MAKE IT AN ACT: Consultant urges incoming administration to enact small business legislation

MAKE IT AN ACT: Consultant urges incoming administration to enact small business legislation
(FILE)

“We don’t need anything ad hoc; we need a strategic plan for small business development”

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A well-known small business consultant and advocate said yesterday that his organization plans to push for the enactment of a Small Business Act and a National Development Plan for SMEs with the incoming administration.

Mark Turnquest.

Mark A Turnquest, president of the 242 Small Business Association and Resource Centre, told Eyewitness News that the organization has set its own “first 100” days agenda, during which time it hopes to meet with the incoming administration to discuss plans for the development of the country’s small business sector.

“We are going to be seriously pushing for the enactment of a Small Business Act and a national development plan for small businesses,” Turnquest told Eyewitness News.

“Additionally we would want to meet with the new administration to determine their strategies and economic plan for small business development.”

While crediting the Minnis administration for a good first step towards small business development with the establishment of the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC), Turnquest argued that a more strategic approach to small business development is still needed.

“There needs to be a strategic approach which would synergize every island in this country. We don’t need anything ad hoc; we need a strategic plan for small business development and I don’t see one,” said Turnquest.

He added: “For the past three administrations, that is 15 years, no Small Business Act was brought forward.

“The importance of such an act is that it would provide a framework and puts certain things in law as it relates to small business development.

“The problem we often face in this country is that there is no continuity and so when a new government comes in, things change.”