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Commerce Minister Bradley Felix (centre) at the MOU ceremony with Managing Director for SBFIC Niclaus Bergmann (left).
Saint Lucia is believed to be one step closer to creating a more sustainable environment for the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the National Trade Enterprise Development Department (NTEDD) and the Savings Bank Foundation for International Cooperation (SBFIC).
The agreement comes as part of an ongoing SBFIC initiative to strengthen SME’s in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
Saint Lucia was chosen as a pilot country for this programme.
At an MOU signing ceremony on June 8, Managing Director for SBFIC Niclaus Bergmann stressed the importance of SME’s in boosting any economy.
He noted that in Germany, SME’s are the main economic force in the country.
“… It is small enterprises where more than 80 percent of people are working. Small companies with less than 15 or 20 employees, that is the driving force,” he said.
Bergmann described SME’s as a driving force for creating new jobs in the region.
“The economic development of the countries in the ECCU must come from inside and here it is… small and medium enterprises which are the backbone of the economy,” he added.
He explained that the project came about after an agreement in 2014 to set up an initiative aimed at the strengthening of the SME sector in the ECCU.
Commerce Minister Bradley Felix commented on the various challenges faced by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME). He believes that the agreement will help address these drawbacks.
“Financial institutions complain that MSME’s are ill-equipped and they lack the proper financial knowledge and documentation needed in order to access financing. It is our hope that this relationship will help eliminate the gap between the MSME’s and the lenders and investors to a strengthening and deepening of business literacy and financial education among business owners and entrepreneurs.
“As a result of this memorandum of understanding the SBFIC will partner with the Department of Commerce to offer relevant training programmes to officers of the department, specifically those within the SBDC and the commerce and industry division,” he added.
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