News
May 15, 2009

CED Gateway Project to launch outreach campaign in Grenadines

The Centre for Enterprise Development Inc. Business Gateway Project will launch its Public Outreach Campaign for this year in the Grenadine Islands this week.{{more}}

Last year CED Business Gateway launched its Public Outreach Campaign in the form of exhibitions in Kingstown. The Campaign seeks to sensitize members of the general public about the Business Gateway Project and services it offers; some small business operators will also be able to get on the spot business advice and counselling from Business Development Officers who will be on hand.

The first Public Outreach Campaign in the Grenadines took place in Bequia on Wednesday and Thursday (May 13th and 14th). This saw a CED Business Gateway team interacting with the people of the island when they put on an exhibition at the Bequia branch of the National Commercial Bank in Port Elizabeth. On Wednesday evening, the team hosted a one-hour Meeting at the Bequia Anglican School, where they made a presentation on the Business Gateway Project.

The team will then take the exhibition to Union Island on May 20th and 21st. There they will also use the National Commercial Bank’s office to conduct daily exhibitions from 8:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. A one-hour meeting will be held at 5:00 p.m. on May 20th at a venue to be announced.

The Campaign will move to Canouan in early June at a date to be announced.

According to Business Development Officer, Ronette Lewis, the Business Gateway is hoping to offer specialized services to the businesses and individuals in the Grenadines, based on their needs.

“The first intervention is basically a needs-based assessment and a sensitization campaign,” Lewis says. “Here we are basically letting business persons know who we are and scoping out the various areas of need within these islands. Having done that, we will then move onto the second phase, which is having more personal interaction with the business owners at their places of business.”

Lewis is urging the people of the Grenadines to meet with the Business Gateway teams when they visit.