CATEGORY:ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
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By Trevor Thwaites, Inside Grenada correspondent
Friday October 20,2006



ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada - Small and medium size business development received a short in the arm, with the launch of the Grenada Business Gateway Project last week Thursday at the Grenada Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC).

The European Union has committed EC$1.7 million to this initiative. That will help the GIDC recruit private sector officials to manage the business services support unit, train local counselors, deliver training programs in entrepreneurship and establish appropriate databases.

Head of the delegation of the European Union Commissions for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Ambassador Amos Tincani, said that the assistance is part of the Special Framework of Assistance (SFA) initiative to reform and harmonize the banana industry and mitigate against the detrimental effects of the islands economies, because of the erosion of trade preferences for the important European market.

He said that the SFA Project provides for the establishment of national business incubators in each of the Windward Islands, designed to provide localized business support services for entrepreneurs especially ICT enabled innovators, as well as a regional business incubator network to facilitate knowledge sharing and create markets and opportunities for clients. “Small and medium enterprises will reap major benefits from the Gateway Project and other initiatives under the SFA 2005, that will continue to focus on the provision of services to enterprises,” the European official disclosed.

The launch was indeed a happy moment for Minister responsible for Private Sector and Business Development, Senator Einstein Louison. “The Grenada Business Project will set the groundwork for the development of the private sector in particular small and medium size businesses, which as you know is the backbone of the private sector”, a delighted Louison remarked. He said that the timely assistance will help the business sector effectively deal with some of the constraints, which have impeded the growth and competitiveness in the global market place.

He highlighted poor market information, lack of necessary skills and limited access to finance among some of the constraints faced by small and medium size businesses. However, top government business official said that the new project will address some of the setbacks by providing training in entrepreneurship practices, by assisting with the development of business plans, the preparation of databases in investments and trade opportunities and the harnessing of best practices and lessons of experience through study tours.

The immediate beneficiaries of the assistance will be the private sector, particularly small and medium size entrepreneurs in the rural sector and those currently and formerly employed in banana production. Others outside the business sector such as civil groups also stand to benefit from community access and the overall transformation in technology and legislature and regulatory framework to be enhanced through the programme.