On the issue of sustained advocacy for the creation of a convivial environment in which the country’s micro and small businesses can grow and prosper, the Stabroek Business readily admits to having been something of a ‘stuck record’ in its editorial ’offerings. Our rationale is simple. In circumstances where formal employment in both the public and private sectors is limited by the number of places available and by the conditions of service, not least the wages and salary levels that obtain, we believe that those many thousands of Guyanese who have opted for self-reliance through self-employment are worthy of both commendation and practical support.
Contextually, there is nothing wrong with us creating a designated Small Business Day, on which we seek to focus public attention on being generous in their patronage of the country’s micro and small businesses, across the board. In a limited way, the Stabroek Business has sought to bring to public attention, as many of these businesses as we can from various parts of the country. We have included in our reportage Market Days that are held in various mostly coastal locations.
We believe, however, that the level of growth-driven support provided for micro and small businesses by both the state and the various Business Support Organizations (BSOs) has, over the years, been inadequate. Recall that it took almost ten years for the 2004 Small Business Act to be afforded actual ‘life’. Even then, the critical role that small businesses can play in supporting self-reliance and poverty- alleviation has found little consolidation in the presence of the Act. While it is true that its passage in the National Assembly was followed, albeit more than a decade later, by the creation of the Small Business Bureau, there is, even now, no real evidence that the Bureau, up to this time, has the human and financial resources to enable it to have a transformational effect on the micro-business community.
Nor, for that matter, have our BSOs demonstrated any serious interest in seriously embracing micro and small businesses, working with them to create another solid entrepreneurial layer which, potentially, can result in enhanced wealth-creation and higher standards of living across the board.
What makes our BSOs important to the growth of a micro- and small-business sector is the fact that many of their owners, while not lacking in the imagination and ingenuity which are necessary to create saleable goods and services, may be deficient in other aspects of business acumen including disciplines like product presentation and marketing. Additionally, there are instances in which their considerable productive capabilities are not matched by skills associated with engaging institutions with which they need to work, including lending institutions. The stunted growth of many of our small business ventures that have demonstrated proof of their ability to offer goods and services that can be competitive on local as well as external markets is in large measure, an extension of government’s overwhelming failure, over the years, to play what one might call ‘the anchor role’ in creating a convivial marketing environment.
If the evidence of previous years was not sufficient, we have seen enough of the resilience of micro and small businesses – farmers, agro-processors, and manufacturers of a bewildering array of culinary offerings, cosmetics, clothing, craft et al, even in the constraining environment of the COVID-19 pandemic, to recognise that their resilience remains largely undiminished.
If there is nothing wrong with Guyana being positioned in the oil and gas ‘lane’ – and that, it would appear, is where both the government and the mainstream private sector are positioned at this time – it would do the image of the overall governance process a power of good if it provides a greater measure of evidence that the upgraded development architecture of Guyana must make adequate room for an ambitious, bustling micro and small business sector that remains both highly empowered and highly visible in an illuminated socio-economic environment that is driven by far more exalted ambitions than obtain at this time.
