SMALL businesses make up 90 percent of all companies in operation. But while diversification of the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector is now deemed critical given the need to wean the economy off oil and gas, and while countless seminars and events have taken place on this matter, not enough has been done to jumpstart levels of innovation and to deepen the use of technology which can bolster productivity.
That was the view of officials from the State and other stakeholders charged with enhancing local business at a forum held last Wednesday on the need to empower SMEs through information communications technology (ICT).
“We are not actually using money wisely in terms of diversification,” said Dr Rikhi Permanand, executive director of the Economic Development Board of the Ministry of Planning and Development.
“We need to get our act together. We’ve got to (get off the ground), as they say, and start doing things. We have the capacity, the raw materials to be able to make that happen.” At the event held at the Hilton Trinidad, Port-of-Spain, Permanand also stressed that diversification not only involves new business creation and bolstering growth and export potential in the non-energy sector, but also the expansion and deepening of the productive base of existing SMEs and the transformation of these enterprises into promising, large enterprises.
Vashtie Dookiesingh, an investment fund specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), lamented that while local consumers participate in sales on the internet such as those for “Black Friday” in the United States, local companies have not established presences online in order to draw customers.
“We are very high-ranked in terms of ICT infrastructure, having more cell phones that people,” Dookiesingh said. “But we see very low levels of ICT in terms of impacting or shaping new models for business, new services, new products and an abysmal level of business-to-business and business-toconsumer transactions by local firms. We don’t have the systems in place to allow us to easily transact....There are some gaps in terms of these firms having the knowledge and having access to the expertise to really allow them to take that next step.” Though ICT is a mechanism which can improve the way organisations, whether public or private, function, she said a recent survey by the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (Cariri) found low levels of ICT use.
“Although they saw more ICT infrastructure and more ICT utilisation, we did not see the level of online transactions that we would expect to see and some of this is due to delays in maybe getting the legislation around e-commerce and these kinds of things,” Dookiesingh said. “This pathway to development is not as easy as it looks.” Liaquat Ali Shah, CEO of Cariri – where he has worked for over 30 years – said the time had come for a reality check.
“Too often there is a lot of mention of key words: clusters, ICT, incubators, innovation, SMEs and their role in the diversification of the economy,” Shah said. “But the question begs of itself: how effective have these efforts been to date? Let’s do a reality check. How in depth have been these efforts beyond seminars and workshops? Lest I be misunderstood, allow me to be quite explicit when I emphasise that I am not advocating that these exercises in information dissemination are unimportant.
The dilemma is that at the end of these seminars, which are at times very expensive relative to the SMEs, where do we all go from here?” He said a Cariri study noted the critical importance of ICT in powering diversification.
“Diversification, competitiveness, innovation and SME clustering – all now assume critical proportions for the country’s economic survival going forward,” Shah said. Yet, “ICTs are under-leveraged.” “Business success and indeed survival hinges on information, knowledge, and their intelligent application,” the Cariri CEO said. “The ability of SMEs to survive in an increasingly competitive global arena is therefore largely predicated upon their capacity to leverage information as a resource input no different from other factors of production. Using words as a fad, we don’t have time for that.” Hayden Charles, project technical coordinator at Cariri, said over three years, 350 SMEs were “sensitised” on ICT matters, 80 completed ICT diagnostics, and 50 implemented solutions. Cariri and the IDB have partnered to fund business ventures in the food and beverage, plastics, printing and packaging industries.
The project has been extended to include enterprises in the health as well as manufacturing sectors.
“We are not actually using money wisely in terms of diversification,” said Dr Rikhi Permanand, executive director of the Economic Development Board of the Ministry of Planning and Development.
“We need to get our act together. We’ve got to (get off the ground), as they say, and start doing things. We have the capacity, the raw materials to be able to make that happen.” At the event held at the Hilton Trinidad, Port-of-Spain, Permanand also stressed that diversification not only involves new business creation and bolstering growth and export potential in the non-energy sector, but also the expansion and deepening of the productive base of existing SMEs and the transformation of these enterprises into promising, large enterprises.
Vashtie Dookiesingh, an investment fund specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), lamented that while local consumers participate in sales on the internet such as those for “Black Friday” in the United States, local companies have not established presences online in order to draw customers.
“We are very high-ranked in terms of ICT infrastructure, having more cell phones that people,” Dookiesingh said. “But we see very low levels of ICT in terms of impacting or shaping new models for business, new services, new products and an abysmal level of business-to-business and business-toconsumer transactions by local firms. We don’t have the systems in place to allow us to easily transact....There are some gaps in terms of these firms having the knowledge and having access to the expertise to really allow them to take that next step.” Though ICT is a mechanism which can improve the way organisations, whether public or private, function, she said a recent survey by the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (Cariri) found low levels of ICT use.
“Although they saw more ICT infrastructure and more ICT utilisation, we did not see the level of online transactions that we would expect to see and some of this is due to delays in maybe getting the legislation around e-commerce and these kinds of things,” Dookiesingh said. “This pathway to development is not as easy as it looks.” Liaquat Ali Shah, CEO of Cariri – where he has worked for over 30 years – said the time had come for a reality check.
“Too often there is a lot of mention of key words: clusters, ICT, incubators, innovation, SMEs and their role in the diversification of the economy,” Shah said. “But the question begs of itself: how effective have these efforts been to date? Let’s do a reality check. How in depth have been these efforts beyond seminars and workshops? Lest I be misunderstood, allow me to be quite explicit when I emphasise that I am not advocating that these exercises in information dissemination are unimportant.
The dilemma is that at the end of these seminars, which are at times very expensive relative to the SMEs, where do we all go from here?” He said a Cariri study noted the critical importance of ICT in powering diversification.
“Diversification, competitiveness, innovation and SME clustering – all now assume critical proportions for the country’s economic survival going forward,” Shah said. Yet, “ICTs are under-leveraged.” “Business success and indeed survival hinges on information, knowledge, and their intelligent application,” the Cariri CEO said. “The ability of SMEs to survive in an increasingly competitive global arena is therefore largely predicated upon their capacity to leverage information as a resource input no different from other factors of production. Using words as a fad, we don’t have time for that.” Hayden Charles, project technical coordinator at Cariri, said over three years, 350 SMEs were “sensitised” on ICT matters, 80 completed ICT diagnostics, and 50 implemented solutions. Cariri and the IDB have partnered to fund business ventures in the food and beverage, plastics, printing and packaging industries.
The project has been extended to include enterprises in the health as well as manufacturing sectors.
Taken from Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday
Written by:
ANDRE BAG00 Thursday, November 26 2015
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