The Ministry of Commerce is looking at new avenues to boost small businesses in the Cayman Islands, and garnered fresh insights through attending the 36th Annual America’s Small Business Development Centre Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Staged by the Organisation of American States, the conference took place 19-22 September. More than 20 countries in North, Central, and South America joined Caribbean nations in discussing possible trade partnerships and sharing how their commerce models can be replicated in other jurisdictions. Cayman’s participation was partially funded by COSME, one of the leading entities for small business development in the region that is funded by the European Union.

‘We learned not only how our colleagues in the region are doing, but gathered ideas that can be considered in a local context’, said the Ministry’s Deputy Chief Officer Tamara Ebanks.

‘The conference offered a broader platform for us to learn from other countries about how small and micro businesses are handled’.

In addition to networking with delegates, Ms Ebanks and the Ministry’s Policy Advisor Thais Ducent took part in a number of workshops over the conference, where they heard about the implementation of new measures to enhance small businesses; and visited the National Entrepreneur Centre at the University of Central Florida.

‘On the whole, it was a very insightful trip. The timing of our attendance further illustrates Government’s continuing commitment to small businesses, as it came weeks after Cabinet opted to renew Cayman’s small business incentive programme until December 2017’, Ms Ebanks said.