Executive
Forum 2001
Montreux, Switzerland
26-29 September 2001
Interviews
Guyana:
Matching grants to develop an export thrust
Mohabir
Singh, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Guyana Furniture
Manufacturing Ltd.
Question: You’ve emphasized
that firms should have access to matching grant schemes as they
prepare to be fully integrated into the new global market. How
has the matching grant programme in Guyana worked. Has it
resulted in new capabilities within Guyana?
Singh:
The matching grant programme is facilitated through a number of
European Union-funded programmes. These programmes are
administered out of Barbados and they are known as the Caribbean
Export Development Association Programme, the EBAS programme
(the Enterprise Business Assistance Scheme), and a third one
(which is actually based in Brussels), the Centre for
Development of Enterprise. These are matching grant programmes
in the sense that the enterprise has to fund at least 50 percent
of what is made available for marketing assistance and
promotion. It facilitates visits to the territories that have
been identified as potential markets. I think they have been
very effective in that they have enable Guyana to develop an
export thrust.
How does the scheme work?
The enterprise applies for the
grant scheme and it is administered on a first-come,
first-served basis. Once the enterprise satisfies the criteria
laid down by the matching grant programme, the funding is made
available for the establishment of a website or the preparation
of promotional brochures and actual field visits to potential
buyers. That is something that is very important for the
manufacturing private sector in Guyana.
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