Small business group intends to call on govt for MSME act

The Small Business Association and Resource Center (SBARC) will call on Cabinet members whose portfolios cover the business community – including Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis – in an attempt to convince the new Progressive Liberal Party government to pass specific legislation for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and to finally legislate a reasonable definition of a small business.

SBARC’s founder Mark Turnquest has been lobbying for a Small Business Act for more than ten years and said the current definition of a small business does not work in the context of The Bahamas.

It has been suggested that a small business in The Bahamas is one generating less than $3 million annually. However, Turnquest said he does not believe true small businesses in this country earn anywhere close to $1 million on an annual basis.

According to Turnquest, SBARC is designed to be an advocacy group for the businesses he contends are true MSMEs – those that earn $500,000 or less annually.

He said the association is not designed to compete with other business advocacy bodies like the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers’ Confederation, or Small Business Development Centre/Access Accelerator.

“We are not a competitor of the Small Business Development Centre, the chamber of commerce or any organization that focuses on small business development. We want to form a strategic alliance with them,” Turnquest said.

“We are an alternative to the chamber of commerce and not a competitor. We have a market of non-essential businesses, the micro, small and medium enterprises, that’s what we focus on.

“What we’re doing is advocating for small business development and for the success of the country by letting the government know that we need a national development plan for small business development.”

Turnquest is hoping to have SBARC – which officially launched last month – attract up to more than 1,000 members by next year.

At the height of the pandemic, Turnquest and other small business owners marched to protest the closure of small businesses and to push their agenda for small business legislation. While the march was hindered slightly by COVID-19 protocols, police allowed the participants to walk the streets.

SBARC continues to push for the government to allow small non-essential businesses to open within the limits of health and safety protocols.

Part of the association’s strategic goals are to also “increase the participation of non-essential MSME owners when it comes to creating policies to govern their sector; and the relaxing of regulations that act as barriers to obtaining local and international funding for MSMEs”. 

Several years ago, Turnquest formulated a framework for a small business act and hopes the government will use it as a blueprint for legislation.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/small-business-group-intends-to-call-on-govt-for-msme-act/