Port of Spain, August 26, 2014.- Errol McLeod, Minister of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprise Development (SME), said $1 million has been invested in the Fair Share programme which has benefited about 1,200 SMEs, thus far.

He made this comment recently at the Latin America and Caribbean Economics System (SELA) Regional Workshop on Public Policies to support SMEs at the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) at 5 to 7 Sweet Briar Road, St Clair.

Among those present were Alfonso Munera Cavadia, Secretary-General of the ACS, Director of Trade (ACS) Alberto Duran; Co-ordinator of the SELA-SMEs programme, Antonio Leone Durante; Ruben Ascua, SELA Workshop Consultant, and Panamanian ambassador Arline Gonzalez Costa.

With its Fair Share programme, the ministry was bent on assisting SMEs in accessing a portion of the billions spent by government goods and services. This special dispensation of SMEs is critical given their limited access to funding, economies of scale and scope, and limited network. Government developed this programme to help level the playing field and to give SMEs a space where it can compete fairly for government tenders.

Expounding upon Fair Share’s merits, McLeod said: “At the local level, the Government has sought to create opportunities for SMEs though the introduction of the Fair Share Programme. So far, more than 1,200 SMEs have registered for the programme. We are seeing an increasing interest from the public as well as favourable reviews from vendors as to the quality of services provided by SMEs”.

Turning to the stakeholders, he said it was important as public policy stakeholders, there was an effective entrepreneurship ecosystem in place to support the development of SMEs.

McLeod added: “Equally as important, this collaboration can help us develop a framework to support an effective entrepreneurship network throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, thus making it easier for entrepreneurs to market themselves amidst increasing trading opportunities with the Latin American and Caribbean communities”.

McLeod added: “Within our region, many sectors such as manufacturing services and agriculture, provide substantial business opportunities for SMEs yet there seems to be lack of an integrated approach regionally as to how we can empower SMEs to enhance our region’s growth potential”.

He said the workshop was a welcome initiative since it provided similar sharing and networking that other key international groups have already undertaken.

McLeod said based on the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) stats, the SME sector comprises more than 94 per cent of businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Turning to the African Union, he said it organised a similar initiative to Latin America/Caribbean with the hope of providing policy makers with a platform to brainstorm on key issues relating to the development of an enabling environment for the SMEs growth and development.

In Europe, the European Institute of Public Administration has organised seminars designed for policymakers and administrators to reinforce competitiveness to develop a more entrepreneurial and SME-friendly environment.