Small businesses get $1m finance lifeline

Several non-bank lending agencies have thrown out at least $1 million in lifeline financing to rescue micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) from the economic stranglehold of the pandemic and continue to help them to get restarted after national lockdown.

At a recent webinar on Financing Start-ups And Business Ideas, the Financial Literacy Bureau said many small businesses were helped to stay afloat as it made a case for start-ups getting more than funding in a full package of support that also provided developmental training for entrepreneurs, and in times of uncertainty such as the COVID-19 pandemic, refinancing options and suspension of loan repayments.

The bureau was launched in October 2020 to help local households and businesses to better manage their finances.

Technical advisor in the Ministry of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship responsible for the bureau, David Simpson, told the Zoom and Facebook audience – who tuned in to hear panellists from the Barbados Youth Business Trust, the City of Bridgetown Credit Union, FundAccess, the Barbados Trust Fund and the Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation – that all of the agencies had responded to their clients to ensure that they are able to manage the effect of COVID-19. (SNR)

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