The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture still does not know definitively how many of their Self Starter grant recipients are still in business, despite shelling out more than $1.7 million over three years to fund the program, according to minister responsible for the program Charles Maynard.
However, Maynard said his ministry is actively attempting to reach out to the more than 500 people who received grant money, and so far have contacted at least 75 percent of them.
Former minister of youth, sports and housing under the previous Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) administration Neville Wisdom told The Guardian yesterday that the government should have been able to offer something tangible to the public regarding the Self Starter program by now.  He said a list of all of the businesses that benefitted from the scheme should have been created a long time ago.
Wisdom contended that it is important for people to know who these grant awardees are, so that Bahamians can patronize their businesses.
Maynard lamented that many of the people who received the Self Starter grant money have changed phone numbers since receiving their awards and have thus far been unreachable.
He said, however, that of the 75 percent his ministry has been able to contact, a "vast majority" boast successful businesses because of the program.
"The vast majority still claim to be in business as we do our spot checks," he said. "They seem to be holding up."
Maynard admitted that some people have reported to the ministry that their businesses failed and that they had to sell the equipment they purchased with their grant money.
And despite giving out more than $1 million, he said there have been no reports that the money has been used for anything other than business start-ups.
"Up to this point we have not experienced any fraud," Maynard said.
"Some people may have gotten it and just given up the ghost after a short while, but we haven't gotten any reports of any fraud, where somebody would have gotten the money for themselves."
Maynard said several unique businesses have been born out of the program, including Bahamas Striping, which continues to grow and expand.
He also mentioned that several beauty salons and eateries started on Family Islands with the grant money have been successful.
Wisdom suggested that the government has to provide the list of companies started through the Self Starter program in order to show that the program has been fair, transparent and successful.
However, Maynard said he is not sure when those figures can be produced, as a field team from his ministry continues to gather data on the more than 500 recipients.

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