Notwithstanding the fact that small and micro enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the economic life of most countries, particularly in the instances of developing countries like Guyana, the history of the Business Support Organisations (BSO) in Guyana which includes the Private Sector Commission (PSC), has not, as a matter of policy, reflected in their pursuits, a commitment to providing sustained support for what we in Guyana deem to be small and micro enterprises.
On the whole, local BSOs are perceived as creatures of self-interest, their pursuits, including their lobbying of government, invariably serving their own interests, whether these be concerned with tax concessions or other measures that are in the gift of the state. These, at least, are some of the comments that come from small and micro business owners seeking support for the growth and development of their own businesses.
Listings of membership of local BSOs usually reflect a predominance of large, or at least sizeable businesses. At the same time the leadership of the BSOs has been dominated, for the most part, by a particular group of well-known businessmen, family members and high-level employees while their reporting, including their annual reports rarely if ever make any serious reference to their interaction with or contribution to small business development. One particular way in which BSOs might have been able to support small businesses in their pursuit of growth is by leading or at least significantly supporting a lobby targeting local commercial banks in order to persuade them to relax what has been mostly a tough position in providing financing for small business growth. Local BSOs can, as well, encourage their members and their employees to be part of a ‘buy local’ initiative in order to help expand the internal market for local goods and services.
At various levels there have been discourses regarding the opening of ‘windows’ inside the BSOs to enable access by small and micro businesses. There is, however, little persuasive evidence that these ‘windows’ have been created and if they have been, proof is lacking of such meaningful support as they have provided for small businesses.
There are, it has to be said, a few notable exceptions to the rule. The Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association’s (GMSA) UncappeD event has provided a useful local marketing opportunity for goods and services offered by the small and micro business sector though little is known about the impact that this has had on the growth of the participating businesses. Some BSOs have also offered training for small business owners in various disciplines related to business growth. Here again, however, a lack of post-event collaboration and feedback has meant that little is known about the impact of these initiatives.
One feels, as well, that BSOs can lobby their members to help support the efforts to market their goods and services abroad. Some of the major industries in Guyana (rice and rum, particularly, come to mind) possess well-established marketing infrastructures which, one would think, can help provide access for some products and services produced by small and micro enterprises to external markets.
With the advent of oil & gas and the attendant creation of business opportunities that could place the small and micro businesses on a sounder footing, one would also wish to see our local BSOs take initiatives that would help position local small businesses to secure jobs/contracts that might otherwise go to foreign companies. This, however, can only be done, if the level of collaborative discourse between the BSOs and small and micro enterprises, increases. At this time, there appears to be no common ground on which they can meet. Here, it has to be said that local small businesses have, over time and for a variety of reasons, encountered difficulties in creating and co-existing with umbrella organisations. Their weakness (or at least one of their weaknesses) resides in what, all too frequently, is the seeming preference of the individual vendors to ‘go it alone’.
There is no doubt, however, that the growth of the small and micro business sector depends on its ability to secure the support of the ‘big players’ in the business community, through the BSOs. There are some instances in which the interests of small operators and big businesses coincide, one of the standout ones being the collaborative efforts of small fruit-farmers and Demerara Distillers Ltd. Where the former supplies the latter with fruit for its TOPCO products. There are other examples in the craft sector, for example, where established craft shops work with small craftsmen and women who supply their businesses with product.
The weakness – or at least one of the primary ones – reposes in a failure, over time, to create structures that can realise the outcomes outlined in this article. It is a case, in large measure, of longstanding communication difficulties that have created wedges between and amongst businesses at various levels, one of the primary ones being a social stigmatization that labels some bona fide businesses as ‘hustles’ and others as ‘established enterprises’ and never the twain shall meet. That has to change.
