Small business operators participating in the November 27 – 29 Busi-ness Expo are being challenged to participate in a novel competition that could see their entrepreneurial fortunes transformed overnight.
The Ministry of Business disclosed earlier this week that participants in the Expo are all eligible to present a two-minute business pitch to a panel of judges, arising out of which the winner will receive considerable financial support towards the actualization of the business idea.
In a release on the competition, the Ministry of Business said the panel of judges, which will include retired Chairman of Demerara Distillers Ltd Yesu Persaud and long-serving Chairman of Banks DIH Ltd Clifford Reis will be looking for “the best innovative and sustainable business idea.”
The “pitch,” the Business Ministry said in its release, “is open to all micro, small and medium sized businesses whose entrepreneurs have a business idea and are confident that [they] can convince the panel of judges of the soundness of this idea.” The release said the winner of the competition will receive a so far unspecified “monetary reward and coaching” to enable the actualization of the business idea.
The competition, which will test the verbal communication skills of the participants will, according to the media release, also seek to test the originality, practicality and sustainability of the business proposal.
The business “pitch” competition comes in the wake of the emergence of the Small Business Bureau and the subsequent acceleration of a focus of better facilitating the creation and growth of small and medium-sized businesses enterprises. Local beneficiaries of loans and grants directly from the bureau or through supporting intervention from the bureau to support lending by commercial banks under the Micro and Small Businesses (MSED) Project have benefited from training in a number of business-related areas including the preparation of business plans.
This year’s Business Exposition, a temporary replacement for the annual GuyExpo will afford local small businesses in the manufacturing, agro-processing, fashion, creative, jewellery and cosmetics and other sectors to showcase and market their products without the distraction of the presence of other larger, better-known business houses.
