As part of the activities to highlight Business Month, a Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Affairs delegation recently toured several small and micro businesses on the island.
In light of this, Commerce Minister Emma Hippolyte said she is pleased with the energy emanating from the growth of small businesses.
Minister Hippolyte and a technical team, including Director (ag) of the Small Business Development Centre Jonathan Allain and Business Development Officer Naila Sule, toured five small businesses in Odsan, Bexon, and Dennery.
” I was extremely excited about some of the things that we saw,” Hippolyte told reporters at a media briefing.
The Minister explained that some of the business places visited “were beneficiaries from our MSME programme”.
The visit to the business establishments obtained feedback from the management.
According to a Ministry spokesperson, the continued site visits demonstrate the Ministry of Commerce’s boots-on-the-ground approach to developing Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) — most of which had adopted sustainable practices.
The business places visited were Greening the Caribbean – Recycling Services Center, Fresh Nutz, Mitchel’s Moss Mixes, Farm Foods, and BJC.
Minister Hippolyte said the exercise allowed the visitors to see some business operations first-hand.
“Some were very happy with us and others, not too happy, but we had to sit (with them) and use the moment to guide them ,” Hippolyte explained.
She said the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Commerce also met with representatives from the Chamber of Commerce to discuss issues relating to the “concern over items which were zero rated and items that were exempt from VAT.”
Hippolyte also disclosed that with the issue of Cannabis legislation “high up” on the agenda, she would be tabling a Regulatory Substance Authority Bill at a subsequent parliamentary sitting.
