Gaskin commits to examining challenges for marginalised groups starting businesses

The Guyana Equality Forum (GEF) has welcomed the Government’s commitment to examine the challenges faced by marginalised groups when it comes to starting small businesses in Guyana.

The GEF met with Business Minister Dominic Gaskin on March 29 to discuss some of the collective challenges their constituents face in realising the right to work, both in relation to entrepreneurship and seeking meaningful employment.

The GEF delegation comprised Sabine McIntosh of the Deaf Association of

Business Minister Dominic Gaskin

Guyana (DAG); Danuta Radzik of Help and Shelter (H&S); along with Joel Simpson and Schemel Patrick of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD).

McIntosh explained to the Minister the plight of persons with hearing disabilities in seeking employment despite being fully capable and extensively trained.

The Deaf Mission, in partnership with the Board of Industrial Training (BIT), provided opportunities for deaf persons to benefit from skills-training initiatives and to date a number of deaf youth have been trained in sewing, cosmetology, auto-body work, among other areas.

“The challenges that the group faces are in fortifying employment and in accessing capital for their own employment ventures,” the representative explained.

McIntosh emphasised the need for youth-friendly systems to be adopted which ensure that young persons were able to successfully access capital to create their own businesses.

With regard to employment, she called for more organisations and Private Sector companies to employ more deaf persons.

McIntosh also urged Minister Gaskin to work on making start-up capital for young persons with disabilities more available and accessible for them to develop micro-enterprises, either through the Small Business Bureau or other State-supported programmes which fall within his portfolio.

Radzik, in her presentation to the Minister, noted Help and Shelter’s work with abused women and their commitment to ensuring that these women become economically independent, and pointed out that one of the challenges faced by the organisation’s clients was the difficulties in accessing capital to initiate micro-enterprises. She also noted the need for training programmes that would equip these women with the skills needed to become successful entrepreneurs.

Simpson, for his part, noted incidents of discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) workers also occur frequently in the Private Sector. He stressed that with the absence of specific prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the Prevention of Discrimination Act 1997, LGBT persons in Guyana are left unprotected and made susceptible to discrimination in the workplace, with essentially no consequences under the law. Simpson requested Minister Gaskin’s commitment to support an amendment to the Prevention of Discrimination Act 1997 to include “sexual orientation and gender identity” as grounds for discrimination.

GEF said the Minister’s responses were favourable as he accepted that more needed to be done as it related to ensuring the ease of access to funds for marginalised groups.

“He underscored the importance of ensuring that employment opportunities are available for these groups,” GEF said.

The organisation said the Minister categorically stated that he did not support discrimination against any group and noted that he would appreciate seeing a draft of the amendment that SASOD and the GEF are proposing.

GEF said Minister Gaskin urged the organisation to follow up with him to ensure their concerns are addressed and that they are connected to the State agencies mandated to assist them in achieving mutual goals.