Some changes are coming to the State owned agency, FundAccess, whose goal is to foster the development of micro enterprises in this country.
So says Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss. The Minister made the disclosure in a recent interview with The Barbados Advocate, as he said he is about to consider the appointment of a new General Manager to run FundAccess, and will also be giving serious thought to initiatives that can be employed to make the agency more independent.
The Small Business Development Minister is adamant that with that agency expected to be one of those tasked with disbursing the $50 million promised to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector by Government, there is a need to ensure that it is able to properly manage the deployment of the additional finances to the sector.
“I keep pointing out that I am taking a business approach to these matters, and so I want to know that any department within my ministry that is going to receive a significant increase in financing is structured to accommodate that level of financing. So I am about to consider some changes for that institution, to get it to the point where it can really be a more self-financing institution,” he said.
Inniss maintained that entities like FundAccess must be self-financing, especially in the current economic environment, so that they are not heavily relying on the State to keep them viable. This, he lamented, is too often the case for several Government entities, and must become a thing of the past.
“We do not want a situation where they get funds, disburse them to small businesses, and in another two years or so they are coming back to Government asking for a subsidy. They must stand on their own. In order to ensure that is the case, it means that those who borrow or seek financing from FundAccess or other state agencies that I have responsibility for, must present the agencies with business plans that are viable, so that FundAccess can feel fairly confident that they will be repaid,” he said.
With that in mind, he insisted that any changes undertaken at FundAccess will be aimed at boosting the MSME sector to make it more thriving, innovative and internationally competitive. Minister Inniss said that Government is very committed to creating the requisite environment to allow the MSME sector to participate more meaningfully in Barbados, as there is tremendous potential within the sector to generate jobs, earn and save foreign exchange and also promote entrepreneurship. (JRT)