THA must work with private sector to help create jobs

An online business network which operates an employment resort programme and has a membership of some 600 registered unemployed persons, is calling on the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) to have the private sector play a bigger role in the development of the island’s economy.

The Tobago Entrepreneurs Business Network (TEBN), which was started in 2015, said the THA must consider more consultations and discussions with private sector associations to deal with unemployment, especially in the ‘sidelined’ entrepreneurs’ sector.

TEBN Public Relations Officer and Marketing Director Crystal Manswell, in making the call for a greater role for private sector involvement, said members were concerned that the Scarborough market relocation was done, and 170 stalls made available, without private sector associations being invited to participate in the process.

“It was a bit disappointing. Even though it’s under the Division of Food Production, there is a wide variety of services which we can consider more as enterprise. We have unemployed persons who could consider selling clothes, lunches and breakfast among other products and services,” she said.

“We know Tobago does not have that much vacancies, so we try to help these people become self-sufficient by encouraging them to open their own business. This is why I think some of them could have been accommodated at the relocated Scarborough market since there was not that much vendors at the old Scarborough market.

“But when we went into the office to ask about available spaces when the market was relocated, I was told there are no spaces left. The fact is that we have many entrepreneurs, I know they would cherish the opportunity to have a stall to ply their trade and only pay $40 a week,” she said.

Manswell said usually the THA would issue a memorandum saying stalls were available for persons in enterprise but this was not done in this instance.

“I asked what medium was used to fill the spaces, they said they hosted many meetings, but if that was the case why wasn’t at least one of our 600 members given the opportunity to rent one of these stalls?” she asked.

Manswell said TEBN was willing to work with the THA to combine existing developmental programmes to help unemployed Tobagonians.

“We are calling for integration between the public and private sector. I think the private sector should be invited to consultations which would allow us to assist our members. We need to work together as a united front as oppose to the THA versus the private sector,” she said.

Manswell suggested this collaboration would address productivity issues face by both THA and private enterprises. “The problem with productivity was created through a culture where many would rush to work at the government’s morning programmes and then 70 percent were employed by the THA, stifling the private sector.

“We are trying to work with the public sector to get employees out of the norm of working for a few hours. What workers do in the public sector has affected the private sector and now people are being laid off, they don’t want to work whole day because they are not accustomed to working a full day for a full day’s pay,” she said.