POLICY COMING SOON
Tue, 09/20/2016 - 12:00am
Barbados’ new Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Sector Policy is nearing completion.
Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss, told The Barbados Advocate that the formalities of launching the new document, which is intended to enhance and guide the development of that sector, has already been through one stage of the Cabinet process, and it is now again with his Ministry for fine-tuning, then for final Cabinet approval in a matter of weeks.
“We are going to do a formal launch of it when Parliament reconvenes or there about, but we are not waiting on that, there are some initiatives that have been started. Recognising the issue of access to finance being a matter of concern for example, the Minister of Finance announced $50 million round of financing, which I would say would come over time; it is not going to be a lump sum to be injected immediately,” he said.
His comments came as he also disclosed there are plans to make some changes to the state-owned FundAccess and the Small Business section of the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation to better prepare them to help the MSME sector. The aim of this re-tooling effort, the Minister said, is to have a “re-energised micro and small business sector” that will be more vibrant, innovative and internationally competitive.
“For example, the issue of innovation is one that can really resonate well within that sector and create new business potential needed to help grow the economy. I know the BIDC Board has a paper it is looking at giving targeted support for innovation, particularly among young entrepreneurs and I’ve met with BIMAP and BIDC and they are going to collaborate a lot more in terms of the training of entrepreneurs in Barbados, targeted at the small and micro sector as well,” he said.
Inniss added, “So you can see that our Small Business Development Centre model has started to roll out and I am very excited to see what will unfold.”
The Minister went on to state that in that regard, his ministry has also been working closely with the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme, the University of the West Indies and BIDC. He said representatives from those entities have all undergone training in Barbados and abroad at the University of San Antonio in Texas. He explained that such training along with Government’s other efforts, are to ensure that the support structures for the sector are properly and adequately strengthened to be able to sustain a vibrant MSME sector.
“We’ve focused on projects such as enhanced access to financing which would lead to training in matters of accounting finance and the things you need to run a business successfully; innovation is a key driver in that as well. We’ve targeted sectors that we feel can also help earn foreign exchange and save foreign exchange. Certainly greater focus will be placed on young people and I firmly believe that we need to leave our offices and go out there with the people who matter most and see what they are going through on a daily basis. This too is necessary if we are to enhance the ecosystem so our business sector can thrive,” he indicated.
Inniss’ comments came as he also pledged to work closer with the Small Business Association of Barbados to drive initiatives for the sector forward. (JRT)