Time for enterprises to start benefiting from the small business support project

As best as we can tell there is really no good reason why the provisions of the Small Business Act cannot be fully and effectively implemented at an early date in the new year. That is to say that the training associated with teaching small entrepreneurs who have signed on with the Small Business Bureau (SBB) should be up and running, the relationships between the commercial banks and the borrowers should be on the way towards being cemented and the evaluation process by the Small Business Council (SBC) that must precede the final approval of applications for the various forms of support should be in place.

The truth of the matter is that with almost a decade having passed between the passage of legislation and the arrival at a place where small business owners and aspirants can anticipate access to state support and bank lending for their various projects, there is no other good reason why the project cannot get underway now.

This is not to say that recklessness, imprudent management and a lack of transparency should be the order of the day. US$5 million, which is the startup amount for the project, is a sizeable sum that can give impetus to quite a few small businesses. The problem is, of course, that well-intentioned initiatives can usually be undermined by the scourges of nepotism and corruption with the net effect being the complete derailment of those good intentions.

While, presumably, we can rely on the commercial banks to manage their relationships with the small business borrowers efficiently, it is, unfortunately, the areas of the project that fall directly under state control that might give cause for worry. For example, the project makes allowances for the SBB to extend limited grants and loans to some applicants and it is in situations like these that nepotism can often rear its ugly head.

The are other considerations too like those that have to do with monitoring  the progress of the small businesses that fall within the fold of the project to ensure that they are efficiently run and they meet one of the more important conditions, that is the creation of additional jobs. Here again, the effective execution of the monitoring function can ensure that small business owners do not simply access funding and then fade away on meeting the conditions attached to their involvement with the project.

Until this project came into being little was being done by the state to give meaningful support to the small business sector. Most of those micro and small enterprises that have survived and even grown have done so by dint of their own perseverance. The government deserves a measure of credit for making the project possible but it can quickly forfeit that credit if it places any further hurdles in the way of the immediate, full and effective commencement of the project. The kudos will come when people begin to benefit from it.

We continue to be supportive of this project but would wish to re-state our concern that it arrives at a stage of being ‘up and running’ without further delay.