Small Business Bill out for review

Government is in the early stages of formalizing the micro, small and medium-seized enterprises (MSMEs) under a Small Business Bill, Access Accelerator/Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) Director Merrit Storr said yesterday.

Storr added that the legislation will reinforce small business support agencies like the SBDC and streamline the small business sector in general.

Storr, who made his comments during the SBDC’s virtual press conference on the occasion of its two-year anniversary, explained that the bill is at the consultative stage, garnering insight from other small business advocacy entities like the Bahamas Development Bank, the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation and the Bahamas Entrepreneurial Venture Fund.

“Streamlining the government’s resources and ensuring they are effectively utilized is also an important goal of this consultation process,” Storr said.

“The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers’ Confederation and the various island chambers of commerce will also be consulted along with other private sector [entities].”

The SBDC, which has injected more than $38 million into small businesses to keep afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, is a success story that has renewed government and private sector commitment to completing the process of developing an act to support and protect small businesses in this country, Storr explained.

“It is clear in the midst of this COVID-19 global pandemic that providing support for MSMEs is of critical importance,” he said.

“One of the objectives is to create a more precise framework for the governing of the access accelerator and to create a legislative format for that.

“Coupled with that, though, is support for MSMEs generally, and that is why we are having the consultation process because there are a number of government agencies that are providing support for MSMEs, and in some instances there may be a question as to whether those services are overlapping.”

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/small-business-bill-out-for-review/