Twelve private training institutions have signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the Small Business Bureau (SBB) to train entrepreneurs.
GINA said this is being facilitated through the Micro and Small Enterprise Development programme (MSED).
The MoU will allow these institutions to train young entrepreneurs, who have benefitted from cash grants and loans through the SBB, in managing their own small businesses, GINA added.
The institutions which will facilitate the training are the Ruimveldt Life Improvement Centre, Generation Next, Roadside Baptist Church Skills Training Centre, Partners of the Americas, Kuru Kuru Co-operative College, Action Coach Guyana, Guyana School of Agriculture, EMPRETEC, Cerulean Inc, the Critchlow Labour College, Management Options and Interweave Solutions.
Minister of Business and Tourism, Dominic Gaskin encouraged the trainers to utilise modern technologies which would make the training relevant to the contemporary business environment.
GINA said that the MSED programme which began in 2013 has trained more than 1,000 young entrepreneurs who accessed small loans and grants through the SBB.
Officer in Charge of the bureau, Gillian Edwards-Griffith said, “We have done to date 193 grants, $300,000 each, and in terms of loans with financial partners, we have three, of which two are active giving a total of 63 loans”.
The MSED programme will be evaluated by an independent body to give the SBB a fair idea of the successes prior to the second phase of the training.
Funding will be evenly disbursed among the training institutions, GINA added.
