Local businesses can apply for technical assistance grants

Jul 17, 2020 News

The Ministry of Business announced yesterday that Guyana is among 13 Caribbean countries that have qualified to benefit from technical assistance grants. The grants are being made available through the Technical Extension Programme with Compete Caribbean, a private sector development programme.
The grants, which are available to local small and medium size companies with high growth potential, aim at raising the operational standards of businesses to that of international standards through the implementation of information technology and capacity building programmes for employees. The intention is to help increase productivity and innovation in the Caribbean private sector.
According to Compete Caribbean’s website, Technology Extension Services (TES) is not focused on creating new technologies but rather on increasing access to, and adoption of, already existing technologies, and processes. It was pointed out “This may take the form of bringing firms up to national and international standards, exposing them to opportunities for improvement by incorporating existing technologies, best practices, technical assistance and consulting human resource development, strategic management, etc.”
In order to qualify to receive the grants, businesses are required to have generated at least US$250,000 but less than US$1.5 million in revenues pre-COVID-19 or employ between five to 50 persons, and operate within the tourism and manufacturing sector, including agro processing.
Selected companies will receive technical support from experts in defining and implementing projects to boost the operating capacity of businesses.
Compete Caribbean is a private sector development programme, partnering with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), The Caribbean Development Bank, UK Aid and the government of Canada. It aims to provide technical assistance grants and investment funding to support productive development policies, business climate reforms as well as clustering initiatives. According to Compete Caribbean, TES is crucial to the process of bringing Caribbean firms to a point where they can successfully innovate, compete on a global scale, and stimulate vibrant economic growth.
Businesses can complete the eligibility application by visiting Compete Caribbean’s website (www.competecaribbean.org) or its Facebook page.

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