Local small businesses affiliated with the country’s Small Business Bureau (SBB) will be breathing a sigh of relief over last week’s announcement that they can anticipate some measure of financial relief from government in the light of the current slowdown of the country’s economy and the attendant reduction in commercial activity arising out of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several days before the announcement by the Bureau’s Chief Executive Officer Dr Lowell Porter that the Bureau’s clients will, upon application, benefit from a non-refundable state grant, this newspaper, which maintains a close monitoring relationship with the small business sector, had learnt from some business owners that the strictures associated with the onset of the pandemic had, in some instances, brought trading to a near shuddering halt. Here in Georgetown, where several small business owners dispose of their products through street vending, the cessation of significant aspects of downtown trading have seriously compromised their livelihoods.
