NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) is looking to work with angel investors to help more entrepreneurs bring their ventures to fruition, noting: “We need patient money.”
According to Davinia Bain, the SBDC’s executive director, the government, through the SBDC, has invested some $70 million to date in small businesses.
“Ninety percent of that has been in debt. Debt is not about patient investment. There is nothing patient about debt. Debt was necessary,” said Bain during an address at the Bahamas Business Outlook.
“We had to get money in the hands of entrepreneurs to change what was happening in our country. We couldn’t not do it; we had to.
“In that impatient investment environment, that was the only way we could empower Bahamians though their business.
We have to have strategy that moves us away from debt into other forms of investment.
– SBDC Executive Director Davinia Bain
“Now that we are climbing out of that and we are looking towards growth, we have to have strategy that moves us away from debt into other forms of investment.”
Bain added: “The reason we need more angel investors is because we need patient money. We need angel investors to assist with a shift in the way entrepreneurs plan.
“We need to change that if we are going to inspire growth in the country.”
According to Bain, the SBDC is creating a system to help potential investors learn how to vet investments.
She also noted that the SBDC, which offers a matching grant program, is willing to invest up to $20,000 with angel investors interested in working with entrepreneurs.
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