The Small Business Development Workshops held last week at the offices of the Cayman Islands Investment Bureau were a huge success, Cabinet Minister Charles Clifford said last Friday.
‘Our expectations for the workshops were surpassed,’ Mr. Clifford said.
Typically when the CIIB hosts such events, only about 20 to 25 people attend, Mr. Clifford said. However, response was so good last week, some people had to be turned away one night and another workshop added on Friday afternoon to accommodate the demand.
The other workshops were conducted on Grand Cayman last Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights and in Cayman Brac on Wednesday night.
Mr. Clifford said that when attendees of the first workshop, which dealt with the topic of establishing a small business, were asked about their interest in starting a business, more than half indicated they intended to start a business in the very near future.
However, the workshops also attracted existing small-business owners.
More than 50 people attended the Thursday-night workshop on the topics strategic marketing and customer service, which dealt with some more complex business concerns.
CIIB Executive Director Dax Basdeo said he was pleasantly surprised to see the attendance in the workshops, and to see so much interest from people in starting a business.
‘It was interesting to see that some people were interested in more advanced issues like international patents,’ he said.
The workshops were co-facilitated by the Florida Association for Volunteer Action in the Caribbean and Americas, which sent two volunteer presenters here to conduct the sessions.
Mr. Basdeo was impressed by the quality of the presenters.
‘They were excellent,’ he said, noting the one of the presenters, Jim Greear, had extensive experience with running business incubator programmes in Florida.
Although one of the CIIB’s main goals is to facilitate foreign institutional investment, Mr. Clifford noted that it also wants to help the local investments and businesses.
‘I’ve focused more on [the local investments] than the previous administration,’ he said.
Mr. Basdeo said that although Cayman’s foreign and local investors are distinct, they are linked.
‘It is our goal to stimulate investment in the Cayman Islands, and that is all investment,’ he said.
The CIIB doesn’t want to see foreign investment crowd out local investment, but instead complement it, Mr. Basdeo said.
‘Our society cannot ignore [the local investors].’
The next phase of the CIIB’s facilitation of local businesses will occur in conjunction with the Department of Tourism, Mr. Clifford said. It will move from covering the basics to the more specific information on starting tourism-related business in the eastern districts.
Mr. Basdeo said he hoped that programme can begin in a month or so.
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