Thirty-five small business owners in Grand Bahama successfully obtained certification last week for studies, which, it is hoped, will help them become more productive and successful exporters.
The module in which the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) operators participated was facilitated by internationally-accredited ProNet trainers, Donald Demeritte and Maxine Harris. The course provided participants with training in market research, strategy development and the meticulous execution required to take their businesses global.
President of The Grand Bahama Port Authority, Limited (GBPA) Ian Rolle expressed his thanks to the Caribbean Export Development Agency, (CEDA) for its ongoing partnership.
He noted to attendees the importance of GBPA's relationship with CEDA in promoting growth and capacity building within Grand Bahama's SME sector.
"This initiative is hosted as a collaborative effort between CEDA and GBPA's Enterprising Centre," Rolle said.
"While it reflects CEDA's mandate to build trade capacity and competitiveness amongst SMEs regionally, it also demonstrates GBPA's commitment to foster growth, stability and sustainability for Freeport's economy through its small business sector. We are therefore delighted to partner with CEDA and are grateful for their continued support," he added.
Export marketing and management is the third module to be offered to small businesses this year. Modules I and II (business strategy and finance management) were hosted during March and April respectively, and each was very well attended.
The class of more than 35 small business owners, spanned a number of economic sectors, including manufacturing, retail, agriculture and fisheries, handicraft, construction and numerous others.
CEDA competitiveness and innovation advisor Kevin Jones welcomed participants to the training on behalf of CEDA. Jones also announced CEDA's special call for proposals in food safety that would allow CARIFORUM agro-processing firms to receive financial assistance as part of the Regional Private Sector Development Programme funded by the European Union's (EU) 10th European Development Fund.
Submission deadline for proposals is July 9, 2014. Additionally, Jones noted the opportunity for EU Market access for businesses within the agro-food processing sector and encouraged firms which were already exporting or are very close to being export ready to participate.
GBPA Commercial Manager Charles Pratt applauded the commitment of attendees for seeing the program through to its completion.
"Your presence at these workshops indicate the value you place on developing your business but also, by extension, your commitment to support a thriving small business sector that will create stable employment for residents and a healthy economy for everyone," Pratt said, as he presented participants with certificates.
Pratt further noted that the ProNet series was offered to assist SME owners with day-to-day management of their operations to become more productive, competitive and profitable. "We trust that, as a result of the training, we would have assisted small business owners throughout Grand Bahama to establish the required financial and business operations structures that would allow them to move their businesses forward and their products throughout The Bahamas, the Caribbean region and beyond," said Pratt.
Topics covered during the module included market research, export readiness, regulatory compliance and development of an export plan. As attendees expressed their gratitude to both GBPA and CEDA for hosting the training they said they hoped to see similar initiatives continue as the information received was relevant and beneficial.
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