Investment promotion agency, Invest SVG is further strengthening its commitment to export development within St. Vincent and the Grenadines as it hosted the first in a series of business development workshops to be held in the upcoming months.
On Tuesday, 24 business owners who operate across several sectors took part in a two-day entrepreneurship workshop facilitated by Niyan Fraser, an entrepreneurship researcher, academic and consultant.
Through information sessions, workshop discussions, group activities, and individual activities, this workshop was designed to enable participants to develop a better understanding of entrepreneurship and shift their mindsets from subsistence-focused to growth oriented.
Additionally, the workshop aimed to develop business owners’ skills needed to start and grow business; and to equip them with the knowledge and tools necessary for entering the export market.
Topics covered included: explaining entrepreneurship, explaining the concepts of opportunities and ideas, entrepreneurial capacity, starting a business, the process of entrepreneurship and the process of research.
On day one of the workshop, Fraser emphasised the difference between business ownership and entrepreneurship, noting that opportunities and ideas “come from anywhere”.
“If a lot of people are facing a particular problem or issue, then that can turn into an opportunity.”
He further urged participants to become aware of and recognise the gaps in the current market and identify consumers’ needs that aren’t sufficiently being catered to — if at all.
The series of workshops is scheduled to run until July and will cover topics such as preparation of business plans, export readiness, costing and pricing, insurance and, among others, copyrighting/trademarking.
This is very good for the citizens and I hope they take advantage , they are so many areas of business that is needed or can be improved on
If the government of SVG wants more revenue they need entrepreneurs. If they want entrepreneurs they need to create an environment where they can succeed. That will not happen in industries that depend on importing and exporting products. Even though the government gives “certain people” concessions, there is always something that needs to be paid for that does not have concessions; and when anyone here has to buy things at a much higher cost than those that they compete with in other countries, we are going to lose. Although concessions guarantee that those that do not get them will never have great success, they cannot guarantee that those that get them will have success.
The government has demonstrated that they are either excessively greedy and do not care at all about the sucess of any business except to suck as much money as possible from them, to the point of insolvency. Or, the other option is that they are incredible stupid. Maybe both? They may be both greedy and stupid.