GCCI urges more Govt support as initiative to showcase small businesses launched

With the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) on Wednesday launching an initiative geared at helping small enterprises, the organisation’s President, Timothy Tucker has called for more governmental support – especially in the area of funding – for these categories of businesses.
“There’s never enough for small businesses. As I said, access to finance, the Small Business Bureau has its limitations. We’re happy that their budget got increased, but, nevertheless, the amount of loops that a small business has to go through to get access, I think it’s too much,” Tucker stated during the launching ceremony of the GCCI’s inaugural National Small Business Week.

“In this country, we need more micro-finance institutions, we need better access to finance, we need cheaper cost of borrowing, and there’s no hiding the views of the Private Sector when it comes to this. That’s a very open discussion in the Private Sector currently,” Tucker added.
Slated for April 8 to 16, the National Small Business Week is aimed at raising the visibility of the GCCI’s micro, small and medium enterprise members.
Meanwhile, Tucker lamented that something as simple as access to land for small businesses could be very challenging.
“Access to simple things as land for small businesses is very restrictive especially with the cost of land presently. We know that the market demand is driving that cost up…but I know the Government would have put in their budget to have two incubators, one I think is in Berbice and one in Lethem, but we need in Georgetown as well,” Tucker reasoned.
“All the building out that is being done along the East Coast and East Bank with new development, they also need to have an industrial area attached to those areas so that we can ease the congestion, all the small businesses are in Georgetown,” the GCCI President noted.
Nevertheless, he commended the work done so far by the Government in the various sectors, but pointed out that this matter should be addressed.
Meanwhile, the National Small Business Week initiative was launched through the GCCI’s Entrepreneurship and Small Business Committee.
The GCCI President revealed that almost 40 per cent of the organisation’s membership is made up of micro and small businesses.
“Private Sector organisation is always seen as the ‘big boys club’ and it’s been pushed out there that we only represent what the ‘big boys’ want…this [is a] membership-based and membership-driven organisation and it represents the needs, the wants, and the interest of its members and the members that get representation are members who go out there and represent themselves through the organisation that they are part of. That’s how GCCI is mandated and operates,” he explained.
“Some members might be more active than other members and that’s why their concerns are heard… so, I encourage everyone, there’s no room in GCCI that is only for big boys, it is for everyone,” Tucker added.
Moreover, Chairman of the GCCI’s Entrepreneurship and Small Business Committee, Dr Rosh Khan assured that the initiative would be beneficial.
“When you look at the mandate of the GCCI, it’s advocate policies, it is to strengthen trade and investment, it is to foster meaningful connections and ultimately, it is to sustain and expand economic growth, and that’s exactly what this initiative – the National Small Business Week is all about, but with a specific focus and a specific lens on small businesses,” Dr Khan noted.
“So, what we’ve done through the National Small Business Week is really to create a platform to showcase the micro, the nano, the small and, in some cases, even the medium-size businesses so that they can share with the wider public and with members of the business community what they do in terms of products and services,” he added.