Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship offering support to small business sector 

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, August 21, 2023 (MMS-SKN) -- As the Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship continues with its pre-launch activities, Permanent Secretary Ms Delrine Taylor has reiterated that the Ministry whose motto is ‘Building Businesses, Fuelling Innovation’ is working with individuals in the small business sector to uplift them.
 
Ms Taylor who was addressing small business owners and entrepreneurs from the Cayon, Key’s and Conaree Community on Thursday August 17, at a Business Community Meeting held at the Key’s Community Centre, noted that the small business sector is very critical for any developing country.
 
She observed that when the country, which relies heavily on tourism, was negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, small businesses pulled through and the Ministry is offering support for the sector so that there could be more success stories coming out of it.
 
“Even though we say small businesses, we are not like the TDC and the Hosrford’s, but I think that is the aspiration that most businesses are supposed to have so that you do not have the mind-set, I am just getting up, make a ten dollars today, spend back the ten dollars just to open the next day to make the ten dollars - no - that is not what it is all about,” said Ms Taylor. “We are here to develop our small businesses and have them to grow so that they can turn into the next Best Buy, the TDC and those bigger companies.”  
 
Director in the Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Mr Philip Browne, explained that the aim of the Community Business Series, the first which was held on July 17 at the Newtown Community Centre, is to share more information with regards to what they do at the Ministry, along with its business executing arm, the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC).
 
“While it is not intended to be a training session, what we would hope is that when you leave here, you are much more informed as to business support, what is available, the business environment, the ecosystem that would work with and support all small entrepreneurs, micro and small business sector,” advised Mr Browne.
 
He observed that sharing relevant information with them were officials from the Inland Revenue Department, the St. Christopher and Nevis Social Security Board, the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis, and for the first time DCash, which is a digital application that was launched by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.
 
Presenters from the St. Christopher and Nevis Social Security Board were, Manager Customer Relations, Ms Sandra DeSilva, and Ms Patricia Lake, Chief Self Employed Inspector. From the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis were Assistant Manager, Business Relations and Support Unit, Ms Natasha Sutton, and Loans Officer Ms Destiny Williams, who were supported by Manager, Business Relations and Support Unit, Ms Giselle Williams.
 
Representing the Inland Revenue Department were Assistant Comptroller for Public Relations Ms Eliza Mills, and Supervisor of Customer Service Mrs Regicia Herbert; while representing DCash were Lead of Customer and Business Acquisition, Mr Quinn Martin, and Support Officer Mr Yanik Martin.
 
Following the presentations, a panel made up of Ms Sandra DeSilva from the Social Security; Mrs Regicia Herbert, Supervisor of Customer Service at Inland Revenue Department; Mr Yanik Martin of DCash; and Ms Natasha Sutton from the Development Bank, fielded questions from the floor. They were joined by PS Ms Taylor.
 
The Community Business Meeting in Key’s which catered for small business owners and entrepreneurs of the Cayon, Key’s, and Conaree Community, was attended by among others, Ms Wilma Hutchison of Cayon, who is the owner of WZSKN Poultry PRO. Earlier this year, she was one of the two businesswomen from St. Kitts who graduated from the Eastern Caribbean Greenpreneurs Incubator Program that won each of them US$10,000.
 
WZSKN Poultry PRO, which is based in Tabernacle, is a solar-powered egg production farm that produces top-quality eggs and provides poultry manure pellets to grow garden vegetables. Ms Hutchison was introduced to the other participants by Mr Philip Browne. 
 
 

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