PNG/indicator/IT.CEL.SETS.P2?format=json&mrv=1
  5. World Bank, "Urban population (% of total population): Papua New Guinea", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/PNG/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  6. World Bank (ILO estimate), "Employment in agriculture (% of total employment): Papua New Guinea", 2025. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/PNG/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS?format=json&mrv=1
  7. World Bank, "Fuel exports (% of merchandise exports): Papua New Guinea", 2023. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/PNG/indicator/TX.VAL.FUEL.ZS.UN?format=json&mrv=1
  8. World Bank, "Ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports): Papua New Guinea", 2023. https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/PNG/indicator/TX.VAL.MMTL.ZS.UN?format=json&mrv=1
  9. Investment Promotion Authority, "Papua New Guinea Registry Services", 2026. https://www.ipa.gov.pg/
  10. Business Advantage PNG (legal section by Dentons PNG), "Foreign investment law and policy in Papua New Guinea", 2020. https://www.businessadvantagepng.com/foreign-investment-law-and-policy-in-papua-new-guinea
  11. Internal Revenue Commission, MyIRC portal, 2026. https://www.irc.gov.pg/

For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.