Head of the Small Business Association (SBA), Senator Dr Lynette Holder, is calling on support agencies to be more nimble in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.
“[This] is an appreciation for us to be more nimble in our responses, especially those Government agencies that provide support. When you are going through a crisis, you cannot be waiting months for the finances to be released. You have to be more nimble.
“That is something I am hoping our public sector, in particular, will learn from this experience. I am not suggesting the private sector has it all together, but because we were reliant on the programmes coming through those agencies, we saw that as maybe an area that needs to be improved,” she said.
Holder was speaking to NATION ONLINE following a church service to mark Small Business week at New Dimension Ministries, Barbarees Hill, St Michael today.
She said Government had responded to the sector’s request to have grants and other financing provided, for a moratorium on rents, especially within the Barbados Investment & Development Corporation) complex, and commercial banks and credit unions had responded as well.
“But because we had the second lockdown, our research showed that 60 per cent of the members said they hadn’t even recovered from the first to go into the second. Overall, when you put all of the variables together, we have to admit we have not done too badly as a country and how we’ve been able to manage the impact of COVID-19,” she said. (RA)
