Dominica: Minister Daren Pinard congratulates cohorts of business owners on receiving grants under UNDP

Dominica: Minister for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development, Hon Daren Pinard, congratulated the two cohorts of business owners who received a total grant of $295,758 in Dominica under the United Nations Development Project recently.

Minister for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development, Hon Daren Pinard, who is also the Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour, in the United Nations Development Project Future Grant Handing ceremony held on Thursday, May 24, 2023, congratulated the two cohorts of Dominican Business owners who received a grant of total $295,758 in Dominica under the UNDP. As per the news, the first cohort received $257,850, and four individuals– comprising cohort two–were awarded approximately $EC9,500 each.

Minister Daren Pinard, while addressing the gathering at the UNDP Future Tourism handing-over Ceremony, congratulated the two cohorts of business owners and expressed his pleasure for getting the opportunity shared that these small business owners have taken several tangible steps over the years to improve themselves and their businesses, by this grant fundings, being received by them will not only help them in creating and enhancing their businesses but also help them to bring new visions, ideas and pathways and efficiently adapt themselves with the changes.

He shared that Dominicans have faced severe devasting natural disasters and negative external shocks, which somewhere has much impacted their lives and businesses. The Minister highlighted the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, which has often caused instability and, high inflation, supply chain shortages of resources.

Pinard said these external events had had the most crippling impact on our businesses and the local economy, revealing that Dominica lost 226% of its GDP as a result of Hurricane Maria.

Further, Minister Pinard also shared that the grant funding of these business owners will also help them to enhance their business plans and bring out some of the beneficial factors and ideas to assist their businesses.
Concerning the growth of the business sector in Dominica, then he said, ” A plan without action is simply a wish, and the UNDP future tourism business adaptation program, therefore, also provided you with structured guidance on how to best implement and execute those adjusted plans,”

Furthermore to it, Miniter Penard also shared that these effective Business plans are not meant to paralyze them but simply serve as a guide to help small business entrepreneurs to remain focused on their major goals and their priorities.