CHAIRMAN of Empretec Guyana, Mr. Dunstan Barrow has announced that the non-profit institution, is working towards partnering with the Government to help support and advance small and medium enterprises (SMEs). He made the announcement at a luncheon for the media, last Thursday, in the Conference Room of Herdsmanston Lodge, Peter Rose and Lamaha Streets, Georgetown, to discuss Empretec’s role in supporting the small business sector and share some of its future plans.
Empretec, initiated in 32 countries, is an integrated capacity building programme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in the area of SMEs and entrepreneurial skills promotion. It is dedicated to helping promising entrepreneurs put their ideas into action and fledgling businesses to grow.
Implemented as a project within the period March 2003 and August 2006, Empretec Guyana has been operating under licence from UNCTAD since June 2007.
Its mission is to enhance private sector development by providing support to established and emerging small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“In terms of the entire programme, we take the idea of what do we need to do to identify and to train entrepreneurs,” Barrow said, adding that Empretec has been licensed to go until 2017.
He said, to date, a number of programmes have been executed, including the popular one called the Small Management Enterprise Development Programme;  the ‘Venture Out’ Programme with Republic Bank and some chain management projects being done with Private Sector individual companies.
“Basically, we contribute to the whole idea that, if we are able to develop an entrepreneurial base, we will be able to bring about development, in some way and add value to the whole society,” Barrow said.

VERY TOUGH
But he acknowledged: “It has been a very tough going, in the sense that we, constantly, have to try to renew ourselves, so that we can attract new participants and part of it has to do with us not being able to keep in contact with all the entrepreneurs we might have trained and to have them, at any one time, coming back to us and asking us what we could do to try to improve what they are doing and what advice we can give to them.”
He said Empretec also realises that it needs to partner with the Government.
“…so we have been trying to develop a much closer working relationship with the Government, because there are a number of programmes that the Government would, normally, facilitate and we feel that we are in a good position to be able to do what we do and to facilitate the Government’s work through the small businesses.”
In this regard, Barrow said they are looking to work with the Government in areas such as community livelihood projects; youth empowerment; assistance on its entrepreneurship training programme and empowerment through economic self-sufficiency.
Observing that the Government is investing in youth and other social programmes, he reiterated: “We feel that what we are doing, we can help in terms of getting involved with the Government.”
To this end, he disclosed that Empretec has scheduled a meeting with the Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Ms. Jennifer Webster, who would like to sit down and talk with them, as to where she thinks they can be of assistance in terms of developing schemes.
Managing Director, Ms. Judy Semple-Joseph said Empretec is a distinct programme that was designed on the basis of research.
“It says there are certain things that make an entrepreneur successful regardless of where that entrepreneur resides,” she said.
Semple-Joseph said ten competencies are indentified and Empretec designs a programme to help entrepreneurs recognise those within themselves.
Empretec’s core product is the Entrepreneurship Training Workshop and she revealed that, to date, 250 persons have been trained through their system and overall, the entity has reached in excess of 600 entreprenuers through its various programmes.

THEIR EXPERIENCE
Some beneficiaries of the Empretec Programme shared their experience and how it has benefitted their businesses, including Managing Director of D&J Shipping Services, Ms. Loretta Desir, who said she was part of the first batch of ‘Empretecos’.
She attested that the Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies, which form the basis of the Empretec Training Workshop, were very influential and motivating for her.
Desir said from a staff of three, her business now boasts a total of 17 employees.
“I am one of those who, I think, have attributed the training of the programme to the success of my business,” she said.
Desir, who represented Guyana at the UNCTAD/Empretec International Women in Business Awards function in 2010, was also one of two women entrepreneurs recently invited to represent Guyana at the Caribbean Women Entrepreneurs Forum, held in Washington, D.C., hosted by the United States (U.S.) Government.
She said, the workshop saw 22 of them coming together to see how Caribbean businesswomen can charter the course of leading successful businesses, as well as support their other women entrepreneurs in the region, and, as a result, a Caribbean Women Entrepreneur Network has been formed.
Another participant of Empretec training, Ms. Halema Rodrigues of Halema Fashion said, through Empretec, she was able to expand her business within a year.
She declared: “If I didn’t have Empretec, I don’t think I would have been able to expand and become the person I am today.”
Also among the lunch-guests were Directors of Empretec, attorney-at-law Ms. Sandra Kurtzious and Mr. Paul Cheong of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI).