YOUNG BARBADIANS have been urged to see entrepreneurship as a viable career path.
This advice came from recently appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Economic Affairs Patrick Todd, speaking yesterday during a meeting with the executive board of the Barbados Investment & Development Corporation (BIDC). The meeting, held at the Small Business Development Centre in Fontabelle, St Michael, focused on the development of economic empowerment for small business in Barbados.
The minister encouraged Barbadians to take advantage of the National Micro Enterprise Programme available for people who are interested in becoming entrepreneurs. He said funding could be accessed at BIDC, through a number of legal procedures. Through this facility, micro-businesses are entitled to $3 000 in financial grant funding, while small businesses are entitled to a maximum of $25 000.
According to Todd, during the 2008 to 2010 financial years, $930 000 was spent in grant funding to assist micro and small businesses to become viable.
Director for the Entrepreneurial Development Division at BIDC, James Campbell, explained the difference between small and micro businesses:“Small businesses are those which have less than two million dollars in revenue, employ less than 25 persons and have less than a million dollars of paid up capital. Micro businesses . . . operate primarily from home, have paid-up capital of less than $50 000 and employ up to four persons.”
