The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

The private sector has hailed the government's $10m financing facility for Dorian-ravaged businesses as "a great start", while expressing concerns it is "not nearly enough" to cover all needs.

Chamber of Commerce heads for both Abaco and Grand Bahama pledged to maximise the funding being made available, and also to supplement it through their own relief efforts as the drive to rebuild the business community on each island starts to gain some momentum.

Gregory LaRoda, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce's president, told Tribune Business: "The $10m right now is between Abaco and Grand Bahama, and in our initial discussions at the Chamber we thought that it might not be enough.

"The $10m may not be enough to help as many as we would like, but we can and will do the best that we can with whatever amount of money that was allotted and, at the end of the day, if it isn't enough we feel confident that we can go back to the government and be heard in order to get more support."

The $10m will be provided over the next three years through the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC), the Bahamas Development Bank (BDB), the government-sponsored venture capital fund (BEVF) and the commercial banking sector.

The funds will go towards providing grants, loans guarantees and equity capital to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) on Abaco and Grand Bahama, which would not typically qualify for regular bank credit, restore their premises, inventories and operations in Dorian's aftermath.

Mr LaRoda, though, expressed fears that larger companies could "crowd out" smaller companies when it came to obtaining funding from the $10m facility.

Revealing that he is currently focused on small and micro business needs, he added: "We are looking more at the smaller and micro-sized businesses, and not as much on the firms that can qualify for the $500,000 maximum support line outlined by the SBDC.

"We need to be careful that the larger companies don't crowd out the smaller companies and get most of the $10m allotted. To the extent that folks take advantage of the $500,000, we have to be careful of how we do the business survey and evaluations, and how we look to allocate these funds and how the money can be best applied."

Under the rules governing the government's $10m facility, micro companies with average annual revenue under $100,000 a year will receive grants, loans or equity investments of $50,000 or less. Small businesses will be eligible for up to $250,000 in various types of funding, and medium-sized businesses with average annual revenue between $1m to $5m pre-Dorian will be able to access up to $500,000 to assist them with the rebuild.

Ken Hutton, the Abaco Chamber of Commerce's president, while describing the government's financing facility as "a great start" agreed with Mr LaRoda that the $10m was "not near enough" to meet all the requirements of potentially 2,500 businesses that have been impacted by Dorian.

He added that Project Resurrect, the initiative being developed by the Abaco Chamber with support from its Nassau counterpart and the Marsh Harbour/Spring City district council, aimed to raise additional financing to support private sector restoration beyond what the government is making available.

"One of the things we need to do through our initiative, Project Resurrect, is to make a lot more funds available to small and medium-sized businesses. We are going to be raising a lot of money to give for small businesses once this is up and running," Mr Hutton added.

"We plan to add money to the $10m already being allotted by the government for hurricane relief support for MSMEs. It was always the intention of Project Resurrect to have substantial funds allocated to get businesses up and running post-Hurricane Dorian.

"Right now we have just gotten our A 501(c)(3) documentation completed, so we will have more information once the [Project Resurrect] foundation is fully established and ready to roll in the very near future."

Mr LaRoda, meanwhile, stressed the importance of making sure the funds are targeted at those who need it the most. He said: "From the chamber's standpoint in Grand Bahama, and also for Abaco and in Nassau, I would say that we are just trying to determine which businesses need help at a more critical level;.

"How do you determine which type of businesses can help directly with the recovery on both islands? You have businesses that provide critical services. So, in terms of prioritising, which businesses can provide these critical services is extremely important to us."

He added: "You have to make a judgment call. If you have businesses that supply goods and services that assist with people rebuilding, like businesses that provide building supplies and construction services, those businesses need to be first and foremost in our eyes.

"You can see where it would be critical to having companies like those mobilised and fortified. You also have some small 'mom and pop' businesses that supply those same type of services and supplies, and they need to be primarily remembered because they can provide the same type of support the larger firms can."