In what has become increasingly determined efforts by micro and small enterprises to work their way to the top of the entrepreneurial ladder, young aspiring business persons are communing with increasing regularity to ‘compare notes’ and exchange ideas with a view to incrementally gathering knowledge that can help consolidate their business pursuits.
Such gatherings are aggressively supported by Business Support Organizations (BSOs) like Professional Training Employment and Consultancy Services whose Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Marlon Joseph has been working to raise the profiles of emerging businesses keen to take their enterprises to the ‘next level.’
On Sunday September 26, representatives of twenty-five small businesses from various sectors gathered at the recently opened Heliconia Restaurant and Lounge, situated at the junction of Robb and Camp streets (directly opposite the Republic Bank) for an informal but nonetheless intense discourse on strategies for taking their businesses forward under the theme “Together We win.”
What turned out to be an intense and enlightening exchange probed a number of issues of concern to micro and small businesses including business growth, strategies for reaching target markets, training, and access to finance. During the sustained exchange at the forum, participants demonstrated a particular interest in skills enhancement in areas that are likely to lift the viability of these respective operations.
Significantly, the forum was staged against the backdrop of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, a circumstance which meant that participants were also particularly concerned about how to respond to challenges that include shrinking markets and loss of labour.
In a post-event conversation with the Stabroek Business, Joseph said that Professional Training Employment and Consultancy Services was committed not just to providing training that targeted micro and small entrepreneurs interested in business growth, but also to encouraging them to “remain focussed” during what he described as “a challenging period particularly for small businesses.
Some of the participants told the Stabroek Business that the exchange served as an enlightening experience that challenged them to persist in their respective ventures.
