Region Three small businesses benefit from ‘Digital in Motion’ training

Some 50 small business owners across Region Three benefitted from the ‘Digital in Motion’ training on Wednesday, which provided a step-by-step guide to help them re-tool and discover new ways to reach customers.

The one-day session was made possible through a collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Several participants who spoke with the media were impressed with the new knowledge gained.

Physiotherapist, Soeijin Paal said the training has taught her a lot, including putting together her taxes.

“I had no idea that a programme like this existed. I think it’s a really good programme [and] I encourage everybody to be part of it, because of the knowledge that has been imparted…I’ve been using WhatsApp Business for years, and I never had an idea that it had so many features that I never used,” Paal said.

Another small business owner, Calvin Roberts also expressed his gratitude for the training.

“What I have gained here today and my takeaway point would be when it comes to managing and dealing with your finances, I believe that this is an area that many businesses suffer from and of course, I have learnt so much and I will be more able to monitor my finances for my business,” he told the media.

Director of Business, John Edghill underscored that the training has encouraged entrepreneurs to consider a more digitised way of conducting business.

“Things like documenting their finances and marketing, they are still using archaic measures, what we wanted to do was to create simple to use tools to be able to help them to integrate it into their business, what we have done is to create a package of WhatsApp for business tools.

“We’ve created some excel sheets, pre-packaged formulas that all they have to do now is to plug it in, put in the information and it already instantly generated for them,” Edghill said.

Similar training sessions were conducted last year, in Regions Two, Six and Ten and this year, Regions Four, Five and Six are among those to benefit.

The business director explained that due to the need for internet connectivity to conduct the programme, the coastal regions have been targeted first.

The initiative will also help small businesses to move away from accepting only cash payments and utilising more mobile money services or other tools from commercial banks as a payment method while having a delivery system.

The programme is part of the support government provides to develop and promote small businesses, apart from financing.

“We want to have sustainable small businesses that can be able to employ persons in their community, and we can drive down poverty and reduce unemployment and be able to have a high level of economic development for all our communities,” Edghill stated.

The initiative was also supported by the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) and GTT Mobile Money Guyana (MMG).