Three small business owners in the agro-processing sector have told the Stabroek Business that official support for struggling small and micro businesses has to go beyond the grants currently being offered by the state-run Small Business Bureau (SBB) since these are unlikely to make a significant impact on the survival of enterprises that are now on the brink of total collapse.
Expressing concerns that they may be tagged as ungrateful for comments on the grants currently being distributed by the Bureau, the three business owners, all of whom have realised some measure of success on the local market, are of the view that while the Bureau is doing what lies within its power, given the extent of its financial circumstances, more has to be done by the central government as well as other agencies to ensure that those small businesses that are threatened by the impact of COVID-19 on the economy as a whole, remain viable, since these have a lesser capacity to survive the onslaught of the pandemic.
