The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Chamber of Commerce is aiming to launch its Small Business Help Desk by mid-April, yesterday saying it aimed to provide a non-financial “helping hand” when it came to the support services required by entrepreneurs.

Edison Sumner, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive, told Tribune Business that the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Help Desk’s launch was intended to coincide with the second annual conclave of this nation’s various Chamber bodies.

And he revealed that it was tied to other SME-related Chamber initiatives, such as the launch of a Trade Information Services desk, which should also be “signed off” on at the April 15-16 conclave.

“Things are progressing quite well on the Help Desk,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business. “We’re hoping to have that ready to launch by the middle of next month, and it is being done in conjunction with some of the other initiatives going on.

“We’re hoping to have the structure for the Help Desk ready to launch by the time we hold our second annual conclave next month. We’re pushing to have that facility ready to launch at the conclave.”

Mr Sumner said the Chamber saw the Help Desk as being “a tremendous benefit” for small and medium-sized business, as it would have full-time staff dedicated to it.

These persons, he explained, would provide Bahamian entrepreneurs with the financial and business plan writing skills they required, plus administrative services, help in reading financial statements, and negotiating skills.

Mr Sumner explained that the Help Desk, if required, would function as a ‘back office support’ that many entrepreneurs - especially those ‘on the road’ for much of the day, both required and lacked.

The Help Desk also links with the Chamber’s re-launch of its business mentorship initiative, and Mr Sumner added: “This is going to be available not only for businesses in New Providence, but it will be a national effort for SMEs anywhere in the country to get the kind of assistance they need.”

The Chamber chief executive said the Help Desk would initially be funded from the $100,000 grant received from the Government last year, and other government resources.

The goal is for the Help Desk to eventually become self-sustaining by charging a nominal fee for certain services that it will provide.

“We’re doing this because we realise money is not always the major obstacle to these businesses,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business. “Some need a helping hand with business administration and the like.”

This, he added, would enable entrepreneurs to focus on making their business ventures successful.

“We’ve dubbed this year, the ‘Chamber year of the SME’,” Mr Sumner added. “Our attention and focus is going to be on SMEs, helping them to do business.

“The SMEs are really the ones who need a bit of help to get them over the challenges they face. The Chamber is going to be spending a lot of time this year helping.”

Mr Sumner added that the BCCEC was establishing a new trade services division, which would facilitate the creation of a Trade Information Services desk to provide assistance to Bahamian businesses - large and small - on accessing trade and export opportunities throughout the Caribbean and elsewhere.

“We’re hoping to have that signed off on as well [at the conclave],” he told Tribune Business. “We’re having the details finalised now, and coming to terms with our local and international partners in the deal.”

Mr Sumner said the Trade Information Services initiative would work “hand in hand” with the SME Help Desk.

He added that it was being supported by the Caribbean Development Bank and Ministry of Financial Services, and would - like the SME Help Desk - be staffed full-time.