General Manager of Dominica Export Import Agency Gregoire Thomas, says the country has not done very well to increase private sector firms’ uptake of the direct assistance grant scheme.
Thomas told the start of a Grant Proposal Writing Workshop organised by the Caribbean Export Development Agency on Wednesday that there are also shortfalls in terms of the number of applications that come not only from Dominica but the OECS”.
Under the 9th EDF Direct Assistance Grant Scheme for the period 2008-2010, two applications were submitted from Dominica, with only 1 firm being awarded grant assistance from Caribbean Export Development Agency.
Under the current 10th EDF, 13 firms from Dominica applied for assistance with only 4 of them having met the requirements for grant funding.
Thomas is hoping that Wednesday’s workshop will provide local business entrepreneurs with the requisite skills to write the type of business plans which will attract funding from Caribbean Export.
“We also want to illustrate to businesses and firms on how to prepare an application for grant funding. We need to increase the number of successful applicants from Dominica. Caribbean Export is cognizant of the need to increase the capacity of individuals, firms and business support organisations so they can access donor funding programs” he said.
Thomas says while here, the organization will meet with various financial institutions because firms usually have difficulty in accessing funding.
Executive Director of the Dominica Coalition of Services (DCSI) Lester Reviere, says the workshop is important in equipping the association’s membership with information on how to secure much needed funding for development of their businesses.
“It will give us an idea of how to prepare competitive proposals which I hope will increase Dominica success rate in receiving grants from Caribbean export,” he said.
Kirk Brown, Senior Grant Advisor of the Caribbean Export Development Agency during the workshop will interface with the firms to help them understand what is required in writing projects.
He told his audience on Wednesday that due to the competitive nature of the grant scheme, it is critical that better proposals are submitted from Dominica and other O.E.C.S Territories.
“We need to write better proposals as was pointed out earlier. It is very competitive and it really comes down to a score, there is no preferential treatment given to any one country” he pointed out.
“We are hoping that after participating in the workshop today you will be able to write a better proposal, or have an understanding of the kind of information that we are looking for” remarked Brown.
The workshop is being held in collaboration with the Dominica Export Import Agency (DEXIA), the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Export Development Unit (OECS-EDU), the Dominica Coalition of Service Industries (DCSI) and the Dominica Employment and Small Business Agency.
The Direct Assistance Grant Scheme is a reimbursement grant funding facility specifically designed to provide financial assistance to legally registered firms, individuals and Business Support Organisations that have the potential to export their products and services.
The Scheme is executed as a part of the Regional Private Sector Development Programme (RPSDP) funded by the European Union (EU) under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF).
I will like to find out from Caribbean Export Development Agency what is the maximum for the grant funding? And secondly a list of the countries in the OECS who gets these Grants?
If any one who knows can help, I’ll humbly appreciate.
There are 2 grants you can apply for, maximum 3000 euros and the other 30,000 euros. All 15 Cariforum member countries can benefit.
this write up makes it seem like a good business plan is all that’s needed but there are a lot more requirements which some if not most start ups fail such as record keeping which is essential towards those grant schemes; partnership or collaborating firms. these people has to realise that start ups needs funding to get the ideas off the ground and running! by the time we reach the level where we are eligible for funding its not need.
Maybe we need a Grant Writing Service in Dominica to assist our firms and other organisations.
What was DEXIA’s role in assisting the local companies in meeting the requirements for grant funding. Were they left outside in the wilderness to find for themselves. Did DEXIA play that supervisory role in ensuring that the local companies did meet the requirements before the applications were sent out. If yes, it seems clear then that DEXIA itself did not understand the requirements to access the grant funding. Was the programme well known within the public domain because from a total of 2 applicants in the 8th EDF scheme to a leap jump of 13 during the 9th EDF scheme, there seems to be an argument in favour of lack of public awareness. Finally when will we stop relying on that rest of the world, the rest of the OECS excuse, to justify our own shortfalls!!!
“Did DEXIA play that supervisory role in ensuring that the local companies did meet the requirements before the applications were sent out. If yes, it seems clear then that DEXIA itself did not understand the requirements to access the grant funding.”
My take on your post is that you are blaming DEXIA…but you are yet to point out the responsibility of the businees owners…they are the owners, not DEXIA.
The EDF need to think out of the box rather than giving money to the same small bs projects.
But before you can apply you must have something to export in the first place. What are Dexia doing themselves in this regard? Dexia, Dominica EXPORT Import Agency, what are you doing yourselves in the export business that you are supposed to be engaged in? And what is the ratio between your exports and imports? Bet you import far more than you export. A case of the blind leading the blind?
This is not the issue at all….Here is the real meat on the bone…”Under the 9th EDF Direct Assistance Grant Scheme for the period 2008-2010, two applications were submitted from Dominica, with only 1 firm being awarded grant assistance from Caribbean Export Development Agency.”
How could this be….ITS GRANT…FREE MONEY..
That money can be used for expansion, marketing, product Development…etc and we have folks here blaming DEXIA.
When you are in business, you are there to succeed and you need to know every possible avenue to succeed. This program has been going on for some time
Malgraysa, we as a people need to stop playing the blame games and take responsibility.
I hope other companies take the initiative next year, there is room for improvement
I agree with you that we should accept personal responsibility for what we do and stop playing the blame game. The EDF allocation is indeed grant money, a “freebie” but it is clear from Dexia’s own comments that they are not the right channel to successfully access this money on behalf of third parties. Given their own poor export performance they are in need of a grant from this fund themselves.
We too busy politicking and saying what should be and not be done, while we sit and do nothing and bump our gums all day long.
I have news for You my Padnah!Your Gums wearing out from bumping too!Try sign language if you dont want to sound hypocritical.