NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (May 19, 2021) – – The Small Enterprise Development Unit (SEDU) in the Nevis Island Administration’s (NIA) Ministry of Finance has disbursed in excess of EC $1 million in loans to entrepreneurs in Nevis over the past 13 months.
According to Mrs. Angela Delpeche, Director at SEDU, in March 2020 the agency received approximately EC$2.5 million to facilitate Small Business Enterprises on the island. To date, she said, more than half of that has been disbursed in loans for new ventures as well as upgrades to existing small businesses.
The programme offers microfinancing for men under the age of 35 and to women. A total of 27 business loans have been approved thus far.
Mrs. Delpeche said, “The majority of applicants have been women below the age of 50 and the financing has been for tourism-related business, food and beverage, landscaping, hair and beauty.”
At a recent Tourism Small Business Entrepreneurship Workshop facilitated by the Ministry of Tourism in the Nevis Island Administration, Premier Hon. Mark Brantley, Minister of Tourism, Industry and
Trade in the NIA, reminded persons of the low-interest loans offered by the government through SEDU.
“For those who are in business already, those of you who are seeking to get into business, let me remind you that we continue to try to offer some micro-funding to small businesses for start-ups for those males who are under 35 and for those females of any age…
“The financing is…only up to EC $100,000, but the idea really was that it provides micro-financing in order to help you to get a start.
“So if you have an idea or you have an existing product that you want to improve then I ask that you go and talk to SEDU… You have to have a plan. You have to have something that is workable, but I suggest that if you need a little bit of a jump start, if you need a little bit of a push, then you go and speak to them and see if that fund is something that you can utilize,” he said.
Persons applying to the SEDU small business micro-financing programme require a business plan, a valid business license, one-year income and expense statement for existing businesses, two valid pieces of identification, proof of a valid purpose for the loan, and a business account for the disbursement of funds should the application be successful.