Small businesses call on PM to give them a break too

Popular San Fernando beauty salon owner Jowelle De Souza wants the Prime Minister to give consideration to small business owners, particularly those who offer a service other than food, so that they too can survive.

“We are in a financial crisis. If covid19 does not kill us, this surely will,” De Souza said in an interview on Monday.

She is contemplating taking legal action over what she says is discrimination and unequal treatment of businesses like hers.

“We must remember for the last couple of years, small businesses were the engine room of Trinidad and Tobago. What makes these businesses which were allowed to reopen in the first phase more important than ours?

“We expected much more from the prime minister.”

De Souza said her own salon has been affected as she has been charged extra for failing to pay utility bills on time because payment centres remained closed and NLCB’s booths, which facilitate such payments, also remained closed.

“We are being hit from every single direction. We have rent to pay, staff to pay and they have families to feed.”

De Souza said salons, like many other businesses which were allowed to reopen, practise proper hygiene and will put in place extra measures to ensure they practise physical distancing by only taking two clients at a time, every hour.

“I don’t understand. What makes us, salons, hairstylists, and bookstores for example, different?" she said.

De Souza said she was hoping to engage the government to include other businesses in the early phases of the reopening process.

“Give us an opportunity. I don’t understand why he (the prime minister) doesn’t see we are in a financial crisis at this time,” she said.

On Sunday, Gary Aboud, managing director of Mode Alive, questioned the logic being used in the phased reopening of “our crippled economy.”

He asked the government to reconsider its plan.

Aboud questioned the rationale used to allow certain big businesses to reopen in the first phase.

“What makes them less risky?

“This phased reopening makes no sense except if intended for favouring big business and political party financiers. Small businesses, farmers, small factories, food processors, the dry goods and retail sector, and civil society, (which is the 99 per cent of us), have been locked down and completely locked out of the thought process by which decisions have been made.

“And now the PM's 22-member committee is crippling the very backbone of our economy,” he added, calling for support for small independent businesses.

“We do not ever want to be crippled into dependency on the Government, who would then be justified (in an election year) for wiping out our Heritage and Stabilisation Fund, when all it takes for us all to thrive is to all adopt safe operating procedures, which we are all capable of handling.”

On Saturday, Dr Rowley announced the easing of restrictions. He said the adjustments were on a phased basis and each phase will be determined by the results of covid19 community testing and monitoring by the Health Ministry.

The first phase began on Monday and is expected to continue to May 23. The stay-at-home orders for non-essential workers remain, with some exceptions which saw the reopening of food establishments, with certain restrictions, and longer hours for hardware stores. Approval was also given to three major commercial companies to restart their operations.

If all goes well and covid19 numbers remain low, phase two can begin from May 24-June 6 with the reopening of the country’s entire manufacturing sector and public sector construction.

Phase three, from June 7-20, will see all public servants returning to work, a restart of private-sector construction, and an increase in the number of passengers on public transport vehicles.

Phases four, five, and six will see the reopening of malls, beaches, cinemas, and the country’s borders respectively.