The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

SOME seven small and medium-sized businesses have seen their plans progress move forward for funding so far, the Small Business Development Centre’s (SBDC) principal said yesterday.

Davinia Blair, the “Access Accelerator” Small Business Development Centre’s executive director, told Tribune Business that those seven businesses represented the first batch to have their plans reaching the funding stage.

“We had several businesses at a pitch night about a week-and-a-half ago,” she said. “We have been working with them for a few months now, and to see them get to the point where they have that level of conviction and understanding of their business is amazing.

“I’m very proud. I think we are starting with an initial seven that have been fully vetted and will be recommended to the financial institutions for funding. That’s just the first batch of many.”

The SBDC, a non-profit entity that launched last month, is a partnership initiative between the University of The Bahamas (UB), the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) and the Government.

It is designed to build the institutional support framework for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in their initial development stages.

Ms Blair added that the SBDC is aiming to develop a directory that will help local entrepreneurs connect. “I think it’s going to help a lot by building relationships between entrepreneurs who are all a part of one group,” she added. “Many of them would have gone through training together.”