B.V.I. Wednesday, May 20 – Premier and Minister for Finance Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE is encouraging the 26 Virgin Gorda residents enrolled in the Business Plan Writing Workshop to take the session seriously and stay the course.

Speaking at the start of the six session workshop at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College Campus on Virgin Gorda, the Premier underscored the importance of knowing the principles of business to help ensure successful operation.

“As you will learn during the course of this workshop, an effective business plan is one of the basic elements in starting up and operating a business. It is imperative that you engage in effective planning if you want to ensure the success of your business,” the Premier told workshop participants.

He also underscored the increasing importance of small businesses in the current economic climate which has triggered the lay-off of many persons from the private sector.

“The Virgin Islands have not been spared the impact of the global economic downturn and over the past few months, we have witnessed a number of layoffs,” the Premier stated while noting that Government is doing its best to assist those who have been laid off.

He added, “while Government is committed to doing all within its power to reduce the level of unemployment in the Territory, we also have to be conscious of our spending and as such will not be able to employ all of the workers who may have been laid off from private companies.”

Delivering brief remarks at the opening ceremony, Director of Trade, Ms. Lizette George pledged the full support of the department. “The department will provide the services to ensure that dreams are realised,” she told participants.

The workshop is being conducted by Head of the Small Business Bureau, Ms. Yvonne Crabbe who said the workshop will deal with four core areas, namely market, cash flow, operations and success planning.

Ms. Crabbe identified the business plan as the most fundamental component in the establishment of a small business. The SBB official also identified what she termed the 7C’s of successful business ownership; character, credit, collateral, contingency, commitment, capacity and capability.

The workshop continues today from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the HLSCC Virgin Gorda Campus. It will continue every Monday and Wednesday evening at the same time until June 3, when participants will be awarded certificates during a closing ceremony.

Three of the participants are college students, two attending the HLSCC and the third attending Clark University in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Small Business Bureau functions as an advocate for programmes that address the issues affecting small businesses in the Territory. Its duties include ensuring that businesses obtain the required assistance, training and counselling through extensive training programmes, motivational seminars and workshops designed to empower entrepreneurs to develop better business practices.