Congratulations to the organisers of the Best of SVG Awards

EDITOR: I wish to congratulate Ms Clare Keizer, CEO of Interactive Media Ltd, publishers of the Searchlight newspaper and also the Directors of the Board for conceptualizing and implementing the Best of SVG, which Awards Ceremony was held last Sunday evening at the Community College.

This initiative has proven to have boosted local businesses since its inception in 2017. This has been acknowledged by many nominees.

Incidentally, this awards ceremony was held at a time when the Government of SVG is about to launch the project entitled Promoting Youth Micro-enterprise Programme (PRIME). This initiative is essentially aimed at stimulating business ventures among young entrepreneurs. The project which was presented by the Minister of Finance in the 2020 Budget is part of a regional project to be funded by a grant from the UK Government to the tune of 9 million pounds sterling. SVG’s allocation is EC$2.5 million (not a paltry amount!)

How can the nominees of the Best of SVG benefit? From my observation on Sunday evening, a significant number of nominees and winners are young, self-employed persons offering a wide range of goods and services to the Vincentian public. It will now be the responsibility of the relevant Government agencies, e.g. the Ministry of Social Development and Youth Affairs, Invest SVG, etc to promote and market the PRIME using the available print, electronic and social media.

The idea is to assist, where necessary, the potential beneficiaries with the preparation of project proposals and business plans to maximize the benefits and develop their respective businesses optimally.

PRIME and the Best of SVG have the ingredients to promote national economic development spurring on people to greater heights in the pursuit of excellence in service and production.

Once again, congrats Clare!

Evern Daisley