Part One
Stabroek Business: What was the thinking behind the National Small Business Week event? What was the Chamber seeking to accomplish?
GCCI President: National Small Business Week was built on the initiative of showcasing small businesses. We recognized that small businesses need to be captured in a formal setting, mentored, brought into an organization that would help them promote their businesses and learn how to do business. We recognized that gap, and we decided to showcase them. We did outreaches to sensitize them to our recognition of the gaps and our desire to work with them in a formal setting.
The next activity was ‘Teenternship’. This activity was twofold; we tackled young/prospective entrepreneurs and school-leavers, bringing them into the work environment to help them appreciate the role of a leader. We put them into a work environment where they could interact with Business Leaders in order to cause them to have a greater appreciation of what it takes to run a business. We also had the Business Mixer – part of the exercise where small business owners could network, market, and promote their businesses. There was also a seminar during which information was shared formally. There, we discussed issues related to finances, marketing and business acumen. We ended the week with Small Businesses being able to showcase their products to ‘sell’ their business. One of the objectives is to bring them into the fold. There were sixty exhibitors. Thirty of them were not members of any organization. Our objective is to bring them into the fold, to cause them to have direct access to information through the Chamber.
Stabroek Business: What were the takeaways from the outreach in Georgetown, Essequibo, Linden and Berbice?
GCCI President: What we recognize is that they (the small businesses) need access to information in a formal setting on issues relating to marketing, access to finance, and business development. The outreach to the Chambers in the Regions was more about knowledge-sharing and sensitizing and understanding that small businesses play a pivotal role in developing the economy. The Small Business sector holds the majority of the businesses. In the United Kingdom, small businesses account for more than ninety (90) percent of the business. In Guyana it is about seventy (70) percent.
Stabroek Business: What ‘condition’ did you find the Small Business community in? Could you tell us briefly about their strengths and their weaknesses?
GCCI President: Their strength is their willingness to have a business. They want to be self-employed. They want to be independent, to contribute to the economy. We also recognized their willingness to be in a formal environment. However, they need more knowledge of the Chamber. At the Business Mixer I presented my journey with the understanding that they could relate to similar experiences that they would be encountering.
Stabroek Business: Briefly, tell us about your own journey/what was your journey?
GCCI President: I moved from being a sole trader… started seventeen years ago. I acquired another technician and moved into a structured environment where we had to produce quotations, and invoices, after which, we had to learn about marketing, access to finance, being able to manage our accounts and knowing how to network. Eventually, I joined the Chamber where several mentors took me through my paces.
Stabroek Business: What, in your opinion, is why some small businesses are reluctant to move from being sole traders to joint ventures?
GCCI President: Some persons are reluctant because of a lack of knowledge. Traditionally, sole traders operated in a sector where you buy and sell. International companies want to have audited accounts; they want to see a structure.
Stabroek Business: Are there any across-the-board weaknesses that you have seen in the Small Business Sector? Is there a plan to look for remedies?
GCCI President: There is a need for knowledge. Some small business are not aware of the opportunities that exist. The Chamber is strategically positioned to fill that gap. Small Business owners who are Chamber members become part of a formal, structured environment where they benefit from knowledge-sharing and networking.
Stabroek Business: We at the Stabroek Business have picked up an enhanced interest in starting small businesses among women. Do you find that to be the case, and is providing support for women looking to become involved in small businesses one of the Chamber’s priorities?
GCCI President: About ninety (90) per cent of the exhibitors at our event were women. At the Chamber level between 43%-45% of the businesses are owned by women. We have a Membership and Diversity Committee. Diversity implies women-owned businesses. The Head of the Committee is a woman. The Chamber would have recognized that this emerging area needs to be nurtured.
Stabroek Business: Have you got plans to engage government on possibly providing specific forms of support for small businesses?
GCCI President: We have been working with the government through the Ministry of Tourism Industry and Commerce, specifically the Small Business Bureau (SBB), which is geared towards developing small businesses and access to finance. They offer short courses and training and ensure that small businesses are compliant. So the government has a body that caters for that, and we are the partner. In addition to that, our relationship is like a partnership. Hence Small Business Bureau is a partner at National Small Business Week. SBB is a sponsor, but the Ministry of Tourism Industry and Commerce is a partner.
End of Part One. Part Two of this interview will be published in the Friday August 11 issue of the Stabroek Business.
