The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Small business owners were yesterday said to be pushing for a march on Parliament, given that long-promised legislation to support and grow the sector was “collecting dust” within the Government.

Mark A. Turnquest, a well-known small business consultant, told Tribune Business that he had been approached by at least 45 entrepreneurs to organise such a protest - something that was “the last thing” he wants to do.

He added that, as a result, he was making “a last, last clarion call” for the Government to bring the Small and Medium-Sized Business Development Bill to Parliament - a legislative initiative that has spanned two administrations and is yet to close.

“The Bill right now is at the Ministry of Finance collecting dust,” Mr Turnquest told Tribune Business. “We can’t be going on without the Small Business Bill.

“Right now, the small business community is unhappy. They come to me every day and say something needs to be done. They don’t see the quality attention being paid to the that they deserve.”

Mr Turnquest said struggling small business owners had already seen the web shop industry and other sectors receive the legislative support they needed, but it appeared that the Government was ignoring their needs.

This was despite formal consultation on the Small and Medium-Sized Business Development Bill having concluded two years ago, with final recommendations submitted to the Government at the same time.

In the last update obtained by Tribune Business on the Bill’s status, Khaalis Rolle, the minister of state for investments, said the Government was seeking to ‘marry’ it with the proposed National Development Plan (NDP)and ensure the two did not conflict.

Mr Turnquest, though, said he had been “highly disappointed” when he met with Dr Nicola Virgill-Rolle, the Plan’s chief architect, and her team as requested by Mr Rolle.

He revealed that Dr Virgill-Rolle appeared unaware that a draft Bill had been prepared, and instead showed him a framework model for a small business development agency that had been brought back from the US.

“She didn’t know a document had been formulated for a Small and Medium-Sized Business Development Bill,” Mr Turnquest told Tribune Business.

“I was highly disappointed after Khaalis told me to meet with them. They didn’t even know there was a complete recommendation for a Small and Medium-Sized Business Development Bill. They didn’t event know there was a Bill out.

“They showed me a small business agency from the US. They didn’t even know of what we’d done over the years. They were trying to reinvent the wheel.”

Mr Turnquest said he understood the National Development Plan (NDP) team were now trying to secure a copy of the last version of the Bill from the Ministry of Finance.

“They’re starting from scratch,” he added. “There was minimal communication and some serious confusion in that Department.”

Mr Turnquest added that he had been approached by a group of business owners to organise, and lead, a march on Parliament to highlight the sector’s frustration and plight.

“I don’t want to do it,” he told this newspaper. “I want to give the Christie administration one last chance. I don’t want it to get to that level. I really want Michael Halkitis, Khaalis Rolle and Nicola Virgill-Rolle to come forward and close on this now.

“It really can’t comprehend why it’s taken so long to get a simple Bill out, and let the chips fall where they may. It’s too ad hoc.

“We have an ad hoc small business development strategy. We do things on the fly. This is a last, last clarion call for the Small and Medium-Sized Business Development Bill.”

Mr Turnquest explained that in the Bill’s absence, the Bahamas lacked a true definition of what a small business is. He explained that this not only served as an impediment to the sector accessing grant funding from overseas organisations, but also inhibited Bahamas-based companies when it came to strategy development.

Mr Turnquest said both the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) and the Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) had contacted him recently to obtain a firm definition of the characteristics that distinguish small firms from their larger counterparts.

BISX wanted this to help develop its small business listing tier initiative, while BTC wanted to better understand the market, but Mr Turnquest said there was nothing available to assist them in the Bahamian context.