The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP 

Tribune Business Reporter 

ykemp@tribunemedia.net 

A SMALL Business Development Centre (SBDC) executive told the Andros Business Outlook yesterday that plans for the agency to launch its own crowd-funding platform are in development and will be launched “really soon.”

Samantha Rolle said: “The intent for the crowd-funding is to allow for businesses to receive financial investments from multiple persons.

“This type of funding option is usually implemented through a digital platform and we, in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank, hope to launch this platform really soon.”

If successful this will make the agency second behind the Arawak X crowd-funding platform that was launched earlier in August and has already listed two companies and also reportedly seen over 650 investors get involved in the funding rounds for those companies.

Ms Rolle also spoke about the other options for financing from the SBDC, for example the “equity option,” where budding entrepreneurs may prefer investors to invest in their business as opposed to obtaining a loan from a commercial bank.

Also speaking at the Andros Business Outlook was Herbert Cash, Kanoo’s chief financial officer. He said: “For the past year and a bit, I think it’s safe to say that a lot of individuals and businesses have really found themselves trying to recover from the effects of the pandemic.

“Figuring out how to drive sales in your business, determining what to do with some of these empty office spaces, managing staff and their benefits, and trying to maintain adequate cash flow are really some of the challenges that businesses would have faced.”

 Further calling “adaptation” a critical skill to learn, Mr Cash highlighted the importance of businesses and staff alike “upskilling” and “training” in an attempt to create new services that can suit the new market post COVID-19.

He warned, however: “Accountability is extremely important. You have to keep proper accounting records and my encouragement is that you do this from day one.