Newly elected parliamentary representative for the Roseau North constituency, Ashma McDougall, has suggested establishing a ‘ Business Support Desk’ to benefit micro and small business owners in that constituency.
She was speaking during the Focus on Government and Development program on state-owned Radio DBS this week.
“Individuals have to see business beyond which we are accustomed of seeing it. And with Roseau North specifically, I’ve actually spoken about establishing a business support desk within the constituency, because while we recognize that institutions like the Dominica Youth Business Trust and NDFD and even the Small Business Unit [do] provide, they do provide the support, sometimes it may be difficult for a micro business owner to actually present themselves to such institutions,” she said.
“And so it might be, for them, easier. Or perhaps it might be more natural to find themselves, you know, just popping into the constituency office and speaking to a business support officer who could help them, provide that support that I mentioned earlier, whether it could have been through accessing finance or through financial record keeping.”
McDougall believes that this would definitely ‘change the game’ for how many of the small businesses and micro businesses operate within the constituency.
“And perhaps this could be a good model for other constituencies to actually adopt,” she concluded.
