Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin last Wednesday confirmed that there had been a financial shortfall in the returns from last November’s Business Exposition staged by government to create a market opportunity for the small business sector and that prize winners in the Business Pitch competition staged as part of the event were indeed yet to receive their prizes.
“There are five persons involved and I myself only learnt about the shortfall last week and we are arranging to let them have their monies by next week,” Gaskin told Stabroek Business. He said that the amount owing to the prize winners totaled $1.1 million including the $500,000 first prize.
Responding to a question regarding the success or failure of the event Gaskin told this newspaper that while he was happy with the “model” which the event had taken the $38.5 million spent on the exercise was higher than he had expected.
“While the event was not intended to be a cost-recovery exercise I am not convinced that we were careful enough. The turnout might have been low against what was expected.”
Gaskin said he had only received the report on the November Business Expo “overnight” but that it was his understanding that “some good things happened” during the event and that despite the disappointments the Business Expo might have been sufficiently encouraging to warrant repeating.
Meanwhile Gaskin told Stabroek Business that his ministry was seeking to fashion a small business culture that would create more opportunities for people who are out of jobs. “We would like to place a lot more emphasis on the creation of a vibrant small business sector that goes beyond the kinds of pursuits through which people simply ‘ketch deh hand.’ We need our small businesses to get respect and to grow where possible.”
Asked about the progress being made in the rollout of the ongoing LCDS Micro and Small Enterprise Development Project (MSED) Gaskin said he believes there may have been “design flaws” in the project. He said that he was yet to make a thorough evaluation of the projects that had benefited from the initiative though he disclosed that efforts are in place to “speed up” disbursements of funding to project beneficiaries. “Perhaps the time is right for me to speak with the people executing the project about what they are doing,” Gaskin added.
