The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister yesterday said the newly-elected Davis administration will refocus the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) on “the creative industries” and “green and blue economy”.

Michael Halkitis, minister for economic affairs, told Tribune Business he has already met with the SBDC’s executive board to gain an understanding of its activities, work to-date and immediate direction.

“The whole SBDC was initiated back in the Christie administration when I signed the agreement with the secretary-general of the OAS (Organisation of American States) to set up what has now become the SBDC,” he added.

“In our programme we’ve pledged $50m per year to entrepreneurs, and $250m over five years. The SBDC is going to be critical in making sure that gets to entrepreneurs.” Those sums are the same as the investments pledged by the former Minnis administration if it was re-elected.

However, Mr Halkitis suggested the SBDC’s focus will change towards the “creative industries” and the “green and blue economy”, which represents a move away from the tourism and food retail concentration it has had to-date.

““We have to investigate ways that we can channel funding to those opportunities,” Mr Halkitis added. “It is too early to say if anything will fundamentally change, suffice to say that we support the work of the SBDC and we look at it as an important area to get funding to entrepreneurs.

“Then, of course, we have to look at the overall government programme and support for entrepreneurs, and how we can harmonise that and make sure that they’re working in conjunction with each other.”

The SBDC has sometimes faced criticism from budding entrepreneurs over its response time for loan and grant applications, and the multiple rejections they have received. Others have also hit out at its mentorship programme for first-time entrepreneurs.

However, the SBDC responded with massive amounts of funding during the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, where the agency disbursed $6.7m to 211 out of an estimated 2,500 small and medium-sized (SMEs) impacted by the storm in Abaco and Grand Bahama by October 2020.

The Government also set aside $20m for COVID-19 affected SMEs in 2020 that was oversubscribed by 60 percent, forcing the Government to add an additional $25m in the 2020-2021 Budget.