This Incubator will see numerous young entrepreneurs gathered in one location to showcase and hone their skills, talents, and businesses.
Charles says once one group of business owners complete their training, another group will be taken in and the cycle continues. He says the incubator will be a year-round initiative that will develop the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.
“We want to bring in small entrepreneurs who do not have a space where they can operate. Some of them operate from their home - we can bring them together. We can have shared services, accounting services, and other services together where they can ply their trade here…we'll bring them here for a period of time. And after a while, they will move on and we'll bring a new set of young entrepreneurs to this place,” Charles explained.
The World Bank has charged Small Island Developing States (SIDS) with developing their MSMEs.
The Bank has also made funds available for SIDS to inject into these businesses. This is in an effort to reduce the strain on conventional employment.
The ISL CEO anticipates that as the businesses grow, so will the economy.
“As you know, small businesses and small entrepreneurs are the engines of growth in small economies. So it will be very significant, as well as curbing the unemployment situation. If you go to our exhibitions, you see the amount of products that are manufactured right here by small businesses, and people who operate from home. So as far as the employment situation is concerned, you would be empowering many young people who will be self-employed, thus contributing towards the development of the economy.”
The CEO says the company is engaging different funding agencies for the finances required to keep the Incubator running.
“We are talking to some partners. We have engaged senior officials of the Ministry of Finance who are talking to free funding agencies on our behalf. We have already engaged the Caribbean Development Bank through them. We just received notification that we need to beef up our proposal a bit, which we are working on, for resubmission,” he explained.