A local company has been selected by the World Bank group InfoDev as a ”business enabler” to provide training and mentorship for Guyanese entrepreneurs and start-ups under a tailored package of instructions being offered by the World Bank’s Accelerate Caribbean Programme.
Following a five-week competition and selection process, GeoTechVision Guyana Inc. has been named as a “business enabler” and will participate in InfoDev’s 2015-2016 Business Incubation Clinic. Other business entities in the region have been identified to deliver similar coaching packages elsewhere in the region.
Business enablers refer to organizations such as incubators and innovation hubs that provide entrepreneurs and start-ups with support and motivation including training and mentoring, seed capital, professional advisory services, technology and workspace and events and networking opportunities.
By participating in the programme, enablers themselves can expect to boost their skills and broaden market linkages and networks in order to better equip themselves to provide enhanced services to the entrepreneurs they serve.
Accelerate Caribbean is part of the Entrepreneurship Programme for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC) – a seven-year Can$20 million programme funded by the Government of Canada. The programme seeks to build an enabling environment to foster high-growth and sustainable enterprises in the region. EPIC has three core activity pillars, namely mobile innovation, climate technology and women – led entrepreneurship.
These pillars are complemented by an access to finance facility for Caribbean entrepreneurs and a skills upgrading and capacity development programme for stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, business enablers, policymakers, universities, risk capital financiers and other private sector partners.
InfoDev is a global programme within the World Bank Group that works at the intersection of innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship and assists governments and technology-focused Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to improve capacity and skills, increase access to finance and markets, ensure the appropriate enabling policy and regulatory environment for business to flourish, and test out innovative solutions in developing country markets.
In an interview with Stabroek Business last week, GeoTechVision Managing Director Valrie Grant said that the company’s incubator programme will seek to foster the growth of ideas and to grow successful businesses through “assistance and support for entrepreneurs in developing new ventures.” The programme, Grant said, will also aim at nurturing young firms, “helping them to survive and grow during the start-up period when they are most vulnerable.”
Grant told Stabroek Business that what particularly qualifies companies to undertake such coaching programmes is the fact that as businesses, they have “been there” and can provide “practical coaching based on actual experience in the field of business.”
The businesswoman said that the GeoTechVision Business Incubation Programme will provide hands-on management assistance, information on access to financing and exposure to critical business and technical services as well as access to experienced entrepreneurs and consultants.
At its 50 Brickdam secretariat, GeoTechVision is in the process of preparing suitable incubator space and tools and equipment which it will offer firms participating in the programme. GeoTechVision will offer, among other things, flexible rental space, shared office services and access to equipment as part of its package of services to participants in its learning programme.
The advent of GeoTechVision as a business incubator service in Guyana coincides with the acceleration of opportunities to expand the growth of the small business sector in Guyana through services available to small entrepreneurs and aspirants under the Small Business Act. Some beneficiaries of grants for business start-ups under the Medium and Small Enterprise (MSE) project funded by the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) initiative have already benefitted from mentorship and training through other local training institutions.
