A cursory glance at the Stabroek Business’ editorial focus over the past year or so will reveal that much of our reporting has targeted the issue of the fate of small and micro businesses in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. To this, it is entirely appropriate that we add the floods of recent weeks which would have impacted heavily on the large numbers of small and micro businesses in the farming and agro-processing sectors.
We have sought to make the public continually aware of the fact that there are small and micro businesses that continue to do their best in what are particularly difficult situations, the point being that whereas larger, more established businesses ought to possess a greater capacity to soak up pressure, for micro (and there are more of these around than we might imagine) and small business it all too frequently, boils down to putting food on the table daily.
The underlying motive for our heavy small- and micro-business bias is to do what we can to encourage consumers to support locally produced goods, in the agro-processing sector. We have found, for example, that the supermarket appeal for some products is limited, a circumstance that has to do, in large measure, with packaging and labelling, two areas in our view that require a greater level of investment than the Small Business Bureau is equipped to provide.
Some of the worst-hit of our micro and small businesses simply folded before the onslaught of loss of market arising out of the advent of COVID-19 and though we hope that their present circumstances are temporary we have our doubts in many instances.
Leaving aside the launch of the Small Busi-ness Bureau in 2013, governments, before and after then, have neglected to pay a great deal of attention to micro and small businesses. This much is reflected in the decidedly modest sums that are allocated to small business development, a circumstance that applies to the Small Business Bureau as well where resource allocation is nowhere near enough to generate the meaningful growth and expansion of the businesses under its umbrella. Truth be told, government’s attitude to supporting micro and small businesses over the years has amounted to nothing short of shameless tokenism that raises poignant questions about the extent of the state’s commitment to nurturing and encouraging growth and self-reliance at the level of the working class.
One might add that this circumstance has applied across political administrations, the pace and progress of state-driven initiatives that target micro- and small-business growth being sufficiently gingerly as to be justifiably described as scandalous. Beyond that, the Stabroek Business has said repeatedly – and we continue to belabour that view – that there is no persuasive evidence whatever that the country’s Business Support Organizations are overly concerned with the circumstances of micro and small businesses.
The upshot of all this is that an altogether voiceless micro- and small-business sector must proceed entirely on its own and while there has been, in recent years, some evidence of growth in areas of small and micro business, most of this has been due, almost entirely, to the grit and determination of the intrepid business owners. Nor is one particularly encouraged by the prevailing environment to believe that much will change in a hurry.
It may not be noticeable to everyone that micro and small businesses, particularly in the agriculture and agro-processing sectors are making a herculean effort to stay afloat in their prevailing crisis. At the Stabroek Business we are inundated with requests from owners of those businesses, particularly in the agriculture, agro-processing and creative sectors, for promotional write-ups, some of our most rewarding moments deriving from the ‘thank you’ feedback that we sometimes receive, attended by news that business has begun to ‘pick up,’ however modestly. Frankly, we continue to be particularly impressed with the persistence of Farmers Markets in areas like Mocha/Arcadia, Linden, and parts of the west coast and east coast of Berbice, and as far as we can, covering these events are a particular priority. There is no reason, incidentally, why, from the standpoint of 2021 being the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV), the Ministry of Agriculture couldn’t ‘pitch in’ with farmers at these Farmers Markets.
Where are we going with all this? There is, in our view, no question that government continues to be asleep at the wheel as far as the growth and development of micro and small businesses is concerned. Across at least three changes in Government the clause in the Small Business Act that speaks to a 20 per cent allocation of state contracts to small businesses has languished, with successive administrations seemingly indifferent to the huge potential for small business growth if this clause were properly activated. This, arguably, is perhaps the most poignant example of government continually blowing hot and cold on the issue of micro and small business development. That has to end.
