SENIOR Vice-President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Mr. Lance Hinds has disclosed that there has been a marked and welcome increase in the number of local busineses, which have been seeking assistance to bolster their potential for exports.

He made the disclosure, Tuesday, while commenting on the recent success of six local companies in accessing direct grant aid from the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA), a regional trade and investment promotion organisation which provides financial aid to small businesses with export potential through a scheme funded by the European Union (EU).
The funding is applicable to the 15 member CARICOM grouping, which includes all of the countries, excluding Montserrat but including the Dominican Republic.
The calls for proposals were made in July last and a reliable source said there were 335 eligible applicants and 92 were awarded grants amounting to 2.5M euros.
Eleven applications were from Guyana but only six were successful because funds were depleted through the awards to the others.
The six who succeeded were Forest Products Development & Marketing Council of Guyana Inc., Guyana Apicultural Society, Brass Aluminium & Cast Iron Foundry Ltd (BACIF), Citrus Company of Guyana Inc., Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association and TCL Guyana Inc.
The Direct Assistance Grant Aid Scheme, from which the local companies have benefitted, provides financial backing for activities such as alternative energy, agriculture, agro-processing, creative industries, health and wellness, information and communications technology, manufacturing, professional services and tourism.
Hinds said Wednesday that the GCCI is pleased with the surge in interest among local businesses in expanding their potential for export and, by this means, their growth.
Workshop
The GCCI had, earlier this year, conducted a workshop for local businessmen on the CEDA grant aid as a means of encouraging them to apply for the facility.
Hinds said the CEDA fund has been available for a while but, in the past, there have only been one or two applicants from Guyana.
“So, from one or two applicants over the past two or three years, we have moved to eleven. And six of these have achieved funding on their first application. This is a way of accessing money and these local businesses have stepped forward with very good results,” he observed.
Noting that he could not over-emphasise the importance of small business enterprises to the development of Guyana and the regional economy, Hinds said the GCCI saw this interest in the CEDA facility as a very significant and encouraging development.
He lauded the fact that the six local companies had emerged successfully from a field of more than 300-odd applicants, largely due to the high quality of proposals for their projects.
The CEDA projects last for six months and another call to businessmen in CARICOM countries for proposals for the funding of more export oriented schemes is likely to be made by early next year.