IDPADA-G has a lens trained on ordinary folk

Aug 19, 2018 AFC Column, Features / Columnists, News

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Something very interesting, and very uplifting, is underway in Guyana. In recent weeks, various local groups linked to the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly in Guyana (IDPADA-G) have been taking some bold and very innovate initiatives to really improve the economic circumstances and quality of life for the people they represent.
For instance, the Guyana Assembly has been moving around the country, taking the pulse of the nation in order to compile a true assessment of their needs, wants and the ubiquitous enabling environment. A lot of emphasis is being placed on the people who, in the past few years, showed that they have the intestinal fortitude to step out into the world of business in a nation where they had felt oppressed for over two decades.
IDPADA-G also has a lens trained on ordinary folk, potential manufacturers and entrepreneurs who willing to start up businesses, but who just do not have enough information to lead them to step one, or they simply cannot raise the financing to move their cottage and kitchen industries to the next level.
So, the IDPADA-G, as a result of comprehensive analyses, has come up with some particularly novel ideas. What they started out with has been met with overwhelming success, support and buy-in by the people it is targeted at. This approach is really worthy of emulation by other groupings in the various social and business sectors of Guyana.
So this local executor of the United Nations’ global mandate reached out in early July and invited hundreds of citizens including micro and small business owners to a One-Stop business conference at the Critchlow Labour College on Woolford Avenue, Georgetown.
Their intention was to bring key Government agencies such as the NIS; private sector business support bodies such as Empretec and CreditInfo; commercial banks and other financial agencies; GO-Invest, IPED, the Small Business Bureau and other organisations of the same ilk into one arena at the same time to provide necessary assistance.
Not surprisingly, more than 800 people representing every age grouping crammed into the main auditorium at the Critchlow Labour College to hear presentations by representatives of Citizens Bank, the Hand-in-Hand Trust company, the Small Business Bureau, nationally acclaimed micro lending agency IPED, the Guyana Marketing Corporation, the Commercial Registry, the Guyana Revenue Authority and others.
Many among the hundreds who grasped the opportunity to attend, said that this was the first time they had come face to face with representatives from any of these agencies, the first time they had the opportunity to hear them talk about their functions, the goals of their organizations, and the systems they employ to assist individuals with financing, insurance, and business development advice. Also not surprisingly, this was the first time that many who came had ever filled out an application for any of these services.
The glee and the gratitude were real, especially for the dozens who were happy to interface for the very first time with the Commercial Registry. Their representatives did a fantastic job of explaining the benefits for micro and small business owners when they register their enterprises with a trading name.
The recipients did the follow-up work in the days following that first conference, and today they are much better equipped to ask for and receive financing that will grow their businesses.
The same team of services providers went along with IDPADA-G to the Len Building in Linden on Saturday August 4, and to RoseHall Town in Berbice two weeks later, both finishing with similar results. Going forward, Conferences and business support interventions will be held at Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara; Queenstown, Essequibo Coast; and at a venue to be named in Region Five.
The organizers were happy that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) also took the opportunity to underline the importance of business owners getting their TIN certificates, and ensuring that their taxes are always paid up. The biggest take-away from GRA was that lending agencies always require TIN and tax compliance certificates before agreeing to do business with customers.
The Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) was also very present and offered to assist manufacturers with designing product labels and inserting accurate content data, e.g. expiry dates, caloric content and ingredients. Advice on attractive packaging and marketing was also given.
The sessions held so far paint a telling picture that our Government cannot ignore. As officials from the Small Business Bureau (SBB) have been explaining, the subvention they received for non-repayable grants has dried up, but there are funds available for small loans that are repayable at a mere six percent, i.e. six cents on every dollar borrowed.
The fact that no more grants are available in the SBB’s budget as at July 2018 was not exactly good news for the hundreds of entrepreneurs and potentials who now feel empowered to start up new businesses. In the face of what’s facing us – a brand new hydrocarbon industry and its accompanying risks, and the doomsday scenarios that the public is being bombarded with by the political opposition on a daily basis – it makes sense for the Government to move quickly to close this economic gap.
IDPADA-G, on the strength of the United Nations, has intervened in communities nearshore and inland, and will continue to seek out the people who badly need assistance. With the strength of our own Government added, we will be on the way to erasing the likelihood of the ‘resource curse’ associated with Oil and Gas.

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