Basseterre, St. Kitts, February 23, 2023 (SKNIS): The Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) within the Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship held a Customer Service Training workshop for small business owners from across the Federation on February 22, 2023.
This workshop is one of several workshops planned for the remainder of the year that will benefit small and medium-sized businesses as the unit continues its mandate of strengthening small businesses across the Federation.
At the event, Minister of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the Hon. Samal Duggins took the opportunity to encourage business owners to take advantage of the resources available to them.
“I am very impressed with the turnout this morning and very delighted to see all of you here, a wonderful cross-section of gender, age, and also geographical backgrounds as I see a number of faces I recognize from different areas around the country and I am happy to see that…I have always believed that small businesses are the engine to any society and it is persons like yourself. Barring what we hear about the TDC and Horsford’s and bigger companies, it is really persons like yourselves that drive the economy. When you earn a dollar, that dollar goes right back into the economy. Whether it is buying baby food, paying rent, buying something to eat, that dollar circulates,” said Minister Duggins.
The Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship is working to diversify the domestic economy to create more successful small businesses and empower entrepreneurs with the modern techniques and skills needed to be competitive in the international marketplace.
Minister Duggins further stated that he hopes that all participants of the customer service training would have learned valuable lessons than can benefit their businesses in the medium and long term.
“As you prepare for this workshop, it is a critical part of our mandate as we are committed to assisting small business development. We are working on more financing for small businesses, we have a number of projects in the pipeline, one of which is the collaboration with The Development Bank where we will be providing assistance in getting soft loans for our small businesses at one of the most favorable rates at 2.5%. I do not think there is any loan, anywhere as low as that at this point in time. In short, the order that should be rolling out. We are also looking at how we can find grant funding for some of the businesses that may not be in the position to get loans and so again these are things that are already in the pipeline. So, as we strive to improve our small business sector, we ask for you to bear with us just a little while,” said Minister Duggins.
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