A nine-year-old local music school has been awarded a $1 million grant along with a one-year capacity-building support system through the Small Business Bureau (SBB) designed to equip the institution with the capacity to develop sound and prudent financial best practices in order to facilitate its continued financial growth.
The privately-run Foundation Seven Music School was selected for the award from among 50 small and medium enterprises in the agro-processing, music and art and craft sectors that were tasked with critically examining the financial landscape within which they operate as well as the laws and regulations governing their access to financial instruments and the need for adapting a sound entrepreneurial persona to improve their current abilities.
The project was undertaken by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry through its Caribbean Development Bank-supported project Improving Competitiveness in Guyana and Strengthening of Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) to Increase Non-Traditional Exports in collaboration with the World University Services of Canada through its Government of Canada-funded Promotion of Regional Opportunities for Produce through Enterprises and Linkages project.
Funding for the grant was provided by the Republic Bank (Guyana) Ltd and Scotiabank Guyana to enable the setting up of a Wealth Creation Fund.
Participants in the initiative were initially invited to take part in a two-day SME Credit Forum for entrepreneurs that allowed for the financial partners, Republic Bank, Scotiabank and the Institute for Private Enter-prise Development to provide them with guidance on credit limitations and opportunities for improving financial transactions as well as allowing them (the participants) to make inputs of their own. The two-day session also included a business-to-business networking opportunity that allowed participating SMEs to exhibit their products and to secure constructive feedback from other key private sector partners.
