GNYC chairperson slams Govt for harsh requirements to access business loans

With unemployment affecting just about 40 per cent of Guyana’s youths, the Guyana National Youth Council (GNYC) has called for less burdensome requirements to access small business loans for young people who want to start a business.

This was one of the major issues highlighted at a recent youth forum, which gave young people an opportunity to vent their concerns.
During her presentation, Chairperson for Regional Inclusion and Participation at the GNYC, Shonette Waterman, slammed the Government for all the red tape presently attached to acquiring a small loan.
“We ask the Ministry and we ask all the other organisations who provide grants and funds for us to create businesses, we ask you please let’s cut down some of the red tape that is being placed into youths being able to have businesses. If we want to have funding for our businesses there’s a whole lot of unnecessary, we do understand that young people need to be resilient, we do understand that we need to be responsible, we do recognise and respect the fact that nobody’s just gunna give us a hand out or give us money. We recognise that but we also ask that we cut down some of the unnecessary red tape that is involved in us receiving funds for the establishment of businesses that we wish to do,” she said, as her fellow young people cheered in agreement”.
As a result of the high unemployment rate, Waterman related that youths, some of whom are students of the University of Guyana (UG), have also complained that repaying loans to the tertiary institution is burdensome since a job is not guaranteed after completion of their studies.
“I know a colleague of mine says it is unfair to have to pay over US$1000 per month to study medicine and then you are being paid less than 15 per cent of that as your salary. How can we pay back the loans if, for those persons who even took loans, how can you pay back a loan when you are given such a low salary?” she questioned.
This question was posed at a time when calls were made for free education from nursery to tertiary levels.
Senior Research, Planning and Development Officer at the Youth Department, Adeti DeJesus, told this publication that these concerns and recommendations along with others made at the forum will be compiled and forwarded to the policymakers.

“The Department of Youth recognises that youth unemployment is one of the major issues affecting our young people and we recognise that in order for us to play our part and to contribute to the solution in addressing this issue we need to have consultations with the young people,” DeJesus explained.
In April, the Director of Youth, Melissa Carmichael had admitted that the current funding for youth businesses is inadequate.
Carmichael made this statement during a recent press conference where she said, “The Department of Youth recognises again that issue. Coming out of a conference I attended sometime in 2018, I would have come back and spoke to a couple of recommendations and one of them is to look at the implementation of an entrepreneurial framework which will speak to all the regulatory framework regarding financing and young people”.
Young people in the past have complained about the Government’s unbothered attitude towards adequately financing their businesses, as other lending agencies such as banks require a large number of paperwork before they issue funding.
In fact, the recent disclosure that just about 40 per cent of Guyanese youths are unemployed has raised even more concerns as to what the Government has done or is doing to remedy the disturbing situation.
According to the Department of Youth, the agency has been trying hard to finance some business ideas and projects through the Youth Innovation Programme of Guyana (YIPOG).
According to Carmichael, “The Department of Youth has on board a youth innovation programme which has been given $70 million this year, $70 (million) last year and $50 million in the year before to look at development for young people, their proposals and so on and the reason this was brought on board is because we recognise that there aren’t the necessary frameworks with regards to the financing (or) easy access to the banks and so on”.