A total of sixty-four persons were on Friday awarded grants under the Micro and Small Enterprise Development (MSED) project funded through Guyana’s forest protect partnership with the Kingdom of Norway
The project which falls under the Low Carbon Development Strategy aims to promote small and medium scale businesses in Guyana through various sectors including agro processing, agriculture, farming, craft, eco-tourism and furniture manufacturing. The ceremony was held at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal.
The first ever Grant Awards and Partnership Ceremony was held to demonstrate the achievements of the Small Business Bureau (SBB) in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism Industry & Commerce. Observers monitoring the MSED project have been critical of the approximately 16-month hiatus between the October 2013 launch of the project and the eventual disbursement of grants of approximately $300,000 each. The Bureau has pointed to the fact that more than 900 persons have benefited from the training component of the project.
Minister of Tourism, Industry & Commerce, Irfaan Ali, told the gathering on Friday that the grant ceremony shows how a national policy is providing opportunities across Guyana. Ali added that many small businesses contribute to employment opportunities. He also referred to the Marriott Hotel project and said that it will bring more traffic to Guyana. He urged other hotel and restaurant owners to spend some time and analyze what is produced here and what is bought so that opportunities will be created for small businesses.
At the ceremony, a memorandum of understanding was also signed among the Deeds Registry, the Guyana Revenue Authority, Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited and the National Insurance Scheme in an effort to facilitate small businesses benefitting from partnership arrangements and entering the formal business economy.
Thus far, more than twenty million dollars have been approved for disbursement. The businesspersons presented with grants hailed from regions 2, 3, 4, 6, 9 and 10.
President Donald Ramotar officiated at the ceremony.
Clients who received grants include Alain Smith, Alicia Moore, Andrew & Rebekah Seabra, Angela Bacchus, Azad Hussain, Balwant Singh, Bibi Zaiena Hussain, Brantley Devair, Cameil Smith, Cheryl Me Roy, Clarence Alpin, Dahlia Lewis, Dawn Williams, Dennis Richards, Deonarine Persaud, Derita Thomas, Donald Thomas, Egland Grant, Enid Antonio, Euclyn Fredericks, Eugenie Coppin, Fazal Hussain, Glenda Morris, H. Rambarran, Heather Thompson, Helen Ramnauth, Horace Nelson, Ivyrene Cornelius, Janet Alexander, Janice Fraser, Keith Samuels, Laura Batson, Leonard Felix, Lilwan Singh, Mahadeo Prahalad, Maple Singh, Maria Lakeram, Marilyn Sangster, Mark Ramoo, Mathias Boyan, Michael Seabra, Mohamed Ozeer, Nazim Ally, Ornella Herman, Patricia Henry, Phulwate Gururam, Pradip Lorick, Ralph Hendricks, Ramdat Harrygobin, Ramzan Bassalat, Rena Herman, Rochelle Grant, Sahoi Hargobin, Shaneliza Henry, Sheryl basil, Shirley & Ronesha Henry, Simone Castang, Sooklall Jacob, Theola Ifill, Trevor Duncan, Valerie De Younge, Vishram Teekhram, Yonette Goodridge and Zaneesha Kamaloodeen. The project challenges beneficiaries of grants to create 2,200 jobs. They are also required to be registered as small businesses as defined by the Small Business Act of 2004 and compliant with the National Insurance Scheme and the Guyana Revenue Authority.
While the first phase of the US$10m project is deemed to have already begun and is scheduled to last two years, this newspaper understands that the oversight agency, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), will probably grant an extension period having regard to the lengthy delay in getting the project off the ground. The agreement to facilitate the release of the first tranche of US$5 million for the current phase of the project was signed by the Government of Guyana and the IDB in April 2013. This amount is expected to be dedicated to seeking to remove two of the major constraints to small business development, limited access to financing and a scarcity of technical and entrepreneurial skills.
