{"id":32626,"date":"2026-10-19T18:54:45","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T22:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/?p=32626"},"modified":"2026-10-19T18:54:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T22:54:45","slug":"min-rodrigues-commends-small-business-bureau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/min-rodrigues-commends-small-business-bureau\/","title":{"rendered":"Min.\u00a0Rodrigues commends Small Business Bureau \u00a0 \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8211;&nbsp;<strong>For sustained growth of S<\/strong><strong>mall businesses<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">-by Nakasia Logan <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Small Business Bureau is reporting a 75 percent survival rate among businesses it has monitored over the past six years, with Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Susan Rodrigues crediting the agency\u2019s continued support for entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than just providing financial assistance, the Small Business Bureau is working to ensure entrepreneurs have the tools, training and guidance needed to keep their businesses running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Susan Rodrigues says the bureau\u2019s ongoing support is reflected in the survival rate of businesses monitored over the past six years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is a very high rate of survival and sustainability and that I think can be attributed to the ongoing programme that are offered by the SBB. When you go to the small business bureau it\u2019s not only to register business and that\u2019s it, once you are in the database then you are constantly in touch with the bureau that shares all these opportunities,\u201d she explained. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rodrigues says the focus is not simply on establishing businesses, but ensuring they remain viable, sustain families and contribute to community development.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-post-featured-image\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-63.png\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"object-fit:cover;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-63.png 1200w, https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-63-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-63-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-63-768x512.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c<strong>We want to see growth,\u00a0its\u00a0one thing to have a number of new business startup but\u00a0its\u00a0not about the\u00a0amount\u00a0of businesses that\u00a0was\u00a0opened or started in the last six years,\u00a0its\u00a0about how many remain in business and how many continue to support families and community development<\/strong>,\u201d she said. <br>Rodrigues says the bureau is legally required to visit businesses twice yearly and has conducted more than seven thousand visits over the period, with 75 percent of those businesses still operating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She says entrepreneurs also benefit from mentorship, business management training, financing opportunities and support to market their products locally and internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Between 2020 and 2023, nearly four thousand small businesses received grants valued at almost one billion dollars&nbsp;total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, 177 businesses accessed loans through the bureau\u2019s loan guarantee programme, with financing&nbsp;totaling&nbsp;approximately 1.6 billion dollars over six years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bureau has also supported 493 businesses to participate in trade expos since 2020, helping entrepreneurs increase their visibility and explore export opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8211;&nbsp;For sustained growth of Small businesses -by Nakasia Logan The Small Business Bureau is reporting a 75 percent survival rate among businesses it has monitored over the past six years,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[361,365,350],"tags":[488,442,448,412,405,928],"class_list":["post-32626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-and-economy","category-human-development","category-news","tag-488","tag-ministry-of-tourism-industry-and-commerce","tag-ncn","tag-ncn-guyana","tag-ncn-news","tag-small-business-bureau"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32627,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32626\/revisions\/32627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}