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BLACK ENTREPRENEURS ASSOCIATION PROGRESSING FORWARD

Jan 23, 2022 Consumer Concerns

By Pat Dial

Kaieteur News – Recently there was a report in the media of the launching of a “Black Entrepreneurs Association” (BEA) under the chairmanship of Mr. Rowan Willabus, one of Guyana’s outstanding ICT experts. Before we go any further, we would like to point out that there is nothing racist about this Association. We do so because if there is any new Law, any new political party, any new institution or Association, with a knee-jerk reaction, they are labelled ‘racist’ by a small but vocal element. These labellings always emanate from political circles since some politicians feel that the easiest way they could get a constituency is by talking “race” rather than dealing with issues. Among the main purveyors of this race discourse are broadcasters operating in the New York area and a few ordinary Guyanese folk.
Not to be misled, it is very necessary that ordinary Guyanese folk take time to analyse government and political parties’ statements and policies and programmes of Associations and arrive at their own conclusions and never to take at face value, what others say or facile race abuse. If, however, such institutions are found wanting after they begin to operate, they must be exposed.
The aims and policies of the Black Entrepreneurs Association as set out in their preliminary Report are constructive and could not be faulted. At random, we will state a few aims of the Association.
First, one of the primary aims of the Association is to be able to assist small businesses and start-ups in acquiring the funds which would help the business to move forward. In this regard, the BEA has established a relationship with IPED, an institution which was founded by the late Dr. Yesu Persaud specifically to help aspirants to enter the business sector and to help small businesses to expand. Lenders, even institutional lenders like IPED, would however like to see some prior success in the small business that is borrowing and with start-ups, that the owner is knowledgeable about the venture he/she will be entering and is committed to making it a success in spite of the inevitable hurdles. Association with BEA would give confidence both to the lender and borrower. Any business that would wish to be associated with BEA must be legally registered and satisfy all legal requirements.
The Association has been networking with Afro-Guyanese organisations to find ways in which they could cooperate to their mutual benefit. It has also been developing contacts with organisations in Britain and North America which share similar vision, with the hope that in due course the link would grow stronger.
Ms. Melissa Varswyk, speaking on behalf of the Association, mentioned that one of the programmes would be to encourage members to own the premises in which they operate their businesses since such would be a great economy as they would avoid the burden of having to meet rental costs and amortize mortgages. She also encouraged those who could afford it, to invest in real estate.
Another important aspect of the BEA’s activity is training. Members would be exposed to the workings of the Banking System, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Procurement Authority so as to be able to bid for projects as well as the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). Training would also be offered in other essential skills such as ICT.
Chairman Willabus iterated the philosophy on which the BEA rested: ‘All groups and races in Guyana are interdependent and inextricably bound together and if any one prospers, all will benefit, and accordingly, the BEA could not be narrowly partisan or adversarial to any other and looks forward to cooperation and friendship with all. Another important facet of BEA’s philosophy is that wealth is not only for consumption but for use in generating wealth and employment.’
Guyanese should allow organisations such as the Black Entrepreneurs Association (BEA), Local Content Law or the National Resource Fund (NRF) to be operational, then assess their impact before being dismissive or derogatory.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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