THE Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce (MTIC) urges small-business owners to leverage the use of technology along with the support and training being provided by the ministry to ensure they have viable businesses.

Subject Minister Oneidge Walrond last week pointed out that the aim is to show small-business owners who are interested in the agricultural sector, how they can take advantage of these kinds of opportunities to enhance their businesses.

“So, we use shade houses for them to plant high-value crops. We’re looking in Region 10, Region Two, Region Three, Region Six, in these different areas, farming communities to show them using technology, how they’re going to be able to leverage technology, and with the small-business support and training, to make sure that they have a viable business,” she said.

Minister Walrond added that this also teaches them that coming together as a consortium can help to grow and expand their own income bases.

The ministry has successfully trained more than 8,000 persons in different aspects of small business.

Aside from providing financial grants, the minister said the ministry will continue to expend resources and make investments in training small and micro enterprises.

Notably, the minister announced that the ministry will be launching its Single Windows for Trade in a matter of weeks.

She explained, “Its one single window for trade, and that is going to take down, reduce the time for processing an import licence from two weeks or sometimes months, to days.”

She explained that this implementation will reduce the time importers and exporters take to go to the Guyana Revenue Authority and it will allow them to get their licensing done online.
The ministry has several other partnerships with international communities, including a recently concluded training where the ministry sent around 30 persons to China, for a two-week programme.

“Chinese artisans came down here to Santa Aratak to train in bamboo weaving. We continue to work with the United Nations and IDB on the digital in motion programme,” she explained, adding,
“This programme is to help businesses learn to use the digital medium for marketing, for accounting, and so we’ve had a widespread targeted project where they’re teaching and they have taught business, small-business owners and micro enterprises, how to use the digital media to get payments and do transactions.”

Minister Walrond also mentioned that the recently launched three-year project for a national standardisation strategy by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards with support from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the United Nations.

The minister said that with this three-year partnership, Guyana will have a complete and comprehensive assessment and improvement of our national standards to ensure that it is comprehensive to support our own developmental goals.