Minister of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Kerrie Symmonds.
Small and micro businesses will be given a safety net for the period the country goes back into lockdown.
For two weeks, starting February 3, financial assistance in the amount of $750 a week will be given to shops which will be affected by the pause of business; whereas vendors will receive $250 a week.
This assistance will also be extended to beauty salons, barbers, nail technicians, water sport and taxi operators.
Word of this came from Minister of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Kerrie Symmonds, during the COVID-19 update and press conference last night.
“The reality is that small business and micro businesses – the single operator, the entrepreneur…these are the people upon whose shoulders the pain of the shutdown financially falls the hardest. And that is simply because they simply do not have the financial wherewithal to cushion them for a long period when there is no access to any clients or any business,” he stressed.
“That is a reality everywhere there is a shutdown across the world. It is no less severe a problem in Barbados, and so therefore we have to be specifically sensitive to the small and micro enterprises in this country.”
Minister Symmonds is therefore urging shop operators and vendors, which also include small village shops, rum shops, food vendors, to reach out immediately to the Ministry of Commerce at commerce.smallbusiness@barbados.gov.bb to register their business.
“I want to invite all shop operators and all vendors across the community of vendors, especially those people who operate food stalls, food vans, to reach out to us,” he insisted, outlining that they must provide the name of the business, type of business, location and an account number to deposit the funds.
“We are going to put ourselves in the position where we are able to sift through the types of businesses that are being represented to us on the email, and to be in a position then to forward that information to the Ministry of Finance so that early next week, we can begin the process of offering people some degree of financial assistance.”
The Minister also revealed that Cabinet authorised an adjustment to the closure of all businesses that sell groceries other than the supermarkets.
He therefore noted that minimarts will open only in rural areas where there is no ease of access to supermarkets.
“For example, in St. Joseph there are only three mini marts but no supermarket, and therefore in that set of circumstances they will be able to open because you need to be able to give people who come from districts where there is no ease of access to a supermarket an opportunity to access the purchase of food,” he said, adding they will operate the same hours as supermarkets from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.