Nedco tweaks strategy in South

With this is mind, the state company has set up a new south regional centre at Cocoyea Village, San Fernando. The building complex will house the Entrepreneurial Training Institute and Incubation Centre (ETIIC), a strategic initiative of Nedco designed to accelerate the growth and success of small enterprises by providing an array of business support resources and services.

ETIIC’s primary goal is to foster entrepreneurship on the national and regional landscape and to provide start-ups with professional and business advisory services.

Nedco CEO, Ricardo St. Cyr, said a vibrant small and medium enterprise (SME) sector is an essential prerequisite for triggering economic dynamism. He said support would be provided for enterprises with proven export potential.

He said the company could be viewed as a one- stop shop for entrepreneurial support services, whose main objectives were the training and empowerment of the entrepreneur and not just the enterprise. Nedco also possesses a network to assist small businesses to access markets best suited to their products.

There are nine centres located throughout Trinidad and Tobago including Tunapuna, Moruga, Arima, and Tobago. Their other services include on site business consulting, seminars and on-site graphic design.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning stated that small businesses had contributed some ten percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and provided sustainable employment to some 65,000 persons last year.

Manning said with the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) now up, this country was poised to become the export capital of the Caribbean, adding that local manufactures were already referring to the Caricom countries as a domestic market.
Manning stated the TT model was being well — received by other Commonwealth countries and have expressed a desire to emulate the initiative.

Since it began operations four years ago, Nedco has disbursed $90 million in loans to over 5,000 micro and small business enterprises