East Coast project seeks to heal social wounds, boost business

A collaborative effort involving the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Guyana Small Business Association (GSBA) has extended support to twenty-seven micro businesses in four communities along the lower East Coast corridor under what the UNDP says is its “Building Trust” fast track initiative to enhance community livelihoods.

Last week the GSBA handed over farming supplies, equipment and tools to twenty-two persons from Annandale, Lusignan and Buxton who are involved with cash crops and other small businesses.  A further five Buxtonians received supplies to boost their existing pig-rearing ventures.

GSBA President Patrick Zephyr told Stabroek Business that the initiative was designed both to bring a measure of healing to communities along the East Coast that have been troubled by crime and social problems as it is to seek to repair the economic damage suffered by small businesses in those communities.

“The focus of the initiative was to seek to help respond to the trauma that arose out of the Lusignan killings as well as to help repair some of the damage done to farming livelihoods during the clearing of the backlands in Buxton and other areas,” Zephyr said.

The project which commenced in May this year and which concludes in September includes technical support and monitoring for projects in the areas of farming, fish-drying, pig-rearing and jewellery making. Recipients were given piglets and seeds while jewellers were provided with equipment to shore up their businesses,

Zephyr explained that the GSBA had presented a proposal to the UNDP to provide funding for the project and that the selection of beneficiaries had been preceded by workshops for applicants. “Arising out of the workshops we were able to secure information that helped us determine who should benefit from the initiative,” Zephyr said.  He explained that the project was seeking particularly to identify persons who were affected by the problems along the East Coast corridor.

According to Zephyr while most of the residents had expressed a desire to pursue poultry rearing, the UNDP had requested that the project embrace alternative ventures since it was currently supporting another poultry-related project.

Zephyr told Stabroek Business that the Ministry of Agriculture had also supported the project by providing funds to help in the refurbishing of the infrastructure associated with pig-rearing. “Apart from the financial assistance which we received from the Ministry, we were also afforded technical advice that helped the pig farmers improve the conditions under which they work,” Zephyr said.

Meanwhile, according to Zephyr, beneficiaries from the project were required to sign contracts under which they have agreed to plough back part of the profits from their current ventures into enhancing and expanding their operations.  “In order to ensure the sustainability of this project the contract also stipulates that in the case of the pig formers, three each of the first litter of pigs produced by each farmer must be given to another person to help them get started.

Meanwhile the GSBA President told Stabroek Business that the project was also seeking to provide marketing support for farmers through the New Guyana Marketing Corporation.

“A huge plus for this initiative is the fact that we have actually been able to get communities that were perhaps suspicious of each other to work together.” Zephyr said.

The establishment of a Credit Bureau to help provide funding for the development of small and incubating businesses remains one of the main hurdles to the creation of a thriving small business sector in Guyana, according to President of the Guyana Small Business Association (GSBA) Patrick Zephyr.

Speaking with Stabroek Business earlier this week Zephyr said that the setting up of the Guyana Small  Business Council two years ago has not been attended by the kind of momentum necessary to move small business in Guyana forward.

Zephyr, who is himself a member of the Council told Stabroek Business that promised state funding for the Council has not materialised and that the agreed setting up of a Small Business Bureau has not been forthcoming. He said that while the GSBA has been seeking to build its membership by providing training programmes and small business support projects with the assistance of funding agencies more financial support was needed for the small business sector.

According to Zephyr a decision had been taken since last year that the National Competitiveness Council was to provide funding to the Small Business Council in order that the Council could extend assistance to local small business organizations including the GSBA. “The problem here is that the Small Business Council has been asked to secure a consultancy to outline its programme of activities and this has not been produced as yet.”

Zephyr disclosed that during the first year of its operations the Small Business Council received a subvention of $1m from government and that that figure had been increased to $1.5m in the second year. “Those sums are simply not enough,” he added.

Zephyr said that President Bharrat Jagdeo had indicated that government’s support for the Small Business Council was dependent on the preparation of a detailed work programme which set out the plans of the Council for supporting the small business community in Guyana. “My own impression is that the President is supportive of the small business community,” Zephyr said.

“There is an urgent need for a robust response to the needs of the small business community. Many owners of small and micro enterprises live from day to day and depend on their daily earnings to support their families,” Zephyr said.