HAITIANS living in Guyana are being offered a sum of €4,000 each if they are desirous of returning home and starting a business to build their future.

The money is being offered by the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII) in collaboration with the World Entrepreneurs Association, an organisation specialised in microfinance.
According to Haitian news agency, Haiti Libre, the plan of aid of France to support the Haitian nationals wishing to return home with a business project was presented by Eric Spitz, the Prefect of French Guiana.
This amount will be paid to the World Entrepreneurs Association to help project developers, the news agency said.
“It helps fund the office rent, a leasehold or equipment,” said Spitz. The World Entrepreneurs Association will not only pay €4,000 to the entrepreneur, it will also accompany his project, for example, through assistance in setting the company or training.

Head of Communications of the Consulate of Haiti in Guyana, Daniel Louis-Jacques has insisted that emphasis be placed on agricultural business projects stressing, that “most of our citizens have land in Haiti, but they lack resources, including logistics, to cultivate them. This system aims to develop agriculture and reduce reliance on imports. This can have a real impact on the economy of Haiti.”

Haitian nationals in Guyana who wish to benefit from this assistance, must submit a specific project to the OFII (Lallouette Street, Cayenne).
A committee composed of representatives of the OFII, the Embassy of France in Haiti and World Entrepreneurs Association will meet every month around the projects received.
Note that the recipients of this aid will be able to cumulate the existing return aid (support of the ticket, as well as financial support of 500 euros per adult and 150 euros per child), the Haitian news agency said.
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies French (INSEE), there are about 33,000 Haitians in Guyana.
The first Haitian immigrants arrived in Guyana in 1963 following extensive damage caused by the passage of Hurricane Flora. The migrants who came here were from the areas of Jacmel, Les Cayes and Daquin in the country where the first successful Black slave revolt happened.
From then, many more Haitians have come to these shores, and following the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010, the Government and people of Guyana gave generously to that country.