There is an air of expectancy in the small business sector associated with the emergence of a suite of exciting support projects under the auspices of the state-run Small Business Bureau. Arguably, the most valued of these projects are those associated with providing various forms of support for small business operators seeking investment capital through commercial bank lending.
The absence of collateral to support such loan applications has long been the Achilles heel of the small business sector. On the surface at least, it would appear that the Small Business Bureau would have sufficient clout and certainly sufficient funding to get commercial banks to take small businesses more seriously.
Setting aside the positive developments arising out of the advent of the Small Business Bureau we have witnessed the unfolding of other small business-related projects under the auspices of the Partners of the Americas, a non-profit organization, which has been instrumental in securing grants for various forms of small business support.
What has been pleasing about the Partners of the Americas projects is their focus on improving the quality of life in poor rural communities by making expertise available to farmers through which they can enhance their farming techniques. Here, the projects that come to mind are those that (1) seek to popularise the techniques associated with hydroponic agriculture; (2) provide specialist training in the production of compost both to improve soil quality and to enhance the environment and (3) offer seminars for sheep and goat farmers that instruct them in the business of farming.
Another interesting recent small business-related development has been the work being done by the Ministry of Agriculture’s REED project which targets groups in the agriculture, agro-processing and other sectors for technical training and grants that enable them to build capacity. While an examination of some of these projects – including those associated with livestock farming in parts of West Coast Berbice — suggest that the level of organisation within some of the groups leaves much to be desired, the fact is that the support that they are receiving is, in many cases, appearing to make a difference.
Another interesting development in the small business sector is the launch later today of the Guyana Chapter of the Women Entrepreneurs Network (WEN), an initiative that derives from a forum convened in Washington last year under the auspices of the US State Department and which seeks to target small businesses countrywide for various forms of technical and material support. The organisers of the local WEN Chapter have told this newspaper that their current focus is on building a membership base and preparing a Charter that outlines the broad objectives of the organisation. It appears that the movers behind the creation of WEN have had discourses with the US Embassy in Georgetown and have received heartening assurances about such support as could be forthcoming for the group.
One is hard-pressed to recall a single year in recent times when so much appeared to be happening for the small business sector. Each of the initiatives mentioned has benefited from a measure of media publicity.
The problem here, of course, is that we have grown used to initiatives associated with the small business sector that emerge then disappear just as quickly without coming anywhere near to serving the purpose for which they are intended. With the small business sector now seemingly bursting at the seams with enterprises waiting to blossom this might appear to be a potentially good year for the sector, though, in the light of previous experience, we must keep our fingers crossed.
