OECS TRAINING TO STRENGTHEN TERRITORY’S BUSINESS SECTOR

Tuesday August 10, 2010

The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Export Development Unit (OECS/EDU) on Monday began a four-day training workshop targeting local small to medium businesses in the manufacture and service sectors.

The Management Enhancement Training workshop is being held at Maria’s By the Sea Hotel and aims to teach business management tools to senior and supervisory level personnel to equip them with effective management skills for the competitive export market.

Director of the Department of Trade and Consumer Affairs Ms. Lizette George confirmed that the department embraced the OECS initiative to provide training and technical assistance to build capacity for local businesses in the Territory.

“The Department of Trade and Consumer Affairs is a support organisation for Small to Medium Enterprises and provides the OECS/EDU with intelligence on our small business sector,” the director said.

Co-facilitator Ms. Telly Onu from Business Works Limited said that due to the shift in trade preferences, local businesses are now competing with similar products in other countries.

“No longer are we doing business in our local markets, believe it or not we are actually participating in international trade. It is very critical then that businesses are empowered and learn tools to become competitive,” said Ms. Onu, adding that learning tools needed to become competitive will give businesses an edge in today’s market.

“There are certain strategies businesses can use to keep their marketplace and enter into new markets. It is not just about packaging but a combination of different things which include how they communicate what they are about and to whom, how they innovate, and how they use technologies,” the co-facilitator noted.
Trade director Ms. George encouraged the small to medium enterprises sector to take advantage of training opportunities as only through capacity building can the sector build competitiveness.

“In the face of economic hardship we need to find new and innovative ways to offer services and products to ensure that our businesses and the entire sector are sustained,” she said.
Ms. George added that funding is not the only answer. “It comes in a package and we require education, training, and technical assistance, whether it be in the form of attachments or the likes, and funding.”

Business Development Officer of the OECS/EDU Ms. Debra Blackman said the Management Enhancement Training emanated from deficiencies identified by the OECS in-company technical support programmes. She added that the workshop is designed “to strengthen management skills of companies to further prepare them for the competitive export markets”.

At the end of the workshop, participants are expected to be knowledgeable in the development of a marketing plan, records management plan and human resources strategies for their companies. Participants will also learn business management tools of costing, pricing, e-commerce elements and be able to analyse financial data and conduct diagnostics to identify strengths and weaknesses in the production, sales and the financial health of their company.

The management enhancement training is part of a regional training programme undertaken for OECS territories with funding from the Ninth European Development Fund Caribbean Trade & Private Sector Development Programme. The Department of Trade and Consumer Affairs is the government agency tasked with increasing the competitiveness of the business sector to generate higher levels of sustainable business growth and productivity in the Territory.